GW.E
Hegel The Jena System 1804-5: Logic and Metaphysics TRANSLATION EDITED BY John
W. Burbidge and George di Giovanni INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY H. S. Harris
G.
W. F. HEGEL THE JENA SYSTEM, 1804-5: LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS Translation edited
by John W. Burbidge and George di Giovanni Introduction and explanatory notes
by H. S. Harris McGill-Queen's University Press Kingston and Montreal
McGILL-QUEEN'S
STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF IDEAS i Problems of Cartesianism Edited by Thomas M.
Lennon, John M. Nicholas, and John W. Davis 2 The Development of the Idea of
History in Antiquity Gerald A. Press 3 Claude Buffier and Thomas Reid: Two
Common-Sense Philosophers Louise Marcil-Lacoste 4 Schiller, Hegel, and Marx:
State, Society, and the Aesthetic Ideal of Ancient Greece Philip J. Kain 5 John
Case and Aristotehanism in Renaissance England Charles B. Schmitt 6 Beyond
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Political Thought J. A. W. Gunn 7 John Toland: His Method, Manners, and Mind
Stephen H. Daniel 8 Coleridge and the Inspired Word Anthony John Harding g The
Jena System, 1804-5: Logic and Metaphysics G. W. F. Hegel Translation edited by
John W. Burbidge and George di Giovanni Introduction and notes by H. S. Harris
THE
JENA SYSTEM, 1804-5: LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS G. W. F. HEGEL Translation edited by
John W. Burbidge and George di Giovanni With an introduction and explanatory
notes by H. S. Harris Translated into English for the first time in this
edition, The Jena System, 1804-5: Logic and Metaphysics is an essential text in
the study of the development of Hegel's thought. It is the climax of Hegel's
efforts to construct a neutral theory of the categories of finite cognition
("logic") as the necessary bridge to the theory of infinite, or
philosophical, cognition ("metaphysics"). As he worked on the Jena
system, Hegel's understanding of the nature of logic and its connection with
metaphysics underwent changes crucial to his later system. As a result, logic
acquired a new and expanded significance for him. This text is thus the key to
an understanding of the works of Hegel's maturity, and to their relation to the
major works of Schelling and Fichte that preceded them. Scholars from the
universities of Guelph, Lethbridge, McGill, McMaster, Toronto, Trent, and York
have prepared this translation, a work of critical analysis in its own right.
The introduction by H. S. Harris adds a concrete dimension to Hegel's abstract
categories, showing how, in developing these categories, Hegel was even at this
early date thinking deeply about the structure and life of society. john w.
burbidge is a member of the Department of Philosophy, Trent University. george
di Giovanni is a member of the Department of Philosophy, McGill University. h.
s. Harris is a member of the Department of Philosophy, Glendon College, York
University, and author of several books on Hegel.
©
McGill-Queen's University Press 1986 isbn 0-7735-1011-7 Legal deposit 2nd
quarter 1986 Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec Printed in Canada The translation
of Hegel's text is from G. W. F. Hegel, Gesammelte Werke, volume 7tJenaer
Systementwurfe 11, edited by Rolf-P. Horstmann and Johann Heinrich Trede and
published by Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg, 1971. By permission of the
Rheinisch-Westfalischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Diisseldorf. This book
has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for
the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada. Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Hegel,
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1776-1831. The Jena system, 1804-5 Translation of:
Jenaer Systementwurfe II. Bibliography: p. Includes index. isbn 0—7735—1011-7
1. Logic. 2. Metaphysics. I. Burbidge, John, 1936- II. Di Giovanni, George,
1935- III. Title. B2944J42E5 1986 *93 ^85-099954-5
Contents
PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION vii PREFACE TO THE COMMENTARY xi GENERAL
INTRODUCTION xiii THE JENA SYSTEM, 1804-5: LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS LOGIC 3 SIMPLE
CONNECTION 3 Quality 3 Quantity 8 Quantum 13 Infinity 29 RELATIONSHIP 38
Relation of Being 40 Relation of Thinking 78 PROPORTION log Definition 110
Division 113 Cognition Is Posited 116
Contents
METAPHYSICS 131 COGNITION AS SYSTEM OF FIRST PRINCIPLES 1 Principle of Identity
or of Contradiction 136 First Principle of the Exclusion of a Third 138
Principle of Ground 140 METAPHYSICS OF OBJECTIVITY 144 The Soul 145 The World
149 The Highest Essence 157 METAPHYSICS OF SUBJECTIVITY l6l The Theoretical I,
or Consciousness 165 The Practical I 170 Absolute Spirit 172 GLOSSARY 187 WORKS
CITED 191 INDEX 193
Preface
to the Translation At the 1978 meeting of the Hegel Society of America, held at
Pennsylvania State University, John Burbidge called together all the members in
attendance from Ontario and Quebec and suggested that the group meet regularly
somewhere in Toronto to discuss issues of common interest. He also suggested
that, as a catalyst for discussion, the group undertake a common project, such
as the translation of a Hegelian text. H. S. Harris proposed the Jena Logic as
a suitable candidate. Both Burbidge's idea and Harris's specific proposal were
accepted, and a meeting that was to be the first of a long series was soon
called at Trinity College in the University of Toronto. In the early stages the
group was able to work from a draft prepared by Andre Dekker. Subsequently,
those named below undertook in turn to provide preliminary translations, which
were then submitted for discussion and revision to the group as a whole.
Burbidge, Donogho, di Giovanni, Harris, Pfohl, and Schmitz formed a core group
that provided continuity. Peter Preuss contributed valuable editorial comments
from a distance. At first the group had no intention of ever publishing the
results of its work. Over the years, however, as the group became more cohesive
and was drawn more and more into the problems of interpreting and translating
an early Hegelian text, its members slowly came to appreciate the complexity
and the value of the project they had undertaken. They decided at one point to
extend the translation to include the Metaphysics, too, and to see to it that
the translation would eventually be published. The Logic and Metaphysics represent,
in effect, half of Hegel's 1804-5 system. The group chose not to tackle the
third and largest part, the Philosophy of Nature, because its trans-
via
Preface to the Translation lation would require specialized knowledge that none
of the members has and also because it is removed from the interests of all of
them. The final text was edited by Burbidge and di Giovanni, and the index
prepared by Pfohl. The text we used was that edited by R.-P. Horstmann and J.
H. Trede in volume seven (1971) of the critical edition of Hegel's work, which
will be referred to as ce. The bracketed numbers in our text indicate the
beginning of the pages in the critical edition. We have not felt bound by the
German editors' decisions, however, and have frequently preferred the original
manuscript to their emendations. We have on occasion incorporated suggestions
from two previous editions, that of H. Ehrenberg and H. Link (Hegels erstes
System) and that of G. Lasson (JenenserLogik, Metaphysik una1
Naturphilosophie). Most of our emendations involve punctuation (locating the
comma that demarcates the range of a subordinate clause; introducing
semi-colons into run-on sentences, and so forth), providing auxiliary verbs
where only an infinitive or participle is present, and variations in
grammatical suffixes and pronominal genders. At many points we compared our
proposals with the French translation of D. Souche-Dagues, Logique et
Metaphysique, Una 1804—1805. Unfortunately, the Italian translation of F.
Chiereghin et al., Logica e metafisica dijena, appeared too late to be of use
to us in the translation. The manuscript proper is a good copy (or reine
Schrift) prepared by Hegel himself. In the first part minor amendments appear,
indicating that Hegel made editorial revisions on a later reading. From the
beginning of 'The Syllogism,' however, there is less evidence of careful
revision, and in the sections on the syllogism and proportion we find a number
of comments entered in the margin and extensive underlining, which suggests
that Hegel used this material either for lectures or in preparing a later
manuscript. Hegel's numbering of the sections follows no consistent convention,
and in the Metaphysics it becomes quite confused. The major sections are
numbered: 1. Cognition as System of First Principles; b. Metaphysics of
Objectivity; c. Metaphysics of Subjectivity. The subsections of 1 are labelled
a, b, and c; those of b as 1, b, c; and those of c as 1, 11, in. We have left
these numberings in the text, but the table of contents is structured on the
underlying principles. We have indicated the relative level of the titles of
the various sections by means of typography.
Preface
to the Translation IX Some pages of the original manuscript are missing. Hegel
used large sheets, folded in four, and numbered each set of four. Missing are
sheets 1 to 3, the inner half of sheet 6, all of sheet 7, and the inner half of
sheet 39. Although a good copy, the manuscript is written in a language that is
just as cumbersome and obscure as only Hegel (and especially the younger Hegel)
would use. In our translation we have endeavoured to get to the meaning of
Hegel's text and render it in a language that, while faithful to the original,
yet retains as little as possible of its cumbersomeness. Any translation is
first of all appropriation. It can therefore make the text much more accessible
by clarifying it in the very process of translating it. That task in part
resolves itself into the development of certain conventions, and the most
important of the conventions we adopted are summarized in the glossary. Some
must be noted here, however, because of their especially broad application: —
To distinguish formelle, ideelle, and reelle from formale, ideale, and reale,
we use with the English "formal," "ideal," and
"real" the subscript 2 (for example, "formal2") to indicate
the German form that has two /s. — The article ein used with a neuter adjective
or participle we translate "something . . ."; das with an adjective
is translated "what is. . . ." For example, ein gesetztes:
"something posited"; das gesetzte: "what is posited." — In
German the gender of a pronoun frequently allows a precise reference to the
appropriate noun. In our translation we have often substituted nouns for
pronouns when the reference is clear in German but would become problematic in
English if the pronoun were kept. — Occasionally, where a root is common to
several different German words used in the same discussion, we have included
the originals. We have done the same where our translation has had to deviate
from conventions to clarify meaning. — We have used parentheses as punctuation,
along with frequent dashes and semi-colons, to bring some order into the long,
intricate sentences of Hegel. Square brackets, however, indicate insertions either
by the German editors or by the translators. The translators express their
appreciation to the provost of Trinity College, Professor F. K. Hare, who most
graciously provided facilities for our use and encouraged us with our venture.
They also wish to
x
Preface to the Translation acknowledge grants from Trent University and McGill
University that helped to defray some of the costs of the translation and of
the preparation of the final manuscript Lorraine Code William Carruthers Martin
Donogho Henry S. Harris Helga Hunter Kem Luther Lee Manchester Jeff
Mitscherling David Pfohl Kenneth Schmitz Donald Stewart JOHN BURBIDGE Trent
University GEORGE DI GIOVANNI McGill University
Preface
to the Commentary In writing the Introduction and headnotes to our translation
I have found the much more ambitious commentary provided by the Italian
translators very helpful. This translation, Logica e metafisica di Jena, edited
by F. Chiereghin and others, came to our notice too late to be of assistance in
the making of our own, English version. But the commentary (which is about
twice as long as the translated text) deserves the attention of all readers who
can use it. Chiereghin and his collaborators have traced both the earlier and
the later evolution of the main categories of the present work. My own aim here
is much humbler—and rather different. The best summary and analysis of Hegel's
argument in its own terms that I was able to give when this translation was
still in its infancy will be found in my Night Thoughts, chapter 8.1 So instead
of repeating that, I have here tried to interpret the structure and goals of
Hegel's logical construction in terms of the "real philosophy" that
it was designed to lead to—and especially in terms of the "First
Philosophy of Spirit,"2 which Hegel had only recently composed and clearly
intended to revise as the climax of the manual that he was here trying to
write. It will be clear to any careful reader that the theory of social
consciousness that forms the main thread of my interpretation is not the only
concern in Hegel's mind. Indeed, the student of the text may even be tempted to
think at some stages that this concern is not in i. Hegel's Development u:
Night Thoughts (Jena 1801-6), hereinafter referred to as Night Thoughts. 2. In
Gesammelte Werke, vi, 268-331; and in Harris and Knox, trans, and eds., System
of Ethical Life and First Philosophy of Spirit, pp. 205-50
Xll
Preface to the Commentary Hegel's mind at all. I have, however, focused
attention on the way in which the argument of the Logic and Metaphysics is
exemplified in social experience because I believe that this is the best way to
show how Hegel's project arose from (and is related to) the earlier projects
and problems of Kant and Hegel.3 The manuscript here translated is the earliest
formulation of Hegel's conception of "pure thinking" that has
survived. But because the projects of the later Phenomenology and Science of
Logic are united in a single undertaking in this Logic and Metaphysics, Hegel's
own determination to develop logical theory from a neutral standpoint does not
obscure his preoccupation with the more "subjective" logic of Kant
and Fichte. I have relied on this generally evident preoccupation to justify my
own reading of the whole argument in terms of the emergence of consciousness
(or singular subjectivity) in the social substance.4 H. S. HARRIS Glendon
College York University 3. If we forget about Kant's "deduction of the
categories" and Fichte's "self-positing of the Ego," then the
affinities of Hegel's work with the Parmenides of Plato, with Aristotle's
theology, and with the Cartesian tradition may lead us to agree with Michael
Rosen, in Hegel's Dialectic and Its Criticism, that the short answer to the
question "What is living in the logic of Hegel?" is "Nothing"
(p. 179). 4. Even the Italian commentators could perhaps learn from my few
pages to concentrate their attention on Leibniz, rather than Spinoza, as
Hegel's philosopher of "substance" in the present text.
H.
S. Harris General Introduction On 29 September 1804 (just a month or so after
his thirty-fourth birthday) Hegel appealed to Goethe to see to it that he was
not passed over when certain other licensed private teachers (Privatdozenten)
of philosophy at the University of Jena were promoted to the rank of professor.
At that time he had been teaching philosophy at Jena for three years and he was
the senior Privatdozent in the field. Also, since Schelling's departure to
Wurzburg in the spring of 1803 Hegel had been for more than a year the
principal representative at Jena of the kind of natural philosophy that he knew
Goethe was anxious to foster. He had some right, therefore, to count on
Goethe's support, and he duly received it.1 In his appeal to Goethe Hegel
dismissed his own published work as unworthy of the great man's attention.2 But
he did think fit to mention to Goethe the manuscript that he was currently
working on: "the purpose of a work that I hope to complete this winter for
my 1. But the promotion, when it came, still brought him no salary—it took
Goethe another year to procure the tiniest pittance for him (a mere one hundred
dollars)—so his financial situation, which was already very straitened, soon
became critical. 2. His published essays, being mainly technical philosophical
criticism and polemic, were not likely to interest Goethe much. But he no doubt
expressed himself in this way because, ever since the departure of Schelling,
he had been expounding his philosophical system in quite a different way. As
the reader will soon see for himself, the 'purely scientific treatment of
philosophy" that Hegel was willing to lay before Goethe as soon as it was
ready was just as technical as the Difference essay or Faith and Knowledge or
the essay on Natural Law. (And we should remember that we only know definitely
which of the major essays in the Critical Journal of 1801-3 [Gesammelte Werke,
Band iv] were Hegel's because he had to submit a curriculum vitae, including a
list of publications, before his promotion could be approved.)
xiv
General Introduction lectures—a purely scientific treatment of philosophy—will
allow me to lay it before your excellency, if you will kindly permit me to do
that."3 From the evidence of the handwriting we can say with considerable
security that the Logic and Metaphysics here translated formed the first part
of this "purely scientific treatment of philosophy." Some of it was
recopied from earlier drafts—for Hegel had been lecturing on logic and
metaphysics regularly, and he had been announcing the imminent publication of a
textbook ever since his second semester. But the structure into which the older
material was incorporated was itself new. After two years spent in the
elaboration of a four-part system in terms of a number of fundamental
dichotomies and antitheses established by Schelling, Hegel began, in October
1803, to articulate his thought in terms of the great triad of logic, nature,
and spirit that is familiar to students of the Berlin Encyclopaedia. The
treatise that he mentions to Goethe was to be articulated in this way. But we
can see from the manuscript as we have it that he did not finish it; and from
the subsequent lecture announcements and the surviving manuscripts of the
system in its next state we can infer that it was precisely a revolution in his
concept of logic that caused him to abandon our manuscript about half-way
through the Philosophy of Nature.4 To reconstruct the early evolution of
Hegel's conception of philosophical logic is not easy, because the evidence is
very fragmentary and inadequate. Any reconstruction must contain much that is
hypothetical and some elements that are mere conjecture. But certain basic
facts are clear enough to be relatively uncontroversial; and it is important
for the reader of this first surviving version of Hegel's logic to be familiar
with them because the mature logic (which anglophone readers first met in the
pages of Stirling's Secret of Hegel in 1865) only began to emerge as a result
of the revolution in Hegel's thought that caused him to abandon our manuscript
unfinished. What we have here is the final form of his early logic. A
preliminary account of how the 3. Briefe von und an Hegel, ed. Hoffmeister and
Flechsig, 1, 85. 4. We have not translated the incomplete Philosophy of Nature.
A short note about it appears at the end of our translation of the Logic and
Metaphysics. The next phase in the evolution of Hegel's logic itself does not
survive in the manuscripts. But we have both lecture announcements about the
new logic (no longer "Logic and Metaphysics") and the new logical
structure of the "real philosophy" (the Philosophy of Nature and
Spirit of 1805, which does survive) as evidence for the revolution in Hegel's
logical theory.
