G.W.F. Hegel

It is customary to preface an "about me" with an explanation of the author's aim, why he wrote the entry, and the relationship in which he believes it to stand to other earlier or contemporary treatises on the same subject. In the case of a philosophical "about me," however, such an explanation seems not only superfluous but, in view of the nature of the subject-matter, even inappropriate and misleading. For whatever might appropriately be said about philosophy in an "about me" statement--say a historical statement of the main drift and point of view, the general content and results, a string of random assertions and assurances about truth--none of this can be accepted as the way in which to expound philosophical truth. Also, since philosophy moves essentially in the element of universality, which includes within itself the particular, it might seem that here more than in any of the other sciences the subject-matter itself, and even in its complete nature, were expressed in the aim and the final results, the execution being by contrast really the unessential factor. On the other hand, in the ordinary view of anatomy, for instance (say, the knowledge of the parts of the body regarded as inanimate), we are quite sure that we do not as yet possess the subject-matter itself, the content of this science, but must in addition exert ourselves to know the particulars. Further, in the case of such an aggregate of infomation, which has no right to bear the name of Science, an opening talk about aim and other such generalities is usually conducted in the same historical and uncomprehending way in which the content itself (these nerves, muscles, etc.) is spoken of. In the case of philosophy, on the other hand, this would give rise to an incongruity that along with the employment of such a method its inability to grasp the truth would also be demonstrated.