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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'On Metaphysics (frags)' and 'Towards a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy'

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2 ideas

2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic
A dialectician has to be his own opponent [Feuerbach]
     Full Idea: A thinker is a dialectician only insofar as he is his own opponent.
     From: Ludwig Feuerbach (Towards a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy [1839], p.72)
     A reaction: Quite an inspirational slogan for beginners in philosophy. How many non-philosophers are willing to be their own opponent. In law courts and the House of Commons we assign the roles to separate persons. Hence rhetoric replaces reason?
Each proposition has an antithesis, and truth exists as its refutation [Feuerbach]
     Full Idea: Every intellectual determination has its antithesis, its contradiction. Truth exists not in unity with, but in refutation of its opposite.
     From: Ludwig Feuerbach (Towards a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy [1839], p.72)
     A reaction: This appears to be a rejection of the 'synthesis' in Hegel, in favour of what strikes me as a rather more sensible interpretation of the modern dialectic. Being exists in contrast to nothingness, and truth exists in contrast to its negation?