English

Proper noun

Hegelese

1. (philosophy) The convoluted, obscure style of writing associated with the works of G.W.F. Hegel
   • c. 1886, James Russell Lowell, “Don Quixote”, in Lowell's Works, page 122:

     We have felt it ourselves when the obvious meaning of Shakespeare has been rewritten into Hegelese, by some Doctor of Philosophy […] eager to apply his new theory of fog as an illuminating medium.

   • 1988, Frederick L. Will, Beyond Deduction, page 152:

     To speak Hegelese for a moment, since the deductive processes so discriminated require for their own development, for their own self-realization, to be combined with and enriched by their ampliative complements, in the broad view of these matters required by an investigation of philosophical governance the opposition between them must be overcome.

   • 2005, Slavoj Žižek, The metastases of enjoyment: six essays on women and causality, pages 44-45:

     In Hegelese, the fatal weakness of representational language resides precisely in its representational character: in the fact that it remains stuck at the level of Vorstellung, […] .

Related terms

• Hegelian