General
Introduction xv early concept of logic differs from the later one is therefore
essential, even though it has to be somewhat schematic, and some rather
conjectural statements about its evolution must be asserted dogmatically.5
"Logic," in the essays that Hegel thought unworthy of Goethe's
notice, is "the extended science of the Idea as such."6
"Idealism'' is a synonym for logic in this more general sense. The
"Idea of reason" in its "extended" form in human experience
and in the sciences requires to be collected and organized into systematic
coherence. The collecting is a "critical" task, since the elements
cannot be organized just as we find them. Thus, "transcendental
philosophy" (another synonym for "idealism, or logic") has two
great branches: critical theory and speculation.7 When Hegel gave courses under
the traditional title "Logic and Metaphysics," he used these more
specific terms for the two branches of "idealism, or logic,"
generally. In this narrower usage logic is critical idealism, the necessary
preamble to speculative metaphysics properly so called. Our manuscript is divided
in this way. Logic is distinguished here as a preparatory or introductory study
for philosophy proper. The systematic exposition of philosophy begins only with
"metaphysics." When Hegel himself gave systematic survey courses, he
either dispensed with the critical preamble altogether or supplied only a
minimal version or substitute for it. So what he called logic in these
systematic courses was (at least in the main) metaphysics according to the
technical division of the two topics in our present manuscript.8 5. The story
can be found in full detail in Harris, Night Thoughts; see pp. 22-73, 200-206,
226-37, and chap. 8. 6. This definition actually comes from Hegel's draft for
the first lecture of his Introduction to Philosophy (Oct. 1801). The text will
be found in Gesammelte Werke, v, 259-65. But see also Harris and Cerf, trans,
and eds., The Difference between Fichte's and Schetting's System of Philosophy,
pp. 89—117. 7. The identity of philosophy with "idealism, or logic"
(and the resultant possibility of its reduction to logic in the narrow, or
"critical" sense) is clearly explained in Cerf and Harris, trans, and
eds., Faith and Knowledge, p. 68. For Hegel's use of "transcendental
philosophy" in this sense see especially the announcement of the
"System of Speculative Philosophy" for the winter semester of 1803-4
(Hegel-Studien 4: 54; Night Thoughts, pp. 228-29n). 8. It is clear, for
instance, that the lost "Logic" of the "System of Speculative
Philosophy" of 1803-4 was in the main a metaphysical theory of
"Substance" (see the retrospective summary of the argument at the
beginning of the surviving "Philosophy of Spirit," in Harris and
Knox, trans, and eds., System of Ethical Life and First Philosophy of Spirit,
p. 205. The fragments of the introductory lecture for the
"Delineatio" of 1803 \'7bGesammelte Werke, v, 365-69; see Harris,
Night Thoughts, pp. 200-202) show that critical
xvi
General Introduction Logic—both in the broad, speculative sense and in the
narrow, critical sense—was an innovation introduced into the
"transcendental idealism" of Schelling's identity philosophy by Hegel
himself. He insisted that the critical approach to the "absolute
identity" must be "objective," in the sense of being neutrally
applicable both to thinking subjects and to the objects of thought.9 Thus the
logic of his first course on logic and metaphysics began with the theory of the
"finite categories" taken in this logically neutral or objective
sense. This approach was critical, first, in the obvious sense that it was founded
upon a critique of the "subjective formalism" of Kant (whose
categories are the forms of subjective manifestation for a problematic absolute
object, the "thing in itself'). But secondly—and much more importantly—Hegel's
logic was critical in its own internal method. It proceeds dialectically, or
(to use the language of Plato's Republic) by the "destruction of
hypotheses." In the first phase the categories are brought forth one by
one, only to be "nullified" in their relation to the absolute. From
Hegel's essay The Difference between Fichte's and Schelling's System of
Philosophy (1801) we can reliably infer that the finite categories that were
here engulfed in the absolute must have included Kant's first three triads but
not the final triad of modality, for in that essay Hegel dismisses the
categories of modality as principles of "the non- identity of subject and
object."10 We can also infer from this passage that these nine categories
were not the only ones treated in his first course; and we know that Kant did
not treat them in the proper order, "just as they come forth from
reason." But what this proper order was we cannot say. The Logic of 1804
proceeds from the triad of quality to that of quantity and arrives finally at
the categories of relation. But Hegel's insistence in 1801 that "we must
always keep before our eyes the archetype that it [understanding] copies"
might logic was replaced (at least in that instance) by a discussion of the
cultural "need of philosophy." In the Berlin Encyclopaedia, by contrast,
the systematic exposition of the need of philosophy (in the Phenomenology of
Spirit) was replaced by something more nearly akin to the critical logic of the
early Jena years. (This comparison helps us to recognize that the introduction
to the Encyclopaedia is only a pedagogical expedient.) 9. See Gesammelte Werke,
v, 271-72, for Hegel's programmatic outline for this course. The slightly
abbreviated quotation by Rosenkranz is translated in Cerf and Harris, Faith and
Knowledge, pp. 9-10, and the omissions are made good in Harris, Night Thoughts,
pp. 36—37. 10. Gesammelte Werke, iv, 6; Harris and Cerf, Difference, p. 80.
General
Introduction xvn be taken to imply that the "dynamic" categories, and
particularly the category of "substance and accident" (which is
called in the Difference essay "the true relation of speculation"),11
came first. Schelling had already inverted the order of the dynamic and the
"mathematical" categories (in the deduction offered in the System of
Transcendental Idealism).12 It was Fichte who was the first to begin from the
categories of quality,^ as Hegel does in 1804 (and always thereafter). Hegel
was consciously proud of his logic as a novelty in 1801, but it seems
altogether probable that he would follow Schelling's lead at that stage. The
model offered by Fichte would more naturally have attracted Hegel's serious
attention when he adopted the new phenomenological approach (through the
concept of "consciousness") in 1803.14 According to the Difference
essay, the "negative absolute" in which the finite categories of our
intuitive spatio-temporal experience are nullified is the understanding itself.
So the second phase of the logic of 1801 was the theory of finite intelligence
in its active construction of concepts, judgments, and syllogisms.15 This
construction is engulfed, in its turn, in the "true infinite of
reason." What Hegel calls "the speculative theory of the
syllogism" leads us in 1801 to a metaphysics that was apparently an
exposition of the "Idea of philosophy" combined with a critique of
the systematic forms that it has assumed (dogmatic, transcendental, idealistic,
realistic, and sceptical) during its history.16 From the Idea of philosophy 11.
Gesammelte Werke, iv, 33; Harris and Cerf, Difference, p. 166. 12. F. W. J.
Schelling, System des Transcendentalen Idealismus, in Sammtliche Werke, 1, iii,
467ff., 505ff.; Heath, trans., pp. 103-12, 134-54. 13. J. G. Fichte, Grundlage
der gesammten Wissenschaf tslehre (1794), in Sdmtliche Werke, i, i25ff.; Heath
and Lachs, trans., pp. i22ff. 14. The view taken in Night Thoughts (pp. 42-43)
that the order in 1801 was probably the same as that of 1804 now seems to me
less probable because of these antecedent models, to which my attention was
drawn by the commentaries of Chiereghin and Moretta in the Italian translation.
15. In Night Thoughts (pp. 43-52) I have shown how this part of the program can
be interpreted in terms of the reconstruction of Kant that Hegel offers us in
Faith and Knowledge. But Werner Hartkopf has rightly pointed to the
"mechanism of intelligence" in Schelling's System of Transcendental
Idealism as a probable model for Hegel's logical theory (Kontinuitdt und Dis
kontinuitdt in Hegels Jenaer Anfangen, esp. pp, 254-55). 16. Hegel's first
course broke up early and he retired to his study to write a textbook before he
attempted to teach the subject again. So it is quite possible that the first
project for metaphysics never existed in written-out form at all. We know that
the first textbook draft contained a systema reflexionis (logic) and a systema
rationis (metaphysics); but how these two systems were related either to one
another or to the earlier and
XV111
General Introduction Hegel's version of the identity system moved to "real
philosophy," or the theory of "the universe." This differed from
the "philosophy of nature," which succeeds metaphysics in our
manuscript, because it embraced the whole of finite reality. The philosophy of
finite spirit was itself one of the two parallel aspects of the "absolute
identity." It was also higher than the theory of physical nature because
it dealt with the practical reconstruction of identity as the intuition of
ethical nature. But it was itself part of nature as a whole; so the relation of
spirit and nature was more positive and direct than that which exists in the
tripartite system to which our Logic and Metaphysics belongs. In the earlier
system it is only the theory of absolute (or free) spirit that stands apart as
the "resumption into unity" of the whole extension of "idealism,
or logic."17 We do not know how the systema reflexionis et rationis of
1802 was organized. It seems possible (for example) that the cyclic parallel
treatment of Cartesian, Spinozist, and Leibnizian themes that is to be found
both in the Logic and in the Metaphysics of 1804 had its origin here. For this
cyclic parallel can be viewed as a reflection of the historical treatment of
metaphysics projected in 1801. But this is mere speculation (and unless more of
the manuscripts are found, it can never be any more than that). What we know
for certain is that as soon as Schelling left Jena (so that Hegel was obligated
to lecture on the identity philosophy as a whole), the Kantian conception of a
moral opposition between nature and spirit began to take on greater
significance in Hegel's mind. At the same time the theme of consciousness as
the discursive medium of experience became the focal topic of his philosophical
system. In the pure abstraction of logic this theme appears as the concept of
"cognition." The task of logic generally is to later versions of
Logic and Metaphysics is not certain. (Parts of this first textbook may survive
in our text, and even the basic pattern of our text may go back to 1802. But
Hegel continued to employ the critical-historical approach to metaphysics too.
So there is no solid ground even for conjectures here.) 17. This emphasis on
the contrast between the finite world (nature, and finite spirit, subjective
and objective) and the infinite (transcendental philosophy and absolute spirit)
is maintained in the system of 1805, but is there successfully conciliated with
the triadic structure of 1803-4. The conciliation thus achieved remains valid
in Hegel's maturity; and for that reason the Phenomenology—as the final
instrument of this conciliation— remains essential to the encyclopaedic
synthesis. (It supplies the mature form of the critical survey of the Idea in
its "extension"; this is what is "resumed" in the mature
theory of absolute spirit.)
General
Introduction xix construct the concept of "absolute cognition":
"The Idea of cognition is the first Idea of metaphysics."18 The
fragments dealing with Hegel's logic and metaphysics in this first year after
Schelling's departure are rather exiguous. We have a draft for two
"notes" that were probably part of the continually evolving textbook,
and the summary outline for a discussion of metaphysics that would have
occupied several lectures. The two notes are also concerned with the foundation
stone of metaphysics; the remarkable thing about this stage in Hegel's logical
reflections is that the starting- point of metaphysics is taken to be a unitary
principle. Instead of beginning (as our Metaphysics does, in 1804) with a
"system of principles," the Metaphysics of 1803 apparently began with
a "fundamental proposition." We do not know for certain what this
basic thesis about philosophical cognition was; but the most plausible
inference from the evidence that we have suggests that it was a formulation of
the "principle of ground."19 In any case this proposition with which
metaphysics began was also the terminus of philosophical speculation. Thus, the
ideal of philosophy as a self-grounding circle was perfectly realized. The
ideal of this perfect circularity, however, creates a problem. For it is now
hard to see how the initial approach to this closed circle of speculative
knowledge can be a logical one. The comprehension of one's time and of its
"need of philosophy" seems now to be the only natural path to the
discovery of this absolute beginning (and end) of metaphysics. This is the
solution that Hegel eventually adopted in the "system of science,"
which combined the "science of the experience of consciousness" with
the "science of logic." But before he could be satisfied with that
solution, he had to find a way of resolving all of the logical content of his
critical logic into the unitary science of speculative logic (which is this
circular metaphysics under its general name). In 1804 the Metaphysics begins
with a system of principles and proceeds to 18. Gesammelte Werke, vn, 341. This
sketch for lecturing on or writing up the topic of metaphysics cannot be dated
at all precisely because of its brevity. But it must be later than April 1803,
and it does not fit into the plan for our manuscript, which was certainly clear
in Hegel's mind before September 1804. (Someone, however, did insert it into
our manuscript at a more or less appropriate point.) 19. See the "Zwei
Anmerkungen" in Gesammelte Werke, vn, 343-47; the discussion in Night
Thoughts, 226-37, depends heavily on the interpretation proposed by J. H. Trede
(Hegel-Studien 7: 160—65).
XX
General Introduction deal with the Kantian "Ideas of reason" (which
are the topic of the Metaphysics outline of 1803—4). But at the climax of the
very first phase of the Logic we are already faced with the true infinite.
Admittedly, the true infinite is introduced at this point only by anticipation:
in the Logic it actually functions only negatively. Thus the essentially
critical (or dialectical)20 character of logic in the narrow sense is
preserved. But the very fact that the true infinite can legitimately be
introduced so early in the discussion shows how easy the move to a completely
speculative conception of logic and metaphysics has now become. In order that this
speculative conversion may occur, critical logic must lose its externally
reflective character, that is, its dependence upon the contingent consciousness
of a particular thinker. Even as the logic of understanding (which is what we
find in the first phase of the present manuscript), logic must be the work of
absolute reflection. This implies that the problem of how the historically
contingent consciousness of the rational animal is to overcome its contingency
and arrive at the absolute standpoint of "pure thought" must be
consigned to a different science. The "need of philosophy" and the
evolution of consciousness to the point where this need is absolutely
comprehended—that is, the point where it is comprehended as the self-sufficient
goal of rational cognition, or as the very concept of cognition—must become the
object of quite a different logical science, the science of time, and of our
"experience of consciousness" in time. The logic of our manuscript is
ready for this conversion. Since we know that Hegel had already experimented
with a historical approach to his "system," it is no surprise to
learn that in the semester following his promotion Hegel announced a course on
his system as a whole but actually gave one on "Logic."21 And we find
also among our manuscript remains, at the very moment of this change, the
earliest scraps that are demonstrably connected with the project of the
Phenomenology.22 20. In all his Jena writings, but especially in this
manuscript, Hegel uses the noun and adjective "dialectic,"
"dialectical," to refer to an essentially negative, destructive
process, phase, or method. The process is progressive because the overthrow of
each thought-hypothesis (or the breakdown of a real institution) indicates or
leads us to its replacement). 21. The announcement for summer 1805 is in
Hegel-Studien 4: 54. We know about the actual course because we have the list
of the students who enrolled in it (ibid., 62). 22. Rosenkranz, in Georg
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegels Leben, p. 202, considered that
General
Introduction xxi It is likely that the course on logic in summer 1805 dealt
with phenomenology and speculative logic together. We know that once the
manuscript of the Phenomenology existed, Hegel used it in his course on
"Speculative Philosophy or Logic" (summer 1806, the last course that
he actually gave at Jena); and he even included the topic "Phenomenology
of Spirit" separately in the announcement for winter 1806—7 (when he
actually gave no classes because the military and political crisis coincided
with, and contributed to, his own personal crisis, and forced him to abandon
his first academic career). In the summer course of 1806 the speculative logic
was dealt with only briefly at the end of a much fuller treatment of (at least
some parts of) the Phenomenology.23 Possibly Hegel's new speculative logic was
still only a skeleton when he left Jena. For his most urgent task was to work
out the application of the new logical method to his "real philosophy/' He
lectured on this steadily in 1805 and 1806, and the manuscript—which has come
down to us—shows that the whole system was reorganized in accordance with the
fully developed pattern of what is called in the work of Hegel's maturity
"subjective logic." Every stage—from the basic theory of space and
time onwards—is conceived as an evolution from "concept" through
"judgment" to "syllogism." This whole task of reorganizing
the "real philosophy" was achieved after the abandonment of our
manuscript (in which the philosophy of nature is organized in quite a different
way). But K. W. G. Kastner (who attended the class for which our manuscript was
written, before passing on to Heidelberg as professor of chemistry the next
year) wrote to Schelling in March 1806 that "according to the Jena
lecture- list Hegel's system is appearing at Easter, and as I have heard tell
it is in four volumes at one time."24 Kastner misunderstood the lecture-
list (which announced only the "System of Science," meaning phen-
Hegel conceived this project as early as 1804. But the rightful assignment of
our present manuscript to that period makes his hypothesis rather implausible.
The earliest fragment that can plausibly be interpreted as part of such a
project is a sketch dealing with the clash of divine and human law (Gesammelte
Werke, ix, 437). This was written on the back of one of the drafts for Hegel's
letter to Voss (May 1805). 23. The course announcements are in Hegel-Studien 4:
54-55; for the content of the 1806 course on "Logic and Metaphysics or
Speculative Philosophy" we have the testimony of Gabler, who took it
(ibid., 71). 24. G. Nicolin, ed., Hegel in Berichten seiner Zeitgenossen,
report 43
XX11
General Introduction omenology and logic together). But either Hegel himself or
someone close to him had obviously said or written that the system would be in
four parts and that it would appear soon. Had it not been for the battle of
Jena (and the imminent arrival of an illegitimate child), Kastner's forecast
might have been fulfilled within a year or two. In actual fact it took Hegel
ten more years to complete the Logic, and he never did produce the "real
philosophy" in a proper book form at all. From this bird's-eye view of the
evolution of Hegel's logic we can see that there is indeed, as J. Heinrichs
suspected, a close relation between the Logic of 1804 and the program of the
Phenomenology.25 But the relation is both closer and more distant than he
believed. The whole system that the Logic of 1804 *s designed to introduce was
conceived and structured phenomenologically (that is, as a logical evolution of
consciousness). It is therefore right to look for the principle of
consciousness in the Jena Logic from the very beginning.
"Consciousness," or the subject-object opposition, appears there as
the principle of "reflection"; and in the brief analyses of each
stage of the argument that are offered here as aids to the user of this
translation, I have tried to show how the dialectic of subject and object in
consciousness can provide a key to difficult transitions.26 But Heinrichs'
claim that the pattern of the Logic and Metaphysics of 1804 can be directly
mapped on to the Phenomenology of 1807 is highly dubious, since the
Phenomenology of 1807, although itself an introduction and first part to the
system of philosophy, repeats the whole sytem of 1803-5 (not just that
introduction and first part that the Logic and Metaphysics was to be). A
mapping of this kind may still be possible, because of the internal mirroring
that can be observed in properly selected "wholes" within Hegel's
system. The Logic and Metaphysics is one such whole, and it does share with the
Phenomenology the peculiarity of being both an introduction and a first part.
But the problem of the relationship between them must be ap- 25. Die Logik der
"Phanomenologie des Geistes." 26. This is a novelty in the analyses
offered here as compared with the more detailed examination of the argument in
Night Thoughts, chap. 8. I was well aware of the phe- nomenological character
of the system when I wrote that chapter, but I was more struck then by the
continuity of the 1804 Logic with the logic program of 1801—which requires that
the initial evolution of the categories should be objective or neutral. I think
now that both emphases are present. But the reader must decide for himself
which of them is predominant, or how they are equilibrated.
