Dialectical Unfolding of Spirit in Hegel: A Fallibilist Account of Knowledge

In the Hegelian system, Spirit attains absolute knowledge through a dialectical method involving speculative sentences, whose inner form is doubling up, contradictory views on a subject between two opposing sides, by which truth is established through reasoned arguments, a circular motion that expands upon itself and passes beyond its present state to grasp every human experience (i.e., the whole). This process consists of progressive evolution or development in which the earlier, less sophisticated definitions or viewpoints are sublated into the later, more sophisticated higher viewpoints.

This book examines the dialectical evolution of Spirit in the light of epistemic fallibilism, in which justification is inconclusive and open-ended. This dialectical fallibilism is explored within the context of Hegel's dialectical skepticism, speculative philosophy, and recollection (i.e., the process in which Spirit returns to its earlier, less sophisticated stages to possess them in a new form).

The study also uses the Hegelian dialectic fallibilism to evaluate conclusive epistemic justification, including infallibilism, foundationalism, and critical reflection. The evaluation results indicate that natural laws, mechanistic laws, and even self-evident truths, such as logical principles, geometrical truths, and metamathematical truths, have no conclusive justification and do not escape fallibility. Thus, this book enhances the evaluation of the fallibilist account of knowledge and knowledge founded on infallibility, including epistemic immunities, certainty, indubitability, and incorrigibility.