Two conceptions of philosophy: between McDowellian therapy and the Hegelian critique of Jena's early writings (1801 - 1803)

• Grant number: 23/06708-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: January 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Michela Bordignon
• Grantee: Iuri Slavov
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas (CCNH). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research project has as its general objective to present John McDowell's therapeutic conception of philosophy, explaining a fundamental aporia and a possible solution to this aporia through a dialogue with the critical conception of philosophy of Hegel's first critical writings in Jena (1801 - 1803). In that way, the project will be divided into two parts. In the first part of the research, we will present the therapeutic conception of philosophy in John McDowell and show its aporetic character. More specifically, we will trace the origin of such a conception in McDowell's texts on Wittgenstein and then show how this same conception appears in Mind and World (1994). Through the central thesis of Mind and World, the "unboundedness of the conceptual", we will show an internal inconsistency to the Mcdowellian conception of therapy. In the second part of the research, we will analyze the Hegelian conception of philosophical criticism, in order to conclude that the Hegelian proposal presents a solution to the aporia found in McDowell and, thus, represents a more promising idea of philosophical activity. Therefore, we will turn to: the conception of criticism presented in The Essence of Philosophical Criticism Generally (1802/03); the critique of the philosophies of reflection in The difference between Fichte's and Schelling's system of philosophy (1801); and, finally, the critique of aspects of Kant's philosophy in Faith and Knowledge (1802/03).