General
Introduction xxin proached cautiously; and the very different structure and
goals of the systems that they introduce must be kept firmly in mind.27 With
that preliminary caveat the reader can be left to study the texts for himself.
Certainly the close affinity between this text and the great book that emerged
only two years later is one of the most compelling reasons why we should study
it with passionate care and attention. 27. This is difficult because very
little of Hegel's discussion of the goal of the system in 1803-5 survives. But
it seems clear that a complete system whose discursive principle is
phenomenological aims at scientia intuitiva, or "absolute intuition."
The goal of a systematic phenomenological introduction, on the other hand, is
the system itself as discursive science (or cognition).
THE
JENA SYSTEM, 1804-5: LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS
Logic
I / Simple Connection A / QUALITY Hegel's manuscript originally consisted of
102 doubly folded sheets that he numbered himself. The most serious lacuna in
what survives arises from the loss of the first three of these sheets. The
inner half of sheet 6 and the whole of sheet 7 are also missing. For this
reason the reconstruction of the first part of the argument, and even our
conception of its formal articulation into sections and subsections, is
somewhat hypothetical. The very title "Simple Connection" is a
conjecture. Hegel may (for instance) have called the whole section "Quality"
and begun the use of subheadings only when "Quantity" emerges from
this initially undifferentiated unity. In the translation, however, we follow
the articulation proposed by the editors of our German text. Later on, Hegel
refers back to this first section as "the logic of understanding."1
He apparently began with the three categories of quality in Kant's table:
reality, negation, and limitation (but perhaps he called negation
"ideality"). Kant began his deduction of the "mathematical"
categories—with which "Simple Connection" is plainly concerned—with
the triad of quantity. It was Fichte who first began with the triad of quality.
Fichte is certainly in Hegel's eye as a critical target here; but this should
not cause us to overlook the fact that he is also the obvious inspiration and
first model for this logic of consciousness. i- See ce 175, 1. 3, below. Hence,
when he tells us here that the independent subsistence (Fursichseyn) of terms
is the "general principle of the logic of understanding," he is
speaking of the basic hypothesis of natural consciousness, according to which
everything exists on its own account and is "simply connected" with
everything else.
4
Logic Near the beginning of the Metaphysics (see ce 129, below) Hegel says,
"the Logic began with unity itself as the self-equivalent." This
"unity or being" (ce 154—55) 1S certainly not the mathematical unit
(which we shall meet later on under "Quantity"). There may—as the
Italian commentators think—be an implicit reference to the "first
hypothesis" of the Parmenides.2 But it is probably safer not to look
beyond the fundamental tenet of the understanding as formulated by Bishop
Butler: "Everything is what it is, and not another thing." This is
the fundamental hypothesis of the logic of understanding (and we should notice
how it involves both reality and negation). The view that whatever is real is
self-identical and has only "simple" (that is, external) connections
with everything else is plainly quite inadequate for the fundamental
"connections" of physical forces and the philosophical connection
between consciousness and its world.* At the point where our manuscript starts,
Hegel has reached the third moment of quality—the logical "totality"
of the triad in the category of limit. The fragmentary text begins in the midst
of a discussion of the "construction" of consciousness in Fichte's
theory. Hegel argues that this construction only shows that our sense
consciousness is a "limit" that arises because two opposed
"forces" have arrived at an equilibrium. A conceptual limit of this
kind is quite different from the limiting boundary between two physical objects
that lie next to each other; and even the "force" of gravity that
holds those two objects in place on the earth beneath them is again a limit of
this conceptual kind, for it logically involves the inward character of the
earth and of the objects thus held in place. The "unity" of which
Hegel is speaking in the first complete sentence is apparently the unity of the
self, or of cognitive consciousness conceived in a Kantian "formal"
way. The "highest unity" will then be the Fichtean Ego, within which
all finite knowers subsist, and "the multiplicity" will be the
objects of consciousness, including the other selves. The unity with which
transcendental logic begins is the being of the finite self and its finite
world. This self moves from its possible connection with everything to the
necessary "proportion" 2. See Chiereghin's discussion in Logica e
metafisica, p. 231. The suggestion of Moreno (ibid., p. 266, n. 4)—that the
general progression of the Logic as it moves from the indeterminacy of simple
connection to the determinate concreteness of proportion owes something to the
progression in the Philebus from the apeiron through peras and mikton to aitia—also
deserves serious consideration. Certainly the inspiration of Hegel's
"objective logic" is more Platonic than Aristotelian. 3. We can also
get some idea of what Hegel sought to show in his discussion of reality and
ideality (or negation) from the retrospective summaries below (ce 5-7). Compare
Harris, Night Thoughts, pp. 347-49-
Simple
Connection 5 of philosophical cognition. The proper explication of this highest
unity is the theme of this Logic and Metaphysics. When it reaches its climax,
this phe- nomenological theory of absolute cognition is one long search for the
right solution of Fichte's problem about the conscious reality of the Ego. [. .
. the opposites . . .] are beings [. . .]. One of the opposites is necessarily
the unity itself; but just for that reason this unity is not the absolute one,
and since at the same time it is not simply to be as an opposite, but also to
be in itself, it follows that, as unity of itself and of its opposite, it can
be only limit; for as unity of both it would itself cease to be an opposite.
Thus the so-called construction of the idea out of the opposed activities, of
the ideal2 and realz ones, as unity of both, has produced nothing but the
limit. The ideala activity has simply the same meaning as the unity; the double
meaning of this unity determines itself as the unity of the antithesis because,
as unity of itself and of the real2 activity (that is, the multiplicity), it
still remains outside itself as a non-unified unity and the multiplicity
remains over against it; so that each such unity of opposites—as a moment of
the whole and also as the whole, the highest idea itself as well—remains
nothing but limit. The decision whether the unity is just limit or absolute
unity depends directly upon whether, outside of or after the unity, what are
posited in it as one are still self-subsistent beings. In the concept of limit
itself the unity and multiplicity, or the reality and negation, still subsist
on their own acount, and their principle, as the general principle of the logic
of understanding, is recognized as not self-subsistent, because it is truly
sublated and is not just something that is to be sublated. Just for that reason
the construction out of opposed activities that is called idealism is itself
[4] nothing other than the logic of understanding, inasmuch as the steps of the
construction arise within this principle; and this idealism remains this logic
too, inasmuch as the result of its absolute syllogism is that the ideal2
activity, the unity (which as beginning is altogether indeterminate and
equivocal as to whether it is true unity or unity as quality), is only the
latter, for the absolute unification remains just an ought, that is, a beyond
over against the unity of the limit; and the two4 fall asunder. The same occurs
with the construction of matter out of opposed forces, the forces of attraction
and repulsion, in which the former signifies the (differentiated) unity and the
latter the (differentiated) multi- 4. Trans,: That is, the absolute unity as a
beyond and the unity of the limit.
6
Logic plicity. Like the opposed unity and multiplicity, these forces are as
opposites nothing in themselves; but because they are set forth as forces, they
are fixed as self-subsistent, as absolute qualities. Considered on their own
account in this way, however, they turn out to be completely equal: insofar as
there is attractive force, there is repulsive force; there is no distinction
between them at all, save that of direction. But each of the opposed directions
can be regarded equally well as an effect of attractive or as an effect of
repulsive force; for direction is the empty connection, which is determined by
anything fixed. The opposition of the directions is nothing but a completely
empty opposition; but that through which the directions are truly distinguished—a
posited point—would already be the oneness of them both, in which all
opposition and the directions themselves are dissolved; apart from this their
being-dissolved they are nothing—that is, they have no reality at all. Matter
is nothing but that one[ness], or its absolute equilibrium, in which the
directions are neither opposed nor even forces, and apart from which they have
just as little being. But they are after all posited as beings on their own
account, and the differentiation of matter is supposed to be a resolution into
these entia rationis; in other words, these forces are supposed to emerge from
the equilibrium that sublates them and to have a being apart from it. However,
the differentiation of matter is essentially just this: that matter, the
equilibrium itself, remains equal to itself; the differentiation cannot [be] a
differentiation of the force of attraction and that of repulsion, [5] for that
would be a sublating of matter itself. This differentiation would consist of a
more of the one and a less of the other; but they have significance simply as
connected with each other, as opposed directions: to the extent that one went
beyond the other, to that extent it would itself cease to be. In their
equilibrium, however, both are just as sublated within their distinction, but
they are to have being not as sublated but rather as qualities or as subsisting
on their own account; and that they should be so is clear because, apart from
the equilibrium, their being one, they should yet have being. Therefore, this
equilibrium is not itself the true unity because a oneness of those things
"which have being essentially, on their own account, is just their
nothingness; so it is not matter, not a true reality that has been posited, but
only a limit, the nothingness of the opposites and their being. 2 / In the
limit the nothingness of reality and negation is posited, as well as their
being apart from this nothingness; in this way quality itself
Simple
Connection 7 is realized in the limit; for the limit so expresses the concept
of quality as the being per se of the determinacies, that in it both
determinacies, each on its own account, are posited as indifferent to each
other, as subsisting apart from each other. At the same time each, in
accordance with its content, expresses not determinacy in general (as it does
in the concept) but rather determinacy as determinate, as reality and negation;
in other words, with respect to each [each expresses] what it would be only in
the antithesis or in connection with the other; this connection with the other
(being taken back into itself and because as relation it is only external to
it) [is] now itself posited with respect to it;5 the one, itself the
nothingness of the qualities, the other, their being. This indifferent
subsistence of the nothingness and of the being of the qualities, however, does
not exhaust the and of the limit; that is, the limit is not just this one side
of reality, [the side] of the being per se of the qualities contained in it—the
limit derives from the [6] negation, and the latter is only reality's
being-external-to-the-limit—but also the connection with it; through this
connection the limit in the form of connection is equal to its content. The one
side of the content is the reality, the being or subsistence of the
determinacies; in this way its determinacies—the being and the nothingness of
the qualities—subsist. The other side is their nothingness, and in this way
they are related, yet they are nothing in the connection; no matter how the
being of the qualities might be posited alone and their nothingness posited as
falling outside of being, it would not be a nothingness that is so connected
with the being that both subsist. The connection of the nothingness of the qualities
with their subsistence, however, is one that excludes this being—that is, [it
is] not an undifferentiated subsistence of both but a negation that is
connected with itself. In this self-connection, however, or in this positive
connection, [the negation] sublates not being as such but only being in
self-connection, that is, a negative connection. The limit is true quality only
insofar as it is self- connection, and it is this only as negation, which
negates the other only in connection with itself. In this way the limit is now
synthesis as well, unity in which both subsist at the same time, or real
quality. But the quality that must become limit has itself, by the same token,
become the contrary of itself; its concept is the being per se of the 5. Tram :
The reference for "it" is ambiguous. It could be
"connection" or it could be "each determinacy."
8
Logic determinacies. Since that gets expressed which in truth is posited in the
negation, the quality becomes limit; it remains the concept of itself, namely,
a negation connecting with itself [and] excluding reality from itself. But this
quality no longer is the concept of quality, for negation in its connecting
only with itself is connected with that which it excludes. For quality is not
absolutely on its own account, but it is on its own account only insofar as
[something] else is not. The concept of quality, however, is this: to be only
equal to itself, without respect to an other. In the limit, quality becomes
what it is according to its absolute essence, what according to its concept
(posited essence), however, it is not to be, and into which at the same time
its concept must pass, in that the latter is posited as what it is to be; the
limit is thereby the totality or true reality, which, [when] compared with its
concept, contains its dialectic as well, because the concept sublates itself
therein in such a manner that it has become its own contrary. [7] As its
concept, quality is the reality out of which it has come to be the contrary of
itself, negation; and out of this it has come to be the contrary of the
contrary of itself, and has thus come to be itself again as totality. This
totality is itself quality and at the same time the concept of quality; but the
concept both comes forth from the contrary of quality and expresses it in
itself, and hence, in that at the same time it has in itself an other than it
is, it has become the contrary of quality. The limit, as the totality, as this
negation which excludes itself [as] an other in its connecting with itself,
[and] thereby is connected with an other (the subsistence), posits that which
was our necessary reflection upon quality, namely, that the determinacy that is
on its own account, which the quality is to be, is not; [that is,] it is not a
truly unrelated determinacy but in its self-connection it connects itself
negatively with an other; in other words, this limit is called quantity. B /
QUANTITY The upshot of the argument of "Quality" is that the concept
of quality as limit is a proper concept—that is, it is a unity of opposites.
The concept of quality is every quality potentially and no quality actually. It
is the limit to which all qualities are equally referred; and as such it is an
absolutely unitary consciousness. The unitary consciousness that is the limit
is thus the concept of "quantity"—the self-moving point that
generates the line that Hegel calls mens in the Dissertation of 1801 \'7bOn the
Orbits of the Planets). The whole mass of qualitative contents is
"outside" it and exists for it as a positive/ie/d, patterned
Simple
Connection 9 in accordance with any discriminations that the qualitative mass
offers. Thus, there is the extended world (as a "positive unity") on
one side; and the "negative unity" of the self that quantifies it on
the other. They are radically opposed, but they also belong to the same whole
(the "world" proper). Since the world of quality is itself the world
of consciousness, its manifold variety is within consciousness as sequentially
unified. This temporal unification is a perpetual flowing. Consciousness is a
continual emptying for refilling. The world of the self is now a "heap or
collection of impressions." It is Allheit, or "allness."6 The
self is not the all; but it is what makes everything into one heap. In thus
comprehending its world quantitatively, the self is the total concept of
quantity: it is a "quantum." In this headnote we have again
concentrated our attention on the transcendental idealist aspect of the logical
dialectic. But the argument is objective throughout; that is to say, it has a
transcendental realist application as well. The "one" and the
"many ones" are not just conscious subjects but physical centres of
attraction and repulsion—the thought-elements that are needed for the
construction of a dynamic physical theory (compare the way that the fragmentary
discussion of "Quantum" begins). This transcendental-realist concern
is what makes the doctrine of the 1801 Dissertation relevant. a I Numerical One
1 I Quantity according to its concept is immediately a negating self-
connection. What this negation excludes from itself is the subsistence of the
qualities as distinguished, the being-many. This simple unity, connecting
purely with itself, which excludes every many from itself [or] negates them
with respect to itself, is the numerical one; unity as self-equivalence in
general passes over into the one, one self-equivalent [8] in virtue of the fact
that unity contains in it this reflection expressed: that it excludes the many.
It is negative unity. This absolute limit is indifferently posited both as
excluding the many and (qua self- connection) on its own account, not a
negating of the many, but, in its negating of them, a connecting only with
itself, that is, a being 6. We have translated Allheit in this literal way in
order to avoid confusion with the Hegelian concept of "totality,"
which is a more organic category altogether. When Hegel writes, "the limit
is . . . the totality [Totalitat) or true reality, which . . . simultaneously
contains its dialectic" (ce 16, 11. 28-30), it is essential for the reader
to be able to distinguish between this dynamic Totalitat and the Kantian formal
concept that Hegel calls Allheit. What he calls Totalitat here is the first
appearance of "true infinity"— compare ce 29 below.
io
Logic negated or being excluded of the many in such a way that negating as the
totality of quality is reflected into itself and does not go outside, and
thereby has precisely the form of the absolutely qualitative. Here the true
significance becomes clear of how quality, having become limit or quantity, is
totality: it is totality in that its concept, determinacy as connection of
determinacy with itself, has returned into itself; not just determinacy
connecting with itself but determinacy as it has come to be the contrary of
itself and from this has again come to be itself, and, as this
its-having-come-to-be-its-contrary-and-again-itself, is not something bygone
but, as this movement, constitutes the content of quality as of a totality.
Quality, which thus as totality expresses within itself this
its-having-become-other [than itself], is just on that account—in that it
itself is—at the same time the other of itself; the concept is only this: the
quality itself, its connections with itself;7 the real concept, or the
totality, however, [is] quality's having become itself from its being other, or
[the fact] that in its being other it is itself. This quality's
being-other-than-itself is the side of its antithesis, the determinacy of
quality, or its content, a negative connection; for quality itself is simple
connection only with itself. However, in this content the real concept is at
the same time this: the quality itself; and this quality in respect to this
content opposed to quality is this: that the content, the negative connection
connected only with itself, is not for example a force, a unity differentiated
from the other, but is, as a sublatedness of the other, equal to itself, or a
numerical one. 2 I That which is excluded from the numerical one is
multiplicity in general, the being of qualities, which, however, since they are
posited only as self-connections without negation, comes together into unity,
is equal to itself, being, [9] the positive, [and is] thus the many returned
into itself which thereby ceases to be many, and is only the possibility of
distinguishing, extension, which, equal to itself, at the same time is not the
negative equality of the point, because nothing negative is posited [with
respect] to it. This unity gets this determinacy of a positive only through its
antithesis to the negative or numerical unity; the latter is excluded from it,
but it is thereby also only the concept of this negatedness of the posited
distinction; with respect to the unity this negatedness does not express itself
as a negating. The quality of 7. Trans.: The original has only a comma here, so
that the succeeding nouns may be in apposition to "[quality]" and
"connection." In our interpretation there is a contrast between
"concept" and "the real concept."
Simple
Connection 11 negation has hereby determined itself as negative unity, that of
reality or position as positive unity; this determining is nothing other than
that quality as real concept has gained a content, while it itself has come to
be the form. Since the numerical one determined8 itself as limit through the
antithesis of both absolute qualities, and is only as the unity of these yet
(as being on its own account, as the totality) is their sublatedness, then the
numerical one determines them in such a way that the limit on its own account
is their concept, or quantity, with the result that they themselves become
their concept and are only as opposed to the concept of quantity. This concept
is negative one; the qualities are nothing but positive one. In other words,
since the concept is connected with itself, so the qualities are connected with
themselves and therein become self-equivalence. And because they are an
excluded self-equivalence, whereas the first is the negative self-equivalence,
they are the positive. But in this way again only a required, not an actual
distinction is posited; for the antithesis of positive-and-negative9 expresses
nothing but absolute opposition— but only as a requirement, which, however, is
not only posited with respect to the members, but [is] unity as that which both
have in common. This common unity of both is the same positive unity as the
possibility of multiplicity that was previously opposed to the negative unity,
which, however, has been shown to be that rather in which both members are
equal. In this positive unity positive-and-negative is itself opposed, but on
their own account they do not have any significance, and they express nothing
but this: that the one is not the other, or that they exclude each other, thus
[are] both numerical ones; in other words, what is posited in truth is a
multiplicity of numerical ones. [10] b I Multiplicity of Numerical Ones i /
Negative unity is exclusive and posits itself as being on its own account
against the other, but in this excluding it is immediately connected with the
other; if what is excluded is conceived as multiplicity, 8. Trans.: Reading
bestimmt rather than bestimmte. (Hegel himself made such a correction on the
next line.) 9- Trans.: Hyphens are used to indicate that the definite article
is singular and not plural. Compare 1. 23 below, where a singular verb is
governed by the phrase "positive and negative," straining the sense
in English.
