Negation of the negation

Summary

Dominique Pagani sees the negation of the negation, which he also calls double negation, as the decisive concept in which Hegel's own contribution is concentrated1. He makes it the speculative heart of dialectics, which Lenin had made its energy, and he recalls that Stalin condemns it and that Althusser congratulates him for doing so2. He sums it up with the formula "minus times minus makes plus": the positivity that comes from an act arises from the continuous suppression of the previous position, and he takes the example of the circle of the cigarette3. He applies it to anthropology. Human technique is a second-degree negation, which suppresses the negation that nature exerts on man and creates a new positivity4. Man's biological incompleteness is the "minus" that makes his "plus"5. According to him, the division of spirit from the natural must itself be absorbed, not through regression but by going further in knowledge6. On La Nouvelle Héloïse, a participant suggests that Wolmar would be the negation of the negation that makes the love between Julie and Saint-Preux possible7.

1. 1Hegel on the Beach 4/52 Feb 2016 · 4:49
2. 2Tribute to Jacques D'Hondt (3)2 Aug 2016 · 5:23
3. 3“I is another”, or contradictory identity12 Dec 2023 · 1:02:27
4. 4Hegel on the Beach 4/52 Feb 2016 · 40:43
5. 5“I is another”, or contradictory identity12 Dec 2023 · 1:49:31
6. 6The quest for the Grail, sanctimony or sacrilege?1 Apr 2024 · 2:00:22
7. 7W for Wolmar6 Jan 2015 · 1:53

Summary produced automatically from 7 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.