Dialectics of a.F. losev and g.w.f. hegel

The article provides a comparative analysis of the understanding of dialectics by A.F. Losev and G.W.F. Hegel. Both the commonality of approaches and fundamental differences are revealed here. Both thinkers consider dialectics as a universal philosophical method of cognition. At the same time, Losev, in his interpretation, returns to Plato, in whom the dialectic begins with “one” and “the other” (dialogue "Parmenides"), and not “being” and “nothing” (“Science of Logic” by Hegel). The Russian thinker goes beyond the boundaries of Hegel’s rationalism, affirming the anagogic (uplifting) and, in its completion, the apophatic nature of dialectics, which ascends to the transcendent source. “Absolute dialectics” from him, acquiring this or that content, appears as metaphysics – “absolute mythology”. As a result of this, thought again meets being, the empty content, formalism and abstractness of thinking are overcome. Losev revealed the ontological potential of Platonism, freeing dialectics from nihilistic interpretation. Studying hesychasm allowed him to overcome both impersonalism and the determinism of Hegel’s logic: The basis of dialectics is not negativity, not nothing, but the creativity of the personal principle. © 2021, Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.