12
Logic then negative unity itself is immediately a many as well; for however
many the many is, so many times is it negated by the unity; such a manifold
negating, or such a manifold, is the unity itself; and10 negative unity is
rather its contrary, positive unity, and as such, multiplicity, which, being
internally differentiated, is posited as an aggregate of numerical ones. 2 /
This aggregate of the distinguished ones is reciprocally exclusive; their
connection, positive unity, their common, quiescent medium or their subsisting
is an out and out negative connecting, an absolute fleeing, a mutual repulsion
of all parts, or the equilibrium of the nothing, a unity without distinction,
with respect to which even the distinction of positive and negative unity disappears.
N[ote] / The invincibility of being fortifies itself even more through the form
which it gives to itself as negative being, as numerical one; being as such
appears on its own account as empty, at least, and in need of an other; but the
numerical one appears absolutely on its own account in that it excludes from
itself the other of which being is in need, and is posited absolutely, without
lack and as something indestructible. But because it is negative unity, it is
determinacy and sublates itself by passing over into its contrary; the negative
is simply connected with an other, and as this connection it is the other of
itself; in other words, it is ideal2, it is sublated. The mere simplicity of
the one is itself the nothing, but its negating simplicity is supposed
precisely to preserve its self-equivalence in that it excludes otherness from
itself; but in this excluding it is itself one with the otherness [11] and
sublates itself. This self-equivalence is the absolute quantity or that which
quantity is in truth, that is, its own sublatedness, and similarly that which
absolute quality is, that is, just the sublatedness of quality, the self-
equivalent. c I Allness11 i / This self-equivalence, however, is itself
determined by [the fact] that it is absolute quantity, or that it springs from
the multiplicity of the numerical one; it is not posited on its own account but
as the 10. Trans.: Hegel first wrote "instead of the negative unity it
is." He deleted the preposition "instead" and changed the case
of the noun to the nominative but did not delete the pronoun "it." We
have assumed that this should have been done to complete the emendation. n. In
the ms margin: A distinction of the one and the many which is also no
distinction, or a connecting of the one and the many, which is also their
unconnectedness.
Simple
Connection *3 nothing of this determinate multiplicity. As the one that has
passed into its contrary, the multiple one, and therefore is identical with it,
it is allness. 2 / However, this allness is not the absolute equivalence but
determines12 the equivalence of this one and the many, of negative and positive
unity. It is only their being sublated; insofar as they themselves are, in
other words, it is conditioned through them. But since it is their unity, it
is, only insofar as it excludes their being from itself, and it is itself
quantity, a negative unity that is the being equivalent of the one and the many
and [that] has excluded from itself their being not equivalent or their being
on their own account. There is hereby posited a connectedness of the one and
the many and, excluded from it, an unconnectedness of the one and the many.
This allness is the totality of quantity; its concept is the negative unity
which itself, as multitude of the many, becomes another, and as allness becomes
itself again. But here in its totality, quantity in general has itself become
an other than it is, and in its return into itself it has passed over into its
contrary. Quantity itself, or its concept, was the simple negative unity which
excludes multiplicity; [12] quantity reflected into itself, its real concept,
is negative unity, which is itself the unity of negative and positive unity,
and likewise has excluded them both. What amounts to the same thing, quantity
is a limited positive unity, for as the unity of both unities it is the
possibility of multiplicity, which is posited in it as sublated; their unity is
thus equivalence in the sense of commonality. It is limited commonality or
extension, for apart from it [the unity is] also the unconnectedness of both
unities. This real quantity is one quantity or . . . C / QUANTUM The transition
from "Quantity" to "Quantum" is missing because the inner
half of sheet 6 is lost; and most of the first two moments of the argument are
missing also, because sheet 7 is lost. So the reconstruction of the argument is
necessarily hypothetical, and the inserted subtitle is a conjecture. Because of
a later reference back to this point, however, we can be fairly certain that
the first moment of "Quantum" was "A Whole and Its Parts"
(see ce 62, below). Conceptual wholeness is not the wholeness of a heap that
can be dissipated into separate parts, but is cumulative in an intensive way
(like tem- 12. Trans.: Following the punctuation of the ms rather than the
emendation of the CE.
14
Logic perature). In what remains to us from the main argument of this stage
Hegel is mainly concerned with the application of this concept to the objective
world. But his primary concern with the conscious self is evident from the
"dialectic of quantum," which survives in its integrity. At the
beginning of sheet 8 we are near the end of the second moment of
"Quantum." Probably we ought to call this second moment
"Continuous and Discrete Magnitude."1 H The review at the beginning
of the third moment shows that the argument here was that every degree is a
distinct quantum (as the self is a new and different self in every moment of
sensory consciousness), although it can only be determined as this quantum by
reference to all the other quanta that lie behind it or beyond it (just as the
self must retain its own past and project its own future). "Number"
is the conceptual model of this real infinity (and the self is the zero point
between two bad infinities, but also the one that occupies every place in the
numerical sequence). The "bad infinity" of quantum is the topic of
the dialectical third moment. The infinite appears as this "absolute
contradiction" (the self is both zero and one and is neither of them
"truly"). Hegel needs to resort to a long note (or a series of notes)
at this point because in the first place he wants to put his discussion of the
"bad" infinite into the context of the "good" infinite (the
"absolute essence," which properly belongs to metaphysics); and
secondly (in the sub-notes, marked cm, 2, 3, and 4) he wants to state his
conception of the methodology of the infinitesimal calculus. As opposed to the
theory of consciousness, this is "the externality of quantum." We
should note two things: first, that (in section cm) consciousness is clearly
identified as die Sache selbst; and secondly, that Hegel does not attack
mathematics—he only criticizes loose and illogical ways of describing what we
do when we perform the logical operations of differentiation, integration, and
so on. It is essential to the progress of Hegel's own argument that
mathematical calculus should be accepted as valid and that its validity should
not be implicitly undermined by the way that we talk about it. (Hegel's
concrete illustrations in this note throw valuable light on the argument of the
previous sections; and the theory of motion as the primitive datum of
"dynamic physics"—in sub-note 4—shows that his philosophy of nature
should be studied as a kind of proto relativity theory). At the end of the long
note Hegel returns to the main argument of the "dialectic of quantum"
and sums it up. The concept of quantum has shown 13. But perhaps the first two
moments were to be called "Degree" and "Number." Since the
third moment has no heading except a marginal addition, Hegel seems not to have
come to a final decision about category headings for "Quantum."
Simple
Connection l5 itself to be "infinity." Thus, the way that this
category applies to the conscious self—with the explicit rejection of
"degrees of consciousness" and the implicit rejection of
"immortality" as a bad infinite—is peculiarly important.
Consciousness—as die Sache selbst—is "true infinity." . . . [it
sublates]14 itself in the simplicity of force. But the need for a distinction
of magnitude remains, in order to determine it15 as a quantum—that is, to posit
with respect to it a diversity that would not be a diversity of itself. The
degree of simple force expresses as magnitude simply its connection with
something else; and at the same time, as intensity, the degree is to express
force as pure self-connection, as it is absolute for itself or simple within
itself. The degree is to dispense with the absolute multitude of atomism as
much as with this: that the diversity of matter be merely external and a
diversity of figure and thereby of external placement, and be separation of the
atoms through diverse empty spaces. Dynamic physics, alternatively, wants to
cognize this diversity not as something external but as something in and of
itself in matter. We have shown above that it is self-contradictory to explain,
on the basis of a diverse relationship of forces over against each other, the
diversity that is to be comprehended; there is nothing left but to posit one
force in [13] a diversity of degree. Because it is a magnitude, however, the
degree is so far from sublating multitude and externality that that is rather
what it essentially is. A larger or smaller multitude of mass = heat = etc.
particles transformed into a higher or lower intensity of mass or heat, etc.,
sublates, to be sure, the semblance of atomic multiplicity in what appears to
be mass or heat; but if this [multiplicity] now has actually to be expressed as
a determinate magnitude, then this can only happen through connection with
numbers. Admittedly the fortieth, the hundredth, etc., degree still does not
express a multiplicity with respect to the degree itself but with its
simplicity; however, this diversity has significance simply and solely in
relation to another. This determinate intensity is not this at all, if it is
not this for something external; and it is simply not at all what it would be
for itself—what it is to be as dynamic. The simple itself (for instance, the
speed, the specific weight, heat, etc.) 14. Trans.: The verb particle auf,
which alone remains, suggests that the verb was aufheben. 15. Trans.: The
gender of the pronoun suggests that it could refer either to "force" °r
to "magnitude."
i6
Logic escapes the determination of magnitude; and insofar as it is in general
determined as magnitude, it is posited as a manifold, as something external.
This is how the form of simplicity of magnitude, or of intensive magnitude,
does not wrestle it away from. . . . . . . [continuous magnitude; conversely,
the many ones of the division, posited as the essential for which the
connection is the external, [are] a discrete magnitude. The continuous
magnitude has posited its limit wholly outside itself, not with respect to
itself as an external [limit]; in order to be quantum on its own account it
must necessarily posit itself as essentially limited, or as internally divided
in an absolute way, in other words, as a determinate aggregate of
self-distinguishing negative unities. Only number is the realized quantum, in
which it expresses itself as what it is; degree, just as much as a continuous
magnitude, must16 [14] resort to number in order to be determined as quantum.
In quantum connectedness in general is numerical one and the many are connected
in the same way; in number this concept of quantum is not the form of something
else, but the many are each of them a numerical one; and the whole [is one]
too, since the numerical one17 has in it the double sense of being negative and
exclusive yet, as unity, of being at the same time positive unity, in other
words, the connection of the many numerical ones. The part of this whole is in
this [way] completely determined through itself, because it is numerical one
and equal with the form of the whole, which itself is one, but not identical
with its content, through which it is quantum. 318 / Quantum sublates itself
not only insofar as it is connected with itself or is the unity of a whole and
the parts, but also insofar as, excluding [this], it is on its own account the
connectedness of the one and the many, outside of which there would be the
unconnectedness of the one and the many. Concerning the relationship of the
whole and the parts it has been shown19 that in truth the whole as one and the
parts as many ones fall asunder and are not connected. Quantum only is as an
excluding from itself; what is thus excluded would be the unconnectedness of
the one with the many ones. But in it indeed the one and the many 16. Trans.:
The ms has a plural verb here. 17. In the margin: absolute measure. 18. In the
margin: Dialectic of quantum. 19. Trans.: In the lost parts of the original.
Simple
Connection 17 ones are indifferent to each other: it is thus equal to what it
negates from itself and is in truth non-excluding. Particularly as number, quantum
should posit limit or otherness as self-subsisting [an sich selbst seiend];
however, it is manifest that number has no limit but is equal to what is
excluded. What is here excluded (with which it is equal) is the unconnectedness
of the one and the many. When quantum is formally considered as what it should
be but is not ([that is as] something limited) and what is excluded likewise
only as something equal to it, then only what is formal is posited: the
requirement that what is limited or negative shall make itself equal to what is
excluded, to which it is equal. Or rather the following has been posited: that
what is negative posits [itself] as equal to that which it negates from itself,
to that which [15] it posits as absolutely unequal to itself. In it indeed what
was previously considered as indifferently falling asunder is by the same token
the positing of itself as equal to that to which it posits itself as absolutely
unequal. Number as numerical one is positive unity, which connects the many
ones; but because as negative unity number posits itself as equal to the many
ones, it posits itself as equal to them only as unequal to them, that is, as
positive unity. Number is quantum only as negative one, as a determinate
aggregate of the ones that it comprehends within itself; but in these, number
does not have a limit either, for as ones they are likewise unity, a connection
of numerical ones. Hence, in that it connects a determinate aggregate—whereby
alone it is quantum—number posits itself in fact only as an indeterminate
aggregate; for the connected ones are indeed a unity that is equal to itself,
or not limited; in this way as well [they are] as something limited, equal to
what is not limited. Quantum posits itself as equal to what it excludes from itself,
and so in truth it does not exclude it. Insofar as quantum is considered as a
self-subsisting being from which an other is excluded, to this extent it has
[ist an ihm selbst] positive unity or non-limitation, not-excludedness. Going
out beyond the limit ad infinitum and dividing inwardly in infinitum is one and
the same for each, so that the limit or determinacy posited in it is no limit,
no determinacy; in quantum the absolute contradiction or infinity is posited.
N[ote] 1 / The result of the dialectic of quantum is that quantitative
distinction, insofar as it is a strictly external, accidental one without this
necessary reflection, [is] a limitation that is in fact no limitation; for an
absolutely external limit has thereby no relation with that of which it ought
to be the limitation [denn eine absolut aussere ist darum
i8
Logic nicht an dem, und fur das, dessen Begrdntzung sie seyn soil]. But just
for this reason it may seem therefore, as if this form of a merely quantitative
distinction correctly expresses the way in which differentiation in general
occurs in connection with [16] the absolute or in itself—namely, as an external
differentiation not affecting the essence itself in any way. Since the absolute
essence is thus that in which differentiation is simply sublated, we should
avoid making it seem as if the distinctions themselves were outside the essence
and their sublating took place outside it as well—as if the essence itself were
just the sublatedness and not just as absolutely the being and sublating of the
antithesis. The antithesis is in general the qualitative. Since nothing is
outside the absolute, the antithesis itself is absolute, and only because it is
absolute does it sublate itself in itself. In the repose of its sublatedness
the absolute is just as absolutely the movement of the being or the sublating
of the absolute antithesis. The absolute being of the antithesis, or, if one
likes, the being of the antithesis in the absolute essence itself, is so far
from making it into a mutually external, indifferent subsistence of its moments
that it is simply and solely this in which the antithesis sublates itself—that
is, it is through this that the antithesis is neither quantitative nor
external. But the determinacy of the absolute essence considered singularly
cannot be cognized any better through the more or less of one or the other
moment, the predominance of what is called the one or the other factor. For
what is here isolated only is because it is essentially in this determinate
state, or because the determinate state is posited as having being in the
absolute essence itself. Since the essence is something real, or the unity of
opposites, these are immediately of equal magnitude. They have no significance
except insofar as they are opposed to each other; and this they are
essentially. In other words, there is no quantitative distinction with respect
to them. If there were any, what they are essentially as determinate would be
something external for them. By the same token the opposites would not be
absolutely with respect to themselves—that is, [they would not be] sublating
the determinacy itself—if the determinacy were an absolute, external,
quantitative one, even to the extent that it is on its own account. Strictly
only what is accidental to the determinacy would be on its own account, while
their sublatedness would be outside them. If the antithesis only sublates
itself beause it is in itself and is not quantitative or external, then the
antithesis in general—let it occur with whatever particular determination there
may be—is a true de-
Simple
Connection 19 terminacy only as a qualitative one; [17] and insight into the
nature of a determinate Thing [Sache] lies only in becoming cognizant of its
determinacy as a determinacy in itself, not as an accidental, that is,
quantitative one. The determinacy of quantum is one not posited through the
Thing itself, or it is not such a one as is in the Thing itself Because the
quantum expresses the determinacy of the Thing itself only externally, it is only
the sign of the determinacy of the Thing itself (which can be designated by
this quantum, but just as well by another one). We consider this externality of
quantum as it appears in its diverse aspects. aa / The determinacy of quantum
as a limit of the many is no determinacy whatever of the Thing itself; its
concept is not affected thereby. The realization of the concept is an otherness
that is posited with respect to it and through itself, one in which [the
concept] remains what it is, that is, one that is just as absolutely sublated
within it. The other[ness] of its quantum indeed leaves the concept what it is,
but it is not otherness posited with respect to it, and therefore its sublat-
edness is not for and through the concept itself either; in other words, the
concept is simply sameness, only the sameness of something dead. Therefore no
becoming other, be it of space or time or mass or heat, colour, etc., or of
sensibility, irritability, etc., or of subjectivity and objectivity, etc., is
posited, be they posited as great or small as you will, and in both cases
either extensively or intensively. The limit of quantum is something that does
not touch them at all and which, where it is determined, can just as well be
either drawn closer or removed further. The Thing does not disappear in the
absolutely small any more than it goes beyond itself in the absolutely large;
the disappearance does not become intelligible by increase or decrease because
it is of the essence of magnitude that it be not a determinacy of the Thing
itself. "The disappearing of consciousness as of a force having a
determinate degree, as resulting from a gradual diminution of this faculty of
apperception/'20 is an empty [18] thought which in the first place introduces
into the essence of spirit the determination of magnitude (that is, the
determination that a determinacy be absolutely external to it), whereas its
essence is rather that no determinacy be external but be simply sublated within
it, and so the diminution is to pass into a disappearing of consciousness. Of
course, the sublating of 20. Trans.: This is not a direct quotation, but a
plain echo of Kant's refutation of Mendelssohn's doctrine of immortality; see
Critique of Pure Reason, b 413-15.
