Hegel’s synthesis prefigures modern ‘synthetic’ meaning recomposed rather than composed

Evidence

By equal right, the encyclopedic circle can be interpreted both as the final form in which the tradition is reassembled in all its purity and as the result of a process of recycling of that same tradition. By analysing dialectical simplification we discover that the movement of the singularities, in their auto-distribution, in fact proceeds from the energy produced in redistribution, in reprocessing and reclassifying the forms of spirit. It is as if Hegel did in fact anticipate one of the current connotations of the word ‘synthesis’, meaning less something that is composed than something recomposed. Indeed, we now speak of material, fabrics, forms that have been reconstituted chemically, as ‘synthetic’. Hegelianism, that fundamentally systematic business, brings thought to the point where the synthesis of all philosophy – its forms reassembled in the unity of the encyclopedic totality – proceeds, in its specular and speculative movement, to mirror its ‘other’ self, an other different as well as the same: namely, synthetic philosophy, engendered by an exegetical recomposition, by an interpretative audacity now released from its connection to the authenticity or the ‘objective’ validity of its referent. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 1265

Categorization

• DEFINE: Pivotal redefinition: Hegelian synthesis as recomposition/recycling, which is the plastic-chemistry root of plasticity.
• XREF: Connects to Malabou’s later book on plasticity; the chemical ‘synthetic’ etymology echoes her claim that plasticity is the concept of both giving and receiving form. — connects to: Hegelian synthesis is recomposition, not original composition; Gehlen argued synthesis now resides in society, not in human minds — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 615
• SEED: Essay angle: how ‘synthetic’ swung from Hegelian totalization to industrial chemistry of recomposed materials.

Broader Connections

• Hegelian synthesis is recomposition, not original composition #exemplifies (1.00)