The Young Hegel and the Search for a Language

The search for a language pervades Hegel’s early writings and characterizes his self-understanding as an intellectual. At first, in Tübingen and Berne, the language that Hegel is in search of must be such as to bring intellectuals and the people closer together and, at the same time, it must act as a glue for the people, that is, it must encourage individuals to identify with the community they belong to. Later, in Frankfurt, Hegel will turn to the search for a language appropriate to science and, at the same time, will criticize forms of language regarded as inadequate; this will lead to his first attempts to develop a system.