20
Logic magnitude would indeed sublate that to which it is ascribed, if
[magnitude] were essential to it; but it is of the nature of magnitude to be
accidental, an excluding which in truth however does not exclude, a limit which
in truth however is no limit. The disappearance of what is here intrinsically
accidental to a magnitude is so far from resulting in the disappearance of that
with respect to which it was posited that now this last rather comes forth
purely as what it truly is in itself. Only consciousness having no degree is
true consciousness. This is at the same time the true meaning of the
disappearing magnitudes of analysis; the infinitely small is not to be nothing,
and yet is no longer to have magnitude. After this concept had been in use a
hundred years, it was made into a prize essay topic21 whether it actually has a
meaning, and we can see that the answers given have not come clear. In the
infinitely small the magnitude in truth totally disappears; the infinitely
small is not just something relatively small in the way that Wolf (An-
fangsgrilnde der Algebra §6) explicates the matter: that in measuring a
mountain a grain of sand blown away from the top by the wind makes it lower in
fact, but considering the mountain's magnitude no account need be taken of it.
The issue is not whether something relatively very small can be left out of
account; that can be satisfied by an imprecise determination of the magnitude,
be the imprecision as small as you like. But in spite of the small bit that is
left out of account, the determination made in the use of infinitesimal
calculus is absolutely precise. In other words, when one lets a posited
magnitude within a system of magnitudes disappear absolutely, just for that
reason the concept of what is to be determined comes forth purely as22 an absolute
ratio, which is all we want to know, not the determinate magnitudes. Therefore
[19] the unchangeable magnitudes, which do not just express how they are in a
ratio but how they are on their own account outside of this ratio, fall away
completely; the products in which the ratio of the factors likewise disappears
set themselves up as sums, etc. The differentials are semblances of
differentiations in magnitude that are forthwith sublated again; they are used
where a system of reciprocally determining moments has been duplicated for the
purpose of expressing it as an equivalence of diverse moments. In the
duplication one moment appears in diverse magnitudes; but conceptually these
21. Trans.: In 1784 Lagrange set a prize question for award in 1786: "Une
theorie claire et precise de ce qu'on appelle Infinie en Mathematique." 22
In the margin: 2 Absc[issae].
Simple
Connection 21 two diverse magnitudes are completely the same, and since the
diversity has been presented as a differential, nothing occurs but the
elimination of the diverse magnitudes and the establishment of the concept.
Similarly, in order to express that the subtangent of a curved line is
completely determined by the abscissa and ordinate that it belongs to, the
abscissa and ordinate are doubled, so that the deter- minacy of this single
moment is expressed by the others as an equivalence of two ratios of the
subtangent to the ordinate. In the determination thus arrived at there is no
magnitude omitted whereby it would become imprecise, but the diversity of
magnitude, the duality of ordinate and abscissa, is totally nullified, and
hence the determination is a pure connection through its ratio, not through its
magnitudes as such or through them as concepts. This duplication is the same as
the one employed by Euclid [to prove] his simple propositions that in a
triangle the rest is fully determined by three elements (if there is a line
among them, not only as to the ratio but also as to determinate magnitudes; if
there is no line, and so only the angles— that is, the pure ratio of the lines—are
posited, just the ratios of the lines alone). The superimposition of the two
triangles is the disappearing of the differential, that is to say, not of them
as a magnitude— for they [are] not of diverse magnitudes—but [the differential]
of their quite formal duality. The disappearing of the differential,
alternatively, is a disappearing of a magnitude; but this differentiation is
just as much only a semblance of a diversity as is the duality of the
triangles, for in the ratio [20] it is only the concept that is involved. The
need for this division of a system lies in the task of mathematics, which is to
treat the moments of a closed system as beings on their own account or as
quanta. A system of moments is a unity of opposites, which are nothing apart
from this opposition, apart from this ratio. They do not as it were still have
a remainder with respect to each other, through which they would be on their
own account; but they so match one another as it were that, since they are in
fact presented as a system in their opposition or as unity, they sublate
themselves. Thus the system as a whole that nullifies itself in its moments—as
it must—is the presentation of an equation reduced to zero. But the moments as
quanta are to set themselves forth as subsisting; and their unity in the system
is thereby transformed into equivalence. The system as a whole is within itself
a duality of itself, which is posited as one. The unity of the opposites is
indeed each of these opposites, and as thus set forth it falls apart into an
equivalence of its doubled being,
22
Logic or of its being in general. For, as has been shown with regard to
quality,23 reality is a doubling of unity; or unity is only as unity and
multiplicity, which are both the same, or [unity] itself. Now, the system—which,
if it is a system, posited in the form of unity, reduces itself to zero—comes
to be an equivalence of diverse [terms]; and the positing of the differential
of the moments is a form of doubling for the sake of expressing as an equation
the determinacy of the moments by means of the whole, and so by means of each
other. Because each single moment as differential acquires the semblance of a
diversified magnitude, therefore, since the two wholes are the same in essence
(that is, in their internal ratio of moments), an equivalence of ratios can be
posited in which there are the moments as magnitudes. However, this
determination of magnitudes disappears because it has no significance in
connection with the internal ratios, which is the essential determinacy of the
moment with respect to itself, not as the external quantitative determinacy but
rather as its concept. And what results is determination as a determination
within this [21] internal ratio. In this ratio the moments do not have
magnitude on their own account but purely and simply a magnitude as ratio; and
what is determined is not their magnitude as [the magnitude] of singulars, but
only their ratio to each other. In other words, the moment is in truth sublated
as quantum in the diminution ad infinitum, and it has a magnitude only within
the system, an absolutely relative one, or one that is determined with respect
to itself by the whole. In this way, the hypotenuse as a = V(b2 + c2) and the
ordinate as, for instance, y = V(px), etc., are set forth as they are in
themselves, namely not as a line apart from the right-angled [triangle] or
apart from the determinate curved line, etc., which is what they are simply as
quanta, but as being essentially hypotenuse, ordinate, etc. The limit of the
meaning and usage of "disappearing magnitude" also results from this
nature that it has. Just as, in the example of the doubled abscissa used above,
only the one abscissa in the abscissa itself disappears, while the abscissa as
such simply remains, so it is in general the case that the internal ratio and
its moments remain simply as such. If the abscissa (for instance of the
ellipse, taking its start in the centre) disappears, then the ordinate becomes
equal to the small axis, and we can just as well say if we like that the
abscissa equals zero as that it equals the large axis. But this is pointless;
the ratio of abscissa and 23. Trans.: In the lost parts of the original.
Simple
Connection 23 ordinate has in truth been sublated, and only its formal
expression is left over. But wherever the ordinate remains as ordinate, the
abscissa remains; and their determinate ratio to each other remains the same in
their decrease ad infinitum, by which it is not at all affected. To let them
become equal in the absolute diminution does not mean to decrease them or to
sublate them as magnitude, but to destroy them as what they are essentially, or
to destroy their concept. Thereby their ratio and the whole system is sublated;
and from this result, the same, or any determinate case of it, simply cannot
again arise. Therefore it is an absolute misuse of "disappearance"
when even Newton makes arc, sine, and versed sine24 equal to each other in the
infinitely small; doing this means sublating not their magnitude but these
[functions] themselves and their system. [22] To put the one determinacy in
place of the others on the basis of this disappearance, then, while supposing
that the system and its ratios nevertheless remain, must be taken as a complete
misunderstanding. 2 / It has been shown that the quantum as limit of the many
is indeterminate in itself and how this external accidental determination
becomes a determinacy of the Thing itself through its annihilation as a quantum
in differential calculus. Moreover, this is just what will be necessary with
respect to things as systems of moments; in other words, the opposition of the
moments is not to be considered as this external, quantitative opposition but
as opposition as it is in itself—that is, as qualitative opposition, or as
determinacy. The quantitative differentiation of the moment of a thing does not
affect the concept of the moment or the concept of the thing; but the thing is
only the system of its moments, and these only are what they are in relation25
to each other, and the thing itself is this relation; in that the singular
moment changes, it changes its relationship to the others; the whole relation,
the thing itself, becomes something else. And it is in truth not a change of the
moment that takes place; rather, the life cycle of the Thing itself is
expressed since the moment is not on its own account, and its change is wholly
determined solely by its relationship, by the being it has in the Thing itself.
But this concept of the moment is precisely what the diversity as quantitative
does not affect: the determinacy as it is within the Thing itself, or as it is
in itself. And the rise and fall on the ladder of degree or of extensive
magnitude is only to be re- 24. Trans.: Versed sine = 1 minus the cosine in a
unit circle. 25. Trans.: "Relationship," "relation," and
"ratio" all translate Verhaltnis.
24
Logic garded as an external indicator. The differentiation of the internal
ratio turns the differentiation of the quantum as one of that sort26 into
something quite other than [what] it expresses. In the number system itself
this diversity is expressed as a diverse mode of considering the numbers
vis-a-vis one another; the numbers are, on their own account, pure quanta, but
in their reciprocal relations they get posited in a qualitative way. Addition
is the purely quantitative change in which the diversity displays itself as one
accruing merely from outside; it lets the diversity stand on its own account
rather than as a determinacy that in truth is only a moment in a system.
Precisely through its merely seeming to be on its own account, whereby it is
absolutely an aggregate or a diversity, the quantum is not on its own account;
[it is] something external, [23] arbitrary. The ratio of the numbers expresses
them as [they] are in their determinacy vis-a-vis another—that is, as they are
in themselves; but the numbers themselves do not determine anything about this
ratio, which is an entirely external one, or indeed a quantum; on the contrary,
the numbers with respect to themselves also become ratios: 8 and 9 are 23 and
32 respectively; each number is equal to itself, and its limit is at the same
time an internal relation, the relation of a concept that produces itself,
whereby the limitation expresses its law with respect to itself; the addition
of 1 to 8 transforms 23 into 3% which the addition of 1 to another number does
not do; in other words, the quantitative change does not express the change
that occurs in a number as a system that is set forth with respect to itself.
This very diversity between a merely quantitative distinction and the change of
the Thing itself will become clearer through the example of the temperature of
water. The mere rise and fall on the heat scale lets cold take the place of
heat, its direct opposite. With the temperature of water, though, the whole
quantitative distinction becomes a quite superficial one that of itself in no
way indicates what has changed in the Thing itself. A decrease in temperature
of 300 from 8o° Fahrenheit exhibits a change in the volume of the water, namely
a decrease; but a further decrease in the temperature does not diminish the
volume of the water: the temperature being lowered to 320, the volume increases
and the water passes from the liquid,27 26. Trans.: The reference here is
either to "indicator" or to "relation/ratio." 27. Trans.:
"Liquid, fluid" — tropfbarfliissigen; "gaseous1' = elastisch
fliissigen (cf p. 25, 1. 4).
Simple
Connection 25 fluid [state] into the solid one; and snow, changed by pouring
water of a very high temperature on it, maintains the same degree of
temperature; similarly, the temperature of the boiling point resists change,
although, in contrast, the water takes on a gaseous form. Thus the
determinacies of temperature, as set forth quantitatively, articulate nothing
but indicators of the change in the Thing, not the change itself. The
qualitative interrupts the quantitative scale altogether; and the change in the
Thing itself or in the internal relation, the change in temperature as it
really takes place in water, is quite different from temperature as an ens
rationis that on its own account is supposed to be purely simple and in this
self-equivalence would be capable only of a quantitative progression. In the
same way the quantitative [aspect] of the [24] change posits temperature as
self-equivalent in its progression; but as this abstraction of the
self-equivalent, the change becomes precisely something external to
temperature, even as this externally posited, self-equivalent change
contradicts all along this [fact]: that temperature is not this self-equivalent
[ens rationis] but just a moment in a relationship; it is its consequent
internal change, now inhibiting, now accelerating, that even-measured
progression. If the abscissa expresses the congruent quantum of change, then
the actual temperature will always be an ordinate, whose change, qua quantum,
relates to the abscissa but whose absolute determinacy is posited by the nature
of the curved line to which it belongs, and which alone remains always
self-identical; once again it is the merely quantitative [and] external that
changes. 3 / The quantitative expresses [itself] contingently as the one in the
same way as it does in its multiplicity—as that which is indeterminate in
itself or as determinacy. In the form of numerical one, negative unity is
posited as it is in itself, and number is its external, arbitrary composition.
But as a determinacy quantum has a content whose determinacy it is. In pure
quantum, numerical one is unity itself, and thereby an indeterminate [one]; and
thus it exists in that it is referred to a quality, as determinacy posited
externally with respect to it. The one, the scale, is in itself quite
indeterminate, and it is as absolutely impossible to indicate the highest or
the lowest degree for an intensive magnitude as it is to indicate what is
largest or smallest for an extensive one; for since the one is unity, what is
posited as one is itself a manifold, and capable of decrease as well as of
increase. In other words, as negative one the one is essentially equal to what
it excludes; as pure one it is equal to the many; so it is not at all a pure
one but is a
26
Logic requirement whose satisfaction in and of itself is impossible. Although
with regard to degree, which has the form of something simple, a first seems
even more likely to be able to present itself, this is illusory; for just as
the extensive is absolutely divisible in itself, so the intensive is absolutely
confinable from outside. Degree is just as essentially a magnitude as what is
extensive; just for that reason the smallest magnitude of degree is still not
something simple but is posited as an [25] external connection. This expanse is
itself strictly a manifold, something divisible in itself, contingent and
susceptible of being made both smaller and bigger. Belief in the possibility of
a smallest degree or a smallest extensive magnitude, [that is,] of magnitude as
an absolute scale, has quite likely arisen because magnitude itself can be
nullified as such entirely, and if the nullifying is not understood
[aufgefasst], then the nullified magnitude is still taken for a magnitude. 4 /
Little as the determination of magnitude expresses the determinacy as it is in
the Thing or in itself, even less is [it] capable of expressing it as a
diversified determination of opposed qualities. Opposed qualities of this kind
simply cannot emerge from their absolutely qualitative connection and equality;
or, insofar as they are distinguished and determined as magnitudes, they are
incommensurable through and through; for it is of their essence to be opposed
to one another. Thus, for instance, the time and space of absolute motion are
simply equivalent to one another, [or] the same absolute relationship is
expressed as time and as space; the velocity is their absolute relation to one
another, and the magnitude is expressed in both according to the nature of this
relation. The velocity is these [temporal and spatial] moments posited as
absolutely one; but insofar as they express their antithesis (time being the
square root, but space the square), this is not a determination of the
magnitude of time as such and of space as such; rather it is their determinacy
as it is in itself, or as space over against time and time over against space,
each of them only in connection with the other. But when each is posited on its
own account, then time and space as one determinate magnitude are the root and
the square of a determinate quantum; and if 9 space quanta are traversed in 3
time quanta, these magnitudes, g spaces and 3 times, are totally
incommensurable. One hundred and thirty-five feet are neither greater nor less
than 3 seconds, any more than the distance of a fixed star is; but if the foot
[is taken] as the arbitrary space unit, and the second as the equally [26]
arbitrary time unit, and motion [is defined] as free fall towards the surface
of the earth, then the 135
Simple
Connection 27 feet are perfectly equal to the first 3 seconds. In other words,
the velocity of this fall in these 3 seconds is a magnitude that in time
expresses itself as 3 seconds, in the space traversed as 135 feet; again, on
its own account the magnitude is contingent. That the body traverses some 15
feet in 1 second is just an indication of the fact that the motion gets posited
as a fall on the surface of the earth; the expression of magnitude, however, in
the way it is expressed as a peculiarly simple magnitude diversified with
respect to time and space, is grounded in the absolute unity in motion of time
and space, which as distinct are absolutely opposed moments and express this
their determinacy or their essence (that is, their being in relation) in such a
way that the one is a root, the other a square. Likewise, attractive and repulsive
forces are simply equal to one another; neither [is] greater than the other;
neither has a significance except within their oneness—that is, within their
sublated state. One never exceeds the other. In other words, when they are
distinguished and expressed as magnitudes and diversely determined, then they
are totally incommensurable; and it can no more be said that a time is larger
than a space than it can be said that what is called an attractive force is
larger than what is called a repulsive force. They can no more emerge from
their equilibrium than unity and multiplicity, which is what they essentially
are. The pull that appears as coherence, separability, and the displacability
of the parts comes readily to mind when one talks of greater or lesser attractive
force. But coherence has no antithesis in the repulsive force; it is posited as
a pure quality, and its magnitude is compared not with the magnitude of
repulsive force but with greater or lesser coherence. For that reason it is not
coherence that is meant when one speaks of an attractive force that is greater
or smaller, stronger or weaker than the repulsive force. Since matter [is] the
absolute equilibrium of attraction and repulsion, which is nothing but [the
equilibrium] of the differentiated unity and the [27] differentiated
multiplicity, they are purely ideal2, pure entia rationis, determinacies that,
sublated in and of themselves, have no reality. Neither can appear as singular;
they are the moments of the cognition of matter. But matter is precisely in the
totality of cognition the moment of their oneness (that is to say, their
non-being), and this oneness is the first reality; the very differentiation of
matter always remains in that one[ness], and if it were a separation, a
diversity of attraction and repulsion, matter itself would be dissolved. The
quantitative is something quite external, not an analysis of the one, or an
internal
28
Logic ratio. The attempt, which absolutely contradicts the concept of the
quantitative, to conceive the quantitative as an internal ratio, as a relation
within the Thing itself, in such a way that it is as this relation to remain
quantitative, has made the difference in magnitude of matter into a
dissociation of its ideal2 moments. Specific gravity has as its moments only
what is real2, weight, and what is ideal2, volume. Its quantum, however, is
purely a diversified quantum of the simple, of extension, or of the absolutely
communal, of the self-equivalent; and what has been thus posited as externally
determined is nothing but the simple oneness of both these moments, specific
gravity itself. The same is the case with the dissociation of centrifugal and
centripetal force. Both of these so-called forces are nothing in and of
themselves: the centripetal force is essentially nothing but the appearance of
the restoration of the sublated unity; it has no antithesis at all with respect
to a centrifugal force, [that is,] to a self-sustaining \fiir sick
selbstseyenden]28 sublating of this unity; and the way of demonstrating it as a
self-sustaining force borders on absurdity. Where they are to be distinguished,
these forces simply show themselves to be always equally great, so that it is
always immaterial whether the magnitude of an appearance be determined through
the so-called centripetal or centrifugal force. It is always the simple that is
determined as quantum, and this simple is motion, not its magnitude as a result
of the diverse magnitude of differentiated forces. Where one is taken to be
greater than the other, as in the conception of greater speed of motion in the
proximity of the sun or the earth and a lesser speed at a distance from the sun
or the earth, it is completely immaterial whether the one or the other is
posited greater at a given position; that is, both forces will always [be]29
equally great; [28] for just as the one has been posited as greater, so also
must the other be increased. The same is the case with the diversity of the two
forces posited in order to account for [begreifen] the diverse rates of pendular
motion at diverse latitudes; what is posited as in truth diverse is one and the
same: [it is] motion, greater in one place, less in another, not two types of
forces, one greater than the other, both entirely incommensurable. We shall
come back to this topic later on. The way in which this applies to the
diversified magnitude of sensibility and irritability over against each other
follows from what has 28. Trans.: Compare with the fiir sich in "in and of
themselves." 2g. Trans.: ce proposes "both forces are always posited
equally great."
