Hegel's manifold response to scepticism in the phenomenology of spirit

Abstract

For many reasons mainstream Hegel scholarship has disregarded Hegel's interests in epistemology, hence also his response to scepticism. From the points of view of defenders and critics alike, it seems that 'Hegel' and 'epistemology' have nothing to do with one another. Despite this widespread conviction, Hegel was a very sophisticated epistemologist whose views merit contemporary interest. This article highlights several key features and innovations of Hegel's epistemology - including his anti-Cartesianism, fallibilism, realism (sic) and externalism both about mental content and about justification - by considering his systematic responses to Pyrrhonian, Humean, Cartesian and Kantian scepticism.