Between Logics and Metaphysics

Hegel’s Ontological Repositioning in the Jena Years

Abstract

This paper examines the transformation of metaphysical thinking in Hegel’s Jena years, highlighting its role in redefining the relationship between logic and ontology. While distancing himself from both classical and dogmatic metaphysics, Hegel does not reject the possibility of a rational knowledge of being. Instead, he proposes a speculative logic that transcends the methodological limitations of traditional metaphysics and Kantian critique. Through a genetic and processual reconceptualization of knowledge, Hegel reclaims metaphysics as an immanent discourse rooted in the productive activity of thought. This approach culminates in the notion of a “living ontology,” in which logical categories are no longer inert formalities but dynamically intertwined with reality itself. The study traces Hegel's trajectory from a critique of abstract reason to the elaboration of a system wherein the metaphysical impulse is preserved, transformed, and rearticulated within a speculative framework that ultimately grounds a renewed philosophical science of being.