Simple
Connection 29 been said so far: these also only rise and fall in common; their
equilibrium is not disturbed; their common magnitude is not a sum that
maintains itself and that they would apportion unequally between themselves
should each deviate from its normal degree, the one going down, the other going
up. As opposed they are absolute determina- cies, which cease ipso facto to be
magnitudes over against each other; the determination of magnitudes affects only
what they have in common, what is simple; that is, [it affects] them insofar as
they are not distinguished. In other words, it is not their relation over
against each other; insofar as the simple, conceived as relation, is posited,
it is something internal and ceases to be capable of determination as a
magnitude altogether. Sensibility is self-connection, in the same way as
attractive force is, while repulsion and irritability, thought of as negative
connection, are each a differentiated unity. 33° / As a connection of unity
with multiplicity, which is limited—that is, excludes from itself the
unconnectedness of unity with multiplicity—quantum posits itself in the
extensive magnitude as what it is according to its concept. But regarding this
magnitude it has been shown that, because it displays the connected
multiplicity with respect to itself, it posits itself in truth as equivalent to
the unconnected multiplicity, and, instead of being limited, is unlimited. What
it excludes it rather has with respect to itself; it is no longer in our
reflection that the other is excluded from it to make the magnitude accord with
its concept, but this exclusion is in the concept itself. For this reason the
absolute contradiction, infinity, has in truth been posited with respect to it.
[29] D / INFINITY Infinity is not one of the categories of simple connection as
such. Rather, it is a meta-category, for it is the total context of the
dialectical movement that has brought simple connection to the recognition of
"absolute contradiction." That Hegel emphasizes, as soon as this
context has become explicit, that it was already implicit in every step of the
dialectical progress we have made 30. Trans.: If this were part of the note(s),
it would be 5. If it were a new section of the main discussion, it would be 4.
But all that Hegel does here is to sum up the argument of section 3 above (the
"dialectic of quantum"). Thus his 3 can be interpreted as an
indicator ("3 continued") that he is now returning to the main flow
of the argument.
3°
Logic implies that logic is properly a speculative science. For the recognition
of "true infinity" belongs at this climactic moment of "Simple
Connection" precisely because this recognition transforms the dialectic of
external reflection into a dialectic that is internally necessary to the
concepts themselves. From this point onwards we know that concepts are
constituted by their internal relationship. (Hegel draws attention to this
transition in his last sentence about quantum—see ce 28.) But in that case, if
the true infinite was implicit from the first, then the simplicity of simple
connection was always a dialectical illusion, and what was taken to be a
dialectic of external reflection was always, properly speaking, an internal
dialectic. Thus simple connection as the first stage of logic
"sublates" itself when it is forced to recognize that it was not the
first moment at all. The "infinite contradiction" was properly the
first moment (as it will be the last). Hegel's argument continues quite
"objectively." But logical objectivity is not opposed to
"subjectivity." It is important to grasp the subjective aspect of
what it might be better to call this neutrality. The reflective self, which
knows itself to be external precisely because it is a quantum (it is born and
dies, but the world abides) has to recognize itself as the infinite
contradiction because it is the fount of logical necessity and truth. That the
world abides is a truth of its own cognition. "The world" is both
internal and external to consciousness as understanding (that is, as simple
connection). This contradiction means that consciousness is itself the
infinite. Hegel gives us a preliminary discussion of this thesis as the fourth
moment of "Simple Connection" because it cannot be spelled out in the
next stage of logic proper. The whole argument of the Logic and Metaphysics is
required to spell it out in detail. In giving "Simple Connection" a
fourth moment, Hegel is showing us the place of simple connection (a first
moment, which will also be the last one) in the general theory of logic as a
speculative science. This contradiction of what simple connection itself is
"forced to recognize" (according to the preceding paragraph) is
deliberate. Both ways of stating the position are valid. The logic of quality
began—according to Hegel's summary—with consciousness as a pure aggregate of
qualities. Its purity was revealed by its permanence in the sensory flux. This
negative unity both is and is not identical with the consciousness of the
present moment. Hence it embraces a bad infinite both spatially and temporally;
but also, by definition, that infinity transcends and embraces it likewise.
From this springs Kant's "unreasoning astonishment" over the starry
heavens (as a positive infinite) and the sceptical confidence of von Haller
that no mere created spirit can penetrate to the
Simple
Connection 31 core of living nature (the core is precisely the emptiness of
rational consciousness itself). The genuine infinity of consciousness is
comprehensive self-consciousness. Self-consciousness is mediated initially
through the consciousness of another consciousness. Here consciousness becomes
objectively aware of what it is. Only through seeing myself in another can I
see what I am. With this step we shall pass from simple connection to
"relationship." But in logic as the theoretical evolution of
consciousness, this step is not made through a struggle for independence but
through the recognition that consciousness is a social continuum, that our
transcendent world is the world of our community, that as conscious beings we
are moments of the social substance; and this recognition matures slowly and
goes through many phases ("the proof, not the one substance itself, is
this absolute reflection"). The self only exists as consciousness,
however, by excluding the world and asserting its independence of it; and the
continuum of consciousness exists only because selves exist. So the existence
of self-consciousness is not simple connection but relationship. 1 / Simple
connection is realized in quantum in that its concept, quality, as limit (the
mutual exclusion of determinacies) became the contrary of itself in allness.
That is, it became the connecting of the determinacies; and from this contrary
it returned to itself. As this totality it is quantum, namely allness
recapitulated under limit, a connecting of unity and multiplicity that is
simultaneously connected with a non- connecting of unity and multiplicity and
excludes this from itself. But therein precisely it is with respect to itself
absolute contradiction, infinity, and thus has its genuine realization here.
Since simple connection is in truth infinity, each of its moments in which it
displays itself is itself infinity and is quality and quantity as well as quantum.
In other words, simple connection becomes infinity because it reflects itself
into itself and only then posits itself as what it is according to its essence,
whereas previously the dialectical in its moments was just our reflection. That
in their essence the moments contradict themselves is now posited as a
reflection of simple connection into itself, as absolutely dialectical essence,
as infinity. But it is only purely and of itself as its own concept that this
infinity is genuinely what it is, not as it appears with respect to the
determinacy of its moments. Quality, quantity, and quantum are quality or
simple connection; each has as its essence the concept of this whole sphere,
and, because this concept
32
Logic of the whole sphere has been cognized truly as infinity, each is itself
infinite. But just for that reason this exposition of infinity is an impure
one. With respect to a determinacy that is posited as permanent, this infinity
(which we want to call bad infinity) can only express the striving to be
itself; it cannot express itself in truth, for its essence is the absolute
sublating of determinacy, the contradiction that determinacy, so far as it is,
is not, and so far as it is not, is. This contradiction is the true reality of
determinacy [30]—for the essence of determinacy is to nullify itself—and just
for that reason it is, as immediate, true ideality. a / Infinity with respect
to quality—that is, with respect to the simple concept of connection or of
determinacy as purely self-connecting— is to let the quality subsist as such
and at the same time to display in it its contrary: the connection with
another, that is, the multiplicity. Infinity is therefore an aggregate of
qualities and, indeed, a pure aggregate, one that is not connected with the
qualities themselves at all; that is, it is not a qualitative but an
indeterminate aggregate of qualities, which is thus an infinite aggregate
because it is simultaneously pure determinacy as quality and pure
indeterminacy. Quality is posited as multiplicity or, compared with others in
the form of limit, as excluding, and therefore as numerical one; the aggregate
is an infinite aggregate of ones, and these qualities are self-connecting
determinacies. b / When posited with respect to quantity, infinity, as allness,
is at the same time both subsisting and quantum; that is, [it is] in the form
of its opposite: limit. But subsisting as allness, the self-equivalent
connection—that is, the pure unity that is to be as such and the pure unity of
quality, of which there is an infinite aggregate—can be posited too.31 In that
it is limited or becomes a determinate quantum, it is at the same time to be
pure unity; the limit, which is an inequality or a negation, must have been
surpassed. This sublating of the limit or the re-established unity must once
again be limited. What has been posited is simply the contradiction that there
be a limit and the pure unity, and that both be connected to each other and yet
be not sub- lated. This is bad infinity, and just an alternation of the
positing and 31. Trans.: The ms has only a comma here. Ehrenberg and Link
introduce a semicolon after "quantum," making the next clause
subordinate to what follows, ce puts a semicolon here (after "posited
too"). We have followed ce.
Simple
Connection 33 sublating of the limit and of the self-equivalent unity. Because
there is immediately in each of them the requirement of the other, both
continue in infinitum. The contradiction that bad infinity expresses, both that
of infinite aggregate and that of infinite expansion, stays within the
acknowledgment of itself; there is indeed a contradiction, but not the
contradiction, that is, infinity itself. Both get as far as the requirement
that the two alternating members be sublated, but the requirement is as far as
they go. A limit is [31] posited; thus, the pure unity is sublated. The pure
unity is re-established, and thus the limit is sublated. So, too, in the
infinite aggregate beyond every determinacy there is another, and beyond that
yet another again. The subsistence of the many qualities as of the many quanta
has simply the "beyond" of a unity that has not been taken up into
them and that would sublate the subsistence if it were so taken up. In order to
subsist, the aggregate is not allowed to take up this beyond into itself, but
just as little can it free itself from it and cease to go beyond itself. The
determinacies or limits seem to preserve themselves because they posit the
unity outside themselves as a beyond; but because this beyondness of unity is
necessary for their preservation or subsistence, they are essentially connected
with it; and their exclusion of it, or their own preservation, is in truth a
oneness with it—in other words, what is posited is true infinity or absolute
contradiction. N[ote] / This bad infinity is the third [moment] to bad reality
and bad ideality; these two come to themselves or are reflected within it, but
still in the form of bad reality, or in such a way that bad reality and
ideality subsist in it. Bad reality stays at the concept of quality as a
posited, solely self-connecting determinacy; bad ideality likewise stays at the
concept of quantity, the exclusion of the limit; and bad infinity connects
these concepts with each other in just this way, in that it allows them both to
subsist. Bad reality remains in that it is surpassed— that is, in that ideality
is posited with respect to it; and ideality is just this surpassing, a negating
outside of which the negated still subsists, or (what comes to the same thing)
pure unity, for which the necessity of limiting sets in as well. Or, because
bad infinity stays at the concept of simple connection only, it is itself only
the limit, the and of self- connecting and other-connecting, with the
reflection thereon that these two connections are as much self-positing as they
are self-excluding— a formal return of the simple connection into itself, in
which it only
34
Logic goes over to negation because it leaves reality behind; and thereby also
[32] [it is] reality because it goes over to negation.32 In other words, in
that it comes to unity from the quantum of the determinate aggregate, it has
that behind it; and in that it comes to quantum from unity, it likewise has
unity as a beyond. Thus [it is] nothing but the movement of the and of the
limit, through which it goes only from one to the other; [it] can stay at
neither but, because each is affected by the and, is driven on through it to
the other again. For absolute infinity [is], by contrast, the absolute and, the
absolute return of simple connection into itself, or the simple immediate
sublating of the opposites with repect to themselves. Bad infinity is the last
step to which the incapacity to unify and sublate the antithesis in an absolute
way proceeds, in that it merely sets up the requirement of this sublation and
contents itself with displaying the requirement instead of meeting it. It
reckons itself to be at the end because in intuition it passes beyond the
limited and falls into an unreasoning astonishment in the face of what is
immeasurable and countless, whether it be the stars, or multifaceted
organizations, or because in its return from intuition it salvages [its]
activity, as pure unity over against the limited, in an infinite progress. In
both, the incapacity is without presence: in the former it enlarges the
positive quantum that has being, recognizing it as limited, and in passing
beyond it arrives only at the requirement of the sublatedness of its
limitation; alternatively, in the sublating of the quantum it again arrives at
only the empty nothing and the requirement once more that nothing be filled. It
has both of them, the bounded and the void lying outside each other—one as the
"beyond" of the other. Let it posit no matter how many bounded
[things], it still has a void outside in which nothing bounded is as yet
posited; through its enlargement it still does not bring unboundedness into the
bounded itself. In the latter case that incapacity is likewise without
presence, in that it enlarges the negative [33] quantum; the negation is simply
just negation of this determinate, or the absolute negation is precisely that
emptiness itself of which the absolute aggregate of determinacy is the
opposite. Because this negation, emptiness, or freedom has been made into the 32-
Trans.: We follow Ehrenberg and Link by simply inserting "it is."
Lasson and ce substitute "negation" for "reality" on p. 32;
ce substitutes "reality" for "negation" here. Our reading
appears to be confirmed by the following sentence.
Simple
Connection 35 positive, we have here the converse of the previous requirement:
in the former case the filling of the empty, the being of the bounded within
the nothing that is still at hand, is required; in the latter, the being of the
empty and the sublatedness of the bounded that is always still at hand. Because
this emptiness is on its own account, there is thus only the empty possibility
that the bounded that is at hand outside the ideal2 activity can be taken up.
The sublatedness is the infinite progress, that is, a sublatedness that is
simply not realized; and the sublimity of this activity is just as devoid of
reason as the sublimity of that being, and is content in the same way with the
display of the unmet requirement. 2 / Genuine infinity is the realized requirement
that the determinacy sublate itself: a - a = o. It is not a series that always
has its completion in some other yet always has this other outside itself.
Rather, the other is in the determinate itself; it is a contradiction, absolute
on its own account: and this is the true essence of the determinacy. In other
words, [it is] not [the case] that a term of the antithesis is on its own
account, but that it only is within its opposite or that only the absolute
antithesis is, while the opposite, since it only is within its opposite,
annihilates itself therein, and annihilates this other as much as itself. The
absolute antithesis, infinity, is this absolute reflection into itself of the
determinate that is an other than itself (that is, not an other in general
against which it would be indifferent on its own account, but its immediate
contrary), and as that, it is itself. This alone is the true nature of the
finite: that it is infinite, that it sublates itself in its being. The
determinate has as such no other essence than this absolute unrest: not to be
what it is. It is not nothing, because it is the other itself, and this other,
being just as much the contrary of itself, is again the first. For nothing, or
emptiness, is equivalent to pure being, which is just this emptiness; and both
of them immediately have with respect to them the antithesis of the something,
or of the determinate, and just for that reason they are not the true essence
but themselves [34] terms of the antithesis. Nothing or being, emptiness in
general, only is as the contrary of itself, as determinacy; and this last is
just the other of itself or nothing. Infinity as this absolute contradiction is
thereby the sole reality of the determinate and is not a "beyond",
but simple connection, pure absolute movement, being-outside-itself within
being-within-itself. As the determinate is one with its opposite and both are
not, so likewise their non-being or their otherness only is in
36
Logic the connection with them, and it is in the same way the immediate
contrary of itself or their being: each of them posits itself just as
immediately as it sublates itself. Infinity is [to be found] within this
immediacy of otherness and the otherness of this other, or of being the first
again, the immediacy of the duplex negatio that is once more affirmatio, simple
connection that in its absolute inequality is self-equivalent. For the unequal,
or the other, is just as much the other of itself immediately as it is an other
according to its essence. The simple and infinity, or the absolute antithesis,
make no antithesis save this very one that they are absolutely connected, and
insofar as they are opposed, they are by the same token absolutely one. There
can be no talk of the going forth of the absolute out of itself; for only this
can appear as a going forth: that the antithesis is, yet the antithesis cannot
pause at its being; rather, its essence is the absolute unrest of sublating
itself. Its being would be its terms, but these essentially are only as connected
with each other—that is, they are not on their own account; they are only as
sublated. What they are on their own account is: not to be on their own
account. If the absolute antithesis is separated from unity, then the latter is
on its own account just as the former is outside itself, but in this case the
antithesis itself has only changed its expression, and the simple, which [is
then] not infinite, is indeed a determinacy but quite remote from being the
absolute. Only the infinitely simple, or that unity-and-multiplicity, is one,
is the absolute. If a ground for the antithesis is asked for, the request
presupposes just that separation of the ground (whichever way this may be
posited) and of the antithesis. It does, of course, bring both into a connection,
but such a deficient one that each of them is still there on its own account—that
is, since both are what they are only in connection with each other, both
determinate, therefore neither the one nor the other is on its own account and
the request for a ground sublates itself. For what is asked for is one that
would be in and of itself and yet is to be at the same time something
determinate, not in and of itself. [35] It is evident that what is dialectical
in the moments, in quality, quantity, and quantum, and in their moments too,
has been nothing else than their being posited infinitely. Each showed itself
necessarily as something infinite; but the infinite itself [did] not yet [show
itself] with respect to them; that is, it was not itself posited. It [has] been
brought to mind that the moments were therefore only infinite; they were not
the infinite itself, because they did not express with respect to them-
Simple
Connection 37 selves the necessary connection with their opposites, or that the
infinite was only the ground of their ideality. From quality the opposite is
excluded; it is entirely on its own account, connected only with itself.
