English edit

Etymology edit

Hegel +‎ -ese

Proper noun edit

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 edit