La razionalità del reale

(The Rationality of the Actual)

Abstract

The identity of rational and actual is placed by Hegel within an ethical-political context, yet its general meaning is ontological. It indicates that the actuality of the finite has its truth in the logical and conceptual determinations of the Idea. In this sense, in its essence the world has a logical-conceptual nature. This general ontological meaning is no longer acceptable for the contemporary philosophical consciousness. After the end of the metaphysical idea of substantial reason, the unity of actual and rational can be understood in a more limited and weakened sense. Our rationality cannot be considered only as a property of the subjective nature of the individual, but as the product of a learning process that has its basis in the social space of reasons. Although the world remains independent of our knowledge, nevertheless our knowledge of it finds its condition of possibility in social reason.