Quantity is on its own account, but exclusive, and the opposite it excludes is
not posited with respect to it either. With respect to quantum, however, the
excluded is itself posited; it is itself the connection of unity and
multiplicity, and what is now excluded is the uncon- nectedness of unity and
multiplicity. To quantum pertain both terms of the antithesis itself; and what
is to enter into antithesis within it is the connection of the terms
themselves. Since each side now has the whole antithesis within itself, the one-and-many
excluded from quantum now pertains to quantum itself; all that it still lacks
is just the reflection that what is thus excluded is within it as something
just as much not connected to one another; and so it becomes the infinite. In
other words, the simple connection of the one-and-many has become something
other than itself and has returned into itself; it has realized itself. In this
way it is the infinite, because what is in each term is also in the other, or
in each term itself its oneness with the other is posited; each has the same
content. To keep the point in mind in a provisional way, this is the true
cognition of the absolute: not the mere demonstration that the one-and-many is
one [as if] this alone were absolute, but that with respect to the one-and-many
itself the oneness of each one with the other is posited. The movement of that
demonstration, the cognition of the oneness, or the proof that there is only
one substance, proceeds as it were outside the one-and-many and their oneness
unless this unity is conceived from the opposition itself—that is, unless it is
unity as the infinite. But this movement of opposing itself (that is, of
becoming other and of becoming the other of this other, or of the sublation of
the antithesis itself) is within the infinite because the infinite is with
respect to itself this oneness with its otherness. For that demonstration in
which the substance is just one, not the infinite, [36] has on its own account,
so to speak, the movement of the infinite, the becoming-other of the simple and
the becoming-other of this other. In other words, the proof, not the one
substance itself, is this absolute reflection. 3 / According to its concept,
infinity is the simple sublating of the antithesis; it is not the sublatedness.
The latter is the void to which the antithesis itself stands opposed. The
absolute contradiction of the infinite wipes out within the simple what is
opposed; but the simple is simple only insofar as it sublates this opposite,
and it itself is as a
3»
Logic result of its becoming-other. But therefore the otherness or the
antithesis is just as absolute; in that the simple is, the antithesis stands
against it, and the simple's being per se, which is indifferent to the
antithesis, would likewise be an indifferent being per se of the antithesis.
However, the simple and the antithesis are just themselves the antithesis
again; for each is essentially not to be what the other is, or is absolutely
opposed only in the other and is self-sublating. Similarly the annihilating
unrest of the infinite only is through the being of what it annihilates; the
sublated is absolute just so far as it is sublated: it arises in its perishing,
for the perishing only occurs because there is something that perishes. Thus
what is in truth posited in the infinite is that it be the void in which
everything sublates itself; and just for that reason this void is
simultaneously an opposite, or one term of what is sublated, the connection of
the one-and-many, a connection moreover that itself stands opposed to the
disconnection of the one- and-many, but that, from this standing-in-opposition
in absolute instability, is taken back into simplicity and is posited only as
what is thus taken back [and] reflected. In other words, infinity is: II / Relationship
The hypothesis of simple connection—that what is is self-identical, or
"Everything is what it is, and not another thing"—has sublated itself
in the infinite contradiction: what is is its own opposite, or "Each thing
is in itself what it is in relation to everything else." We should notice
that Hegel uses the Kantian categories of modality (possibility, actuality,
necessity) as stages in the logical evolution of the triad of relation. The
modal categories are meta-categories, so to speak—and for this reason the two
dynamic triads in Kant's table must be deduced side by side. The introduction
of the modal categories at this stage is essential because
"necessity" is just what distinguishes relationship from simple
connection. "The rational as relationship" (Hegel said in his essay
on "Scepticism") is "necessary connection with another."
But "the rational . . . has no contrary; it embraces within itself both of
the finite [terms] of which one is the contrary of the other."33 The terms
to be related in the Logic (as a theory of cognition) are the knowing self and
the known world. Thus the fundamental relationship is that between being and
thought. But the equilibration of that contrast is 33 Gesammelte Werke, iv,
220; cf. di Giovanni and Harris, trans., Between Kant and Hegel, p. 336f.
Relationship
39 the task of "Proportion" (in which the Logic culminates). At the
present stage Hegel develops the concept first of the real world and then of
the scientific truth as a system of relationships. But his fundamental
speculative concern is with the finite world of real selves, and the logical
unity of the absolute self, which embraces the contraries.34 The world is both
my world and not my world, because it is our world. Singular consciousnesses
are accidents that come and go; but the continuum is indispensable, and it
cannot exist without some singulars. Hence we must become conscious of the
social foundation of our consciousness—and "we" means each one of us
singly: "In all that is to follow, the relation stays together
simply." It is the singular consciousness (as simple connection) from
which the social concept of consciousness has been deduced. Thus far it is
merely the (Kantian) formal concept of the self in its community that we have
reached. Infinity as the reality of simple connection is the totality of it.
Simple connection has itself become as infinity the other of itself, [37]
namely a manifold connection and the connection of a manifold. For a) that
which gets connected in infinity is not the simple one-and-many; rather a
connection of the one-and-many and the non-connection of the one- and-many, or
the one-and-many posited as simple and the one-and- many posited as manifold.
(3) Similarly, the connection of these two terms is itself manifold: [first,]
the pure self-equivalent connection or their non-being, the void wherein they
are sublated; secondly, their and, or the same unity as their subsistence; for
they are just as well not, within infinity, as they are. Simple connection, now
that it has become infinity, is thus itself only one term; its opposite as well
is the whole simple connection again, and its reflection or totality [is] the
connection of its duplication and itself something duplicated within itself. On
the one hand, [it is] the absolute ideality of both its shapes; on the other
hand [it is] itself an ideality that is opposite to reality or only limit, the
and of both its forms, which subsist outside it. Infinity thus articulated is
relationship, and this whole that it is must likewise become an other than
itself and reflect itself into itself; although divided within itself and
distinct, but also sublating its distinctions, infinity is something simple
that must itself become infinite. 34. Anyone who doubts this claim should
compare the logical discussion of the one and the many" in Knox and Acton,
trans., Natural Law, pp. 72-74 (Gesammelte Werke, iv, 432-33), with the opening
paragraphs of the discussion of "Relationship" here.
40
Logic In other words, against what is infinite the infinite itself must stand
forth, and this, which it reflects into itself, must itself be the infinite. In
that the relation stands forth against itself, it remains simple. In other
words, the differentiation, which it posits itself as, is not an analysis of itself;
for that would be nothing but a going back through the preceding moments to
simple quality. In all that is to follow, the relation stays together simply;
its internal dividedness, which we have taken note of, is held together
throughout; and the only thing to be done is to determine more closely this
oneness of what is divided. In the concept of infinity it is initially nothing
but this reciprocal sublating and positing, being and being-gone
[Verschwundenseyn]. It is itself only the concept of infinity, not the
infinite, posited with respect to it as infinite; for neither that which is an
other is the infinite itself, nor is the infinite something that has come out
of itself, but it has come out of something other than it is itself, that is,
out of simple connection. Its arms are not themselves infinites but the
connected one-and-many and the unconnected one-and-many. Thus the infinite [38]
has not come forth out of itself and is not something that has turned back on
itself, only its concept, not its reality, is posited. With respect to the
infinite, [each of] its unity and its separateness, its absolute self-equality
and its absolute inequality, is distinguished. Each has been posited with
respect to it or within its concept; each must be something that has come about
through it, a returned unity and returned multiplicity, and since the infinite
itself thus comes to be both of these, it is the other itself. It has fallen
apart into a subsistence of itself as something duplicated; its nature,
however, is the oneness of the opposites and the self-sublating of itself as
thus duplicated or of itself as the other, so that it has come into being out
of itself. A / RELATION OF BEING What Hegel calls the "relation of
being" is both the logical ground of a dynamic theory of nature and a
theory of the evolution of social consciousness. The "substance" that
is its "immediate" form is what appears in the Phenomenology first as
"the soul of the world" and later as "the ethical substance."
The application to nature is easily visible, but the ethical application needs
to be pointed out. In the ethical substance all of the singular consciousnesses
recognize that it is the community alone that counts. But in its peaceful
existence the community is just the system of common utilities. The common good
seems to be directly identical with private prosperity. This means that it
Relationship
41 disappears—and with its disappearance the very possibility of private
prosperity vanishes. The differentiated identity of self and community is the
condition of the possibility of both.-™ Hence the community must itself be a
negative unity, an authority. As executive authority it is no longer merely
possible, but actual. But as the actual unity of the community, this authority
must be such as to preserve the prosperity of the members distributively. It
must be not arbitrary, but lawful. (It is clear that Hegel's analysis applies
to substances generally and not just to the ethical substance. But I suggest
that if we apply it to that case we can see better why no reference to Spinoza
is made until later, and why Hegel takes the moments in the order that he
does.) We take up relation immediately, as its concept has been determined. Its
terms have significance throughout only in connection with each other; they are
only as thus opposed to the other, and their unity is the duplicated, or
positive, one that is what they have in common (or pure being) and hence just
as much that in which they subsist as that in which they are sublated. Since
they subsist in the unity, [the latter] is only their form; insofar as the
unity is on its own account, it is the empty and of the terms outside which
they both are. As this connecting and it is thereby immediately exclusive,
negative unity, opposed to the terms of the antithesis, and itself a term whose
other is the antithesis as such or with respect to itself. As this its concept,
relation is [39] a a I The Relation of Substantiality 1 / The relation of
substantiality expresses the concept of relation immediately; and the
distinction both of the relation in general as a relation of being and that the
concept of relation as substantiality relation is opposed to other forms of
relation— [all this] is an anticipated reflection whose content produces itself
only in what follows and justifies itself only further on; for the present it
has merely the significance of a sign. 35. The discussion of "Ethical Life
as Relationship" in the System of Ethical Life (Harris and Knox, trans.,
and Gesammelte Werke, v) illustrates the social application of Hegel's logic.
But in the System of Ethical Life the logical distinction between simple
connection and relationship is not clearly drawn because the concept of
"consciousness" has not yet assumed its guiding role.
42
Logic Since according to its essence the relation is infinite, its moments are
themselves only the way they are within the infinite: in other words, they are
posited only as sublated or simply and solely as such— the way they are with
respect to the other. a / Positive unity is initially, as it were, the space in
which the moments of the antithesis subsist; or it is the being, the
subsistence of the moments themselves. In this being the one is as good as the
other;36 they are both indifferent and external to each other. The space of the
positive unity, or the commonality of being, is at the same time the and of the
moments, which, however, is not over against them but as and is not present [at
all] for them. Hence negative unity, which would be the and standing over against
them, is not posited either; and substance has only the significance of being
or subsistence; properly speaking, only diverse qualities have been posited,
with the reflection that their being is what they have indifferently in common.
But in that the one determinacy is just as much as the other is, their essence
is likewise only to be not indifferent to each other but simply and solely in
connection with the other; and the being of each determinacy is the non-being
of the other. It is37 simply the case that not both are subsisting, but as
self-sublating the one can subsist only insofar as the other does not. But
equally the one does not just subsist; on the contrary, each in like manner has
being insofar as the other is sublated. But just as absolutely each is not,
insofar as the other is not; for each is only in connection with the other; or
each is only insofar as the other is not; yet it is, only as essentially
connected with the other. As a result, insofar as this other is not, the first
itself is not, and insofar as the first is, the other immediately is, just as
much as it also is not. [40] The being or subsisting [subsistiren] that was
posited previously is thus such that the determinacy is only insofar as the
other is not; but insofar as the other is not, it itself is not. Thus its
substance is only such that the determinacy is as a sublated one, and this
substance is called possibility. The being of quality, having gone through
infinity, has become what it is in itself; determinacy is only as a sublated,
or 36. Tram.: Both "one" and "other" are neuter. To what do
they refer? Should it be das Glied (understood), meaning member? Or, as we
think, das Bestehen, "the subsisting"? 37. Trans/ We follow the ms.
by using the singular verb, ce substitutes a plural one.
Relationship
43 as a possible one. Being itself has become substance or possibility, a being
of the determinacy, which being only [is] as a positedness of the determinacy,
that is, as a sublatedness. On its own account this substance is the nothing,
the void, or the pure unity. Determinacy has not disappeared within it, so that
there would only be nothing—the nothing itself would be only a term of the
antithesis against the determinacy, a form of the antithesis that has already
been sublated— rather, the determinacy remains what it is; but its being is
substance as its possibility. The content is the same; but the form that
previously was being is what the being of the determinacy is in itself, namely,
possibility. The content expresses nothing other than determinacy itself;
whereas the form expresses the oneness of the determinacies that are kept apart
from one another (that is, what they have in common), and this is the substance
thus determined, b / This substance, or being as a sublatedness, is thereby
immediately something inwardly split; it is the nothing of the determinacies
and their subsistence: as their nothing it is negative unity excluding them,
the empty point; and at the same time the possibility of both or their being as
sublated. The empty point, however, since it is at the same time positive
unity, opposed to them and connected with them, is itself something
determinate; it is no longer the nothing that is on its own account, but the
sublatedness of determinacy, and hence [it is] itself a determinate
sublatedness, or the being of determinacy as of something sublated. Determined
as the sublatedness of both, the point is always something determinate, which
has the other term of the antithesis outside itself. It is, as it were, the restricted
substance, which is posited only as one determinacy, and as negative unity
excludes the other from itself, determinacy in the form of the numerical one.
And the substance, which is not pure numerical, but rather determinate, one—a
determinate being with the exclusion of the other but in such a way that even
the determinacy in being [41] itself is just something possible, something such
that the other can just as well be in its place, or something that has,
immediately, no more force of subsisting than the other—this substance is
actuality. Quantity or connecting that excludes, having gone through infinity,
is negative substance, or a determinacy that is only self-connected in such a
way that it excludes the other as quantity does, but as an excluding determinacy
it is itself only posited as a possible one. It is only something possible,
which excludes the other possible; and the posited possible is substance.
Within actuality substance splits what it is as possibility into two and
44
Logic steps to one side against itself or becomes an other than it is itself.
It is actuality as its being posited in the mode of [als] negative unity, which
now introduces an inequality into the positedness of both and has the one
possible as something posited but the other as something not posited. What is
thus not posited, the possibility that stands opposed to actuality, has become
what is excluded and does not subsist, c / The dialectic of possibility, the
being of the determinacies as a sublatedness of them, makes the substance into
negative unity or actuality, but actuality as well has its dialectic in itself
and cannot stay with itself. Substance as actuality is a posited possible, the
one accident which is in being; but this its positedness does not sublate its
essence of being posited only as sublated. This accident is strictly connected
with the other, and substance or being is in truth not the being of the one but
the equal being of both, the and of both, posited in their sublation.*8 One is
just as much something actual as the other and both are just as well possibles.
Their substance is this: that each of thern alike is actual as possible; that
in its being or in its self-connection as actuality, it is essentially only as
something sublated or as something possible. In other words, insofar as its
inner essence as possibility is opposed to it as its becoming sublated, it must
simply pass into this possibility, [42] that is, display its essence; and its
possibility, as the opposite of itself, must rather be the actual. The genuine
substance is this contradiction: that what is actual is a possible or that the
possible is the actual. The differentiating and of the opposites, the immediate
inversion into its opposite, or the substance, is necessity. The concept of relation—that
is, infinity—is posited in necessity as what it genuinely is. In possibility
the moments of the antithesis only are as sublated—possibility itself is
ideality, without being so in itself; possibility must posit itself as
ideality, in which the moments are not as sublated but are sublated. But this
numerical unity is itself a determinate one and is thus posited as actuality,
in which relation as the ideality of the antithesis is rather the contrary of
itself, that is, itself subsisting within it; or this numerical unity is
determinate substance, which, as one with the opposed determinacy, is only
infinite, or is necessity. Necessity expresses infinity as the self-equivalent
unity of the opposites in the mode of absolute possibility, and at the same time
expresses possibility as twofold within actuality, in one case being 38 Trans.:
The ms has a semicolon after "both," only a comma after
"sublation."
Relationship
45 determined as in being, in the other as possible. But in necessity both are
simply and equally as much actual as possible. 2 / Hence substance or necessity
is nothing but the displaying of infinity as it is within itself: in its
moments something which as possibility became other in actuality and is
reflected out of actuality into possibility; but in such a way that these
moments are not themselves what is infinite. What sublates itself within the
other has not (as is required) been posited as something in being, yet it has
to be like that; for the sublating, the ideality of infinity, is indeed only
insofar as it sublates beings, in other words [only insofar as] those it
sublates are in being. Within this relation of substantiality, however, only
necessity or substance is in being; but since, with respect to its being as
sublating, it still lacks its nourishment, so to speak, or the being of the
moments, it is therefore not itself genuine. The moments themselves are truly
in being; what is actual is with respect to itself, in its essence, something
possible; likewise, within necessity the possibility excluded from the actual
is just as well a posited or [actual]39 possible. The infinite as substance or
necessity is [43] in truth the contrary of itself, something not simple, but
the connection of the sort of things that themselves are the unity of
possibility and actuality, [that is,] necessary [things] or substances; and
what is posited is: bb I Causality Relation If we take the ethical substance as
our model, we can see why Hegel asserts that the genuine substance must be not
the self-conscious God of Spinoza but a Leibnizian community of substances.
That he is still primarily concerned with the evolution of rational
consciousness is confirmed by the preamble to his analysis of the causality
relation (see page 428 above). According to Hegel's analysis the Spinozist
definition of substance as "cause of itself" necessarily involves the
mutuality of social recognition. The community is the "original
Thing" (Ursache), which is manifest in its effective members. The law that
expresses "necessity" relates its terms (this is true whether the law
is natural or social, but the relationship is more obvious where the terms are
"sovereign" and "subject"). The abstract law is merely a
real possibility: it is actual only in the solar system or the polis (whose
members are not mortal singulars but substantial families). These are the
examples in 39. Trans.: The ms has "possible"; ce emends to
"actual." We have not replaced but added.
46
Logic which we can see clearly the identity of cause and effect, or of force
and its manifestation. Hegel deals with the conception of causal explanation in
Hume and Kant in the first of the two following notes, and with the prevailing
scientific conception of force in the second one. The relegation of these
external conceptions of cause to the notes is further confirmation that his
main argument is concerned with the concept of cognitive consciousness itself.
