The Plasticity of Thought and the Problem of Beginning (in Hegel)¹.

This article examines G.W.F. Hegel's multifaceted use of the term "plasticity" within logic, the history of philosophy, and aesthetics, identifying three distinct notions: (1) the unity of beginning and development in pure thought, (2) the reciprocal process of thinking as self-fashioning akin to sculptural plasticity, and (3) the disciplined labor of thought and its transformative result. It situates Hegel's concept of plasticity against the metaphysical challenges of his time, emphasizing the paradoxical nature of beginnings as both an inclusion and exclusion within science, exemplified in his treatment of pure being, nothing, and becoming in *The Science of Logic*. The article also highlights Hegel's metaphor of artistic totality—"a whole cast in one piece"—as a bridge between the reciprocal plasticity of sculptural art and the absolute beginning's "touch of the void," thereby framing plasticity as central to the historicity and self-development of thought.