Stressing a philosopher’s originality can inadvertently confirm their conformity to tradition.

Evidence

To affirm the future within Hegel’s philosophy has not necessarily brought me to emphasize his fidelity to the past. I am aware of the paradoxical aspect of an approach which, anxious to underline the originality of Hegel’s reading of Aristotle, could not however avoid the trap of considering his reading as the best one, i.e. in a sense, as the most authentically traditional. In the same manner, by insisting on the singularity of Hegel’s interpretation of Christianity, perhaps I have done no more, in reality, than prove that Hegel’s God is the good God. Desiring to bring out the philosophical novelty and freshness of Hegelianism, I have perhaps only insisted on his conformity to the traditional and onto-theological forms of thought. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 1262

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies what ‘onto-theological’ means in this context — the traditional metaphysical-theological reading of Hegel’s thought.
• XREF: connects to: Said’s originality disclaimers draw on authors who would embrace the very historicism he attacks — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 716