The notes are relatively easy to follow; and they are especially interesting
for the light that they throw upon the parallel discussions in the third
chapter of the Phenomenology ("Force and Understanding"). In his two
notes Hegel has shown the identity of cause and effect in the
"external" applications of the category. Force in its relational
sense is what must reveal itself. The cause is what is completely revealed in
its effect. The two forces soliciting one another (or consciousness recognizing
one another) are the two sides of one substantial reality. If we regard them as
distinct, then their real nature is hidden and the effect revealed by their
equilibrium is only a limit. But when we apply this insight to the community
(whether it be the natural substance in the sky, or the ethical substance on
earth), we find that the regression is not quite to the level of limit but rather
to that of quantum (or whole and parts). Here the whole is a "true"
infinite, not a "bad" one, but the distinction of the parts is not
"real." Absolute possibility (that is, freedom) has vanished. 1 / It
is the substance or necessity as a connection of opposites that are themselves
necessary, or are substances. Substance as necessity is the disappearance of
actuality. The actual opposed to the possible perishes in necessity; in other
words, its essence has perished therein. We see that if it is to subsist, then
it can subsist only in antithesis to an actual, and substance falls apart into
opposed substances. The actual preserves itself in the face of necessity only
by sublating it as unity and by dividing it into a duplicated necessity. The
actual as something necessary in which there is no longer any necessity is
self- connected, and within itself is infinite. In other words, its possibility
is not outside the actual but rather inherent [an ihm selbst]; and it is
thereby free. But it is connected with itself only in that it excludes out of
itself this [fact]: that its possibility is outside it, and so what it excludes
from itself is something actual. In that it excludes this, it is connected with
it; it is thus only truly actual in that, in itself infinite,
Relationship
47 it is connected with something actual by exclusion. Thus it is a Thing
[Sache], and indeed a cause [Ursache].40 The cause has its possibility not
outside but within itself; it is itself something actual and is connected with
an actual. Since both are actuals, the necessity is just the equal actuality of
both; that is, necessity is outside them, and so is actuality (or
self-equivalence). This [fact], that the "both" is actual,41 is a
reflection that is not posited with respect to them themselves; with respect to
them themselves there is only their being per se, not this connection nor their
being equal to each other. Not only is an actual outside the self-subsistent
\fursich seyenden] cause, but also [it is] actuality itself as the unity of
both; hence the cause would not in truth be actual. [44] Now the cause, as
infinity, which itself only is in the form of possibility and has its actuality
outside it, is called force; it is substance that has been held up in its
positing of itself as actuality. Necessity did, of course, split into two
actuals, but when this duplication of actuality is regarded as what it is in
truth, then the actual that has its possibility within itself proves itself to
be such that it excludes another actual from itself; and this exclusion is
strictly essential to it. This connection is a differentiated connection; in
other words, it is relation. What is excluded is of its essence just this: to
be the contrary of what is posited. Since both are actuals, it seems, indeed,
that infinity or necessity is sublated; each actual is posited on its own
account. But these, which are posited thus solely as self-connecting, are in
truth (or in their essence) not on their own account. What is posited as
actual, the cause, is so only because it is the cause of itself, or has its
possibility absolutely within itself [that is, because it is]42 the deter-
minacy whereby the cause, as connected thereto within infinity, is sublated;
and this its ideality is in the cause itself. The cause is the one[ness] of
itself and of its contrary; but then its contrary, what it excludes from
itself, is not actual, and we would be thrown back to the substantiality
relation. But since this its contrary is actual, the cause itself is determined
merely as something possible. Thus each of the 40. Trans.: In german the Ur is
stressed. 41. Trans.: The ms has a singular verb; ce substitutes a plural. We
have returned to the ms, taking the sense of "both" to be a singular
conjunction, not a plurality of terms. 42. Trans.: The text has a semicolon
here. The location of the verb in the next clause suggests that it is still
governed by "because " We have therefore moved the semicolon to the
next line, prior to a main clause.
48
Logic two is connected with itself as infinite unity of actuality and
possibility; and each is substance. But at the same time each is simply posited
as excluding, as connecting negatively with the other. Each is in like manner
an actual over against the other; the other is thus determined as a possible;
and thereby in its actuality it is determined as a possibility at the same
time. The cause is substance only insofar as it determines as its actuality
precisely the possible excluded by it—in other words, because it acts [wirkt].
As this agent [Wirkende], or as determining what is excluded as its actuality
[Wirklichkeit], [the cause] itself is strictly opposed to what is excluded from
it; for it is only on its own account as excluding or negating. Since this
excludedness is actual and is the contrary of itself, the cause is thereby
determined as merely possible or as force, which in order to be or to be as
cause must utter43 itself or must sublate this antithesis. In this heaping-up
of contradictions, each moment only is to the extent that it is held fast
before it passes into its contrary. But since it is thus secured only as [45]
connected with its contrary, then its determining as something held fast is
itself the display of its having already passed over into its contrary. The
cause is what is necessary in itself, which [is] thus necessary in itself only
because it excludes an other from itself but is connected with the other in
such a way that this other is only something effected [bewirktes] by it, that
is, [in such a way] that in what is effected the cause posits itself explicitly
[als sich selbst] as actuality. But in this way this other, the self-subsistent
substance that is separated from the cause, is simply sublated. For this other
substance is only that in which the first substance posits itself as actual;
this other substance is nothing but the first actual substance. If the first
substance were to be on its own account, and [if] the other in which the effect
[Wirkung] happens [were likewise to be], then the former would not be cause—in
fact, no effect would occur at all. There would be no relation, only a
plurality of absolutely self-subsistent substances. But just for that reason
these several self-subsistent substances would not be substances, not
intrinsically [in sich] infinite, intrinsically necessary, for they would not
be connected with another, as indeed they are. To the extent that they are
indifferently on their own account they would merely be numerical ones, of
which the dialectic has been displayed earlier. Thus the cause 43. Trans.:
Aussern means both "externalize" and "utter." Baillie
sometimes translates it as "expression."
Relationship
49 is absolute only in the effect. Since it is only qua effective [wirkend], it
is connected with another substance; yet at the same time as effective it is
not so, for this other substance is in fact the cause itself as the actual
substance. In that the latter is held fast as something other than the cause,
this other than the cause is the cause as actual substance; and the cause is what
it is itself as not this other, only as the possible actual substance; in other
words, it is only as force. We can see that, properly, force expresses the
whole causality relation within itself, or the cause as one with the effect and
in truth actual substance, but [that] also the causality relation is sublated.
In other words, because cause is inseparable from effect and the distinction is
null and void, their unity as force is the actual substance; for only because
it posits itself as an actual outside itself [is] the cause outside itself only
a possible. In force the antithesis remains as a quite ideal2 one; it remains,
for this actual substance is an actual simply and solely as being outside
itself; it is an ideal one because the substance, being outside itself, is
something that is on its own account merely possible—the whole—and the same as
what it is qua being self-equivalent. Force as the merely possible actual
substance has over against itself the form of actuality once more; in that the
cause makes itself into actual substance, it [becomes] rather just a [46]
possible one, just force. Its positing of itself outside itself in an other is
rather a being- within-itself of the actual substance or its concept, since
only thereby does it correspond to its concept. Through this coming to be
outside itself it has become not its reality but its own ideality—that is,
merely its possibility; and this possibility has its antithesis in its
actuality. But this actuality of the cause is now no longer a substance proper,
but merely form. [Inasmuch] as that possibility or force is the sublatedness of
the duplicated substantiality,44 force is what the cause is in truth; but
against force itself there stands something purely ideal2—that is, something
that is only posited in sublation, the mere determinacy of actuality. Thus
cause is not realized in force itself, but in order to be actual force must
pass over into its opposed determinacy, actuality; it must utter itself. In the
utterance of force nothing else is left for the alteration or for the becoming
other of force in its realization but the form of 44. Trans.: The
"is" of the subordinate clause is in the wrong place for our reading.
However, the "as" was inserted later, and Hegel may have overlooked
rearranging the clause.
5°
Logic actuality. If force were essentially just a possibility, then in giving
itself actuality it would cease to be. Force, which as possibility is connected
simply with its actuality, would simply and solely be as actuality; but at the
same time, in being actual it would cease to be what it is. The essence of
force is thus its content, substance (or the oneness of actuality and
possibility); and the antithesis—that this oneness itself [is] posited again as
possibility—[is] a completely empty one over against the pure determinacy of
actuality, an antithesis that has only pure determinacies as terms and
dissolves itself in itself into nothingness. There is nothing in the utterance
of force that is not in force itself; it is a completely empty distinction—the
distinction between force and its utterance [Ausserung], or between inner and
outer [ausserem] generally. Since force is opposed to actuality only [inasmuch]
as actual substance [is] under the determination of possibility, therefore the
positing of actual substance (or of the substantiality relation) as a
possibility—that is, force—is something just as completely null and void. The
dialectic that the causality relation has with respect to itself drives
necessarily beyond this relation; but the reality that the actuality of the
cause gained in force is a determination just as superfluous as it is null and
void. [47] N[ote] 1 / The causality relation, as the one in which relation
generally [is] determinately fixed in the duplication of substances and seems
to unite within itself both the being per se of a numerical plurality and also
their connecting with each other, that is, [both] empirical intuition (or the
being of nature) and the concept, offers itself just as much at first to the
consciousness that relates itself to nature as its dialectical nature
stimulates it to contradiction against itself. The superficial concept that
does not come to infinity takes the absolute being per se of the substances to
be fundamental, and then connects them with each other. It posits them together
as one, but just slightly so, so that their remaining on their own account does
not suffer by it. But rather there cannot be any connection at all between such
absolutely self-subsistent beings; for every connection, be it ever so slight,
would be a sublation of substantiality. Because each is in this way on its own
account, there also emerges in truth no opposition, no difference, for that
would be a connection such that each of them would not be on its own account but
only in its connection with the other; but the substances are to be strictly on
their own account. In fact, no relation at all has been posited in general—and
neither cause nor effect. The cause is to be something other than what it is as
effect; yet both
Relationship
51 remain strictly the same. And what is separated is not something that is
cause and something that is effected; on the contrary, just the one substance
(which was to distinguish itself as cause and what is effected, yet remains the
same) is posited at one time quite externally separate from another: two things
that have nothing to do with each other and are quite accidental to each other
and then are bound up with one another—just so externally, however, and in the
bonding remain so much on their own account that they are connected with one
another neither before the bonding nor when they are bonded; that is, they get
bonded by something quite other than what they are themselves. Thus, for
instance, the rain is posited as cause of the wetness of the soil, the wetness
as effect; and the causality relation has the form a: a + b, where a signifies
the rain, b the soil. The rain is at one time cause, but then also, as effect,
is no longer rain but wetness, a property or condition [48] of the soil; and
the dry soil has become something other than it was before through the agency
[Einwirkung] of the rain. In this relation both rain and soil are and continue
to be substances; but the rain is the actual that posits itself as actuality to
the extent that it sublates the possibility that is outside it, that is, the
dryness; and only thereby is it in truth rain as cause of dampness. But what
has been posited here [is] not in truth a relation but merely its semblance;
the rain does not therein become genuinely actual substance or infinity. Its
opposition as rain and as dampness is radically null and void; [for] it is
always one and the same thing that is to be separated into rain and dampness.
There is in truth no separation here, and the causal action of the rain,
[namely,] in producing wetness, is a completely empty tautology. Or if the
opposition is conceived in such a way that on the one side rain, on the other
dryness, are opposed absolutely, then the one is the possibility of the other.
Yet in its acting [Wirken] the rain does not make itself so infinite that it
posits its possibility, dryness, within itself, but only sublates the dryness
with respect to this place, this determinate soil. This sublation would be a
pure negating of dryness but never a positing of its possibility within the
rain itself, not a genuine actualization [Verwirklichung]. However it is not
even a sublation but purely a change of place of the dryness and the rain, or
of the identical wetness; for the dryness has, so to speak, only gone to where
the rain was previously. The rain itself has gone over to the other substance;
but this is perfectly contingent for both: the wetness could have remained
dampness of the air, even as it is now dampness of the soil, just as the wind
that is cause of a motion
52
Logic of the leaf might as easily not have moved it—the soil could have stayed
dry, the leaf at rest. Still less is necessity or the necessary connection to
wetness or to wind posited in this determinate soil or in this determinate leaf—and
soil and leaf are nothing if they are not "thises." Just as it is
contingent for both to be bound, so they are contingent for each other within
the bond itself; the damp substance and the inherently dry substance must
simply continue as what they are, for they are both posited as beings on their
own account. [49] In all the moments of this alteration nothing is posited of
the essence of the relationship, [that is,] the being in connection with an
other, or determinacy as it [is] in itself, namely infinite. What is often
called explaining is nothing else but the positing of a so-called causality
relation of this kind. It is a requirement of explaining that the determinacy
so posited be shown as an other, as its own contrary; but in truth, explaining
by means of this causality relation does nothing but show the same determinacy
in another quite contingent form, such as wetness as rain. Instead of infinity-
or the transition into what is absolutely opposed, the absolute principle is
rather that what is to be explained has already been present previously in all
its determinateness, before it is there where it appears. The explaining is
nothing but the production of a tautology—cold comes from the dissipating of
heat; heat comes from incoming or outgoing calories, rain from water, oxygen
only from oxygen, etc., motion from impulse (that is, from a motion that was
there all the time before). The fruit of the tree comes from oily, watery,
salty parts, etc. (or in more learned language, from carbon, oxygen, hydrogen,
etc.), in brief only from what it [is] itself. Likewise, what is animal arises
from nitrogen, carbon, etc.—it is indeed essentially nothing but these—and the
causes that constitute it are the same things that it is itself, to which
singular [things] an other is mingled only externally and yet an other is
sundered. The whole process is a change of place of the parts, but the
determinacies are what has being absolutely in and of itself, is
indestructible, and remains strictly self-same. What appears in a body has
always been preserved in it merely hidden and now comes forth from it, or was
outside it and now comes to it; and the explanation is nothing other than the
consequence of this identity or the displaying of the tautology. The
differentiation or opposition, the essence of the determinacy, becomes a merely
external one instead, something from elsewhere, something that is to have been
together with another; and in truth no relation, no infinity is posited. This
absence of relationship in the causality relation is what justified
Relationship
53 Hume in denying the necessity that after all ought to lie in it, and in
explaining it as a mere illusion. In fact the necessity is just the substance
as relation—that is, as the oneness of opposed determinacies, [50] which are
not, like those materials, absolutely on their own account, absolute qualities
or substances, but such as are in themselves this: that they are connected with
another—in other words, essentially their own contrary. The identity that there
is in the tautology of explanation that wetness is the cause of the wet, heat
the cause of the hot, is oneness to be sure, but not the oneness of necessity,
which passes from one determinate to the opposite determinate. In this
causality relation an other appears as well—there are two substances, and the
latter constitute the side of opposition; but it has nothing to do with the
former identity. The substances are not in relation to each other; they endure
[bleiben] on their own account, apart from each other and externally combined.
The former identity remains simple tautology; the latter diversity a particular
being per se of the substances; and the identity and diversity both fall
asunder. The connection of the diverse substances is not a necessity, because
they are not connected with respect to themselves. Kant has said the same as
Hume; Hume's substances, which follow one after the other or are next to each
other [and] are anyway indifferent (each on its own account) towards one
another, remain so in Kant as well. It matters not at all that what Hume calls
things are [for Kant] sensations, perceptions, sense representations, or
whatever else he likes—[for in any case] they are diverse, self-subsistent; the
infinity of the relation, the necessity, is something separate from them. That
being per se of the diverse in its objective aspect Kant calls a contingent
togetherness; and the necessity remains something subjective. That appearance
is on its own account; and necessity as a concept of the understanding is
likewise on its own account. Experience, of course, is the conjoining of
concept and appearance—that is, the setting in motion of indifferent
substances, sensations, or whatever you will, whereby they become determinate,
existing only in the antithesis. But this relation itself is . . .—that is just
what is hard to say; at least it is not what the things in themselves are! It
is, to give it a name, something merely subjective. For with respect to them in
themselves, what is connected is supposed to be outside the connection—the
sensations are45 self- subsistent singulars; and likewise the infinity of the
connection, the 45. Trans.: We follow the ms. ce emends to "what is
connected are supposed to be sensations, self-subsistent singulars, outside the
connection."
54
Logic concept of the understanding in and for itself, is to be outside what is
connected. And yet those self-subsistent beings are supposed to be only
appearances, not what they are in and of themselves; they are supposed to be
likewise the infinite connection, capable of a significance and a use in no
other connection save with what are thus separated; [51] thus they are supposed
separately to be empty entia rationis without truth. In truth what are falling
asunder—sensations, objects of experience, or whatever one wants to call them—are
mere appearances. And if the word "appearance" is not to be
meaningless, then it can only signify that those diverse [entities], thus
posited as self-subsistent, are not essentially in themselves but are rather in
themselves strictly infinite, identical as their own contrary. In the same way,
what has been called "concept of the understanding" is the infinity
of the connection, as a connection that connects nothing, whose terms would not
be those absolutely relative [entities];46 [it is] the pure unity, a perfectly
empty identity, or nothingness with respect to the concept itself. And in
themselves those [entities] (that is, sensations, objects) as well as this
concept (that is, the absolute relation) are both one and the very same. The
appearance alone of the sensations or objects is what is objective, just as the
ens rationis alone of the empty concept is what is subjective. But precisely on
that account what is objective in the one case as what is subjective in the
other is a nothingness; and what is in itself is only the infinite relation. It
would not hurt to call this "experience" and thereby to [re]cognize
experience as the in-itself of the antithesis, if only experience itself did
not in fact express the relation again in the form of the subjective instead of
in the form of mere relationship and if only it did not usually rather signify
the contrary of mere relationship, to wit, precisely the causal linkage set
forth above, in which the diverse [entities] are not opposites, not terms of a
relationship, and [in which] the connection likewise is not the infinite one,
not the connection of relationship. N[ote] 2 / Rising above the causal linkage
that we have just explicated is the concept of force. Force unites within
itself both of the essential sides of the relation, identity and separateness,
and unites the former precisely as identity of separateness or of infinity. The
substance