I must say that it has been a humbling experience. Apparently, philosophy has very stringent rules it must adhere to in order to be called philosophy. Rules that are governed by the almighty, irreducible, unforgiving, objective, and universal Reason. But first, philosophy must be defined; an explication Hegel delivers expertly and sharply before doing anything else. In effect, he points to the horizon and says "that's where I'm going," and proceeds to clear the brush in order to lay down his iron tracks.
I will not quote Hegel in this post, although I will strongly recommend you to read some of his work. He says some enlightening things, logical things, fantastic things. You could call him spiritual about his Reason, which to some may appear to be a contradiction of sorts. They would be right in thinking so.
No, instead of quoting Hegel, I will quote Kierkegaard; his counterpart, or "antithesis" (if I were to quote Hegel after all). "I am not a philosopher", said Kierkegaard. "I am not part of the system."
Here is what I believe: I claim no objective truth, and will not bar my thoughts to that which may be irrational or subjective. For if truth could be pointed to in the horizon, we would be there already, and after thousands of year of philosophy we have never agreed that we're "there." No, I'd rather wander, and marvel at whatever I might find on the way, lest it be a fragment of truth, lest it lead to a greater one. Why should Truth be bound by such established rules of thought? Rules imply limits and restrictions. Thoughts urged on by limits and restrictions bind them to a finitude of potentialities, of ideas. The dog tied to a post in the ground can only explore as far as his leash will let him.
I could write a book about truth and reason, but I have to finish reading a large chunk of Hegel's History of Philosophy before tomorrow afternoon. I'll post more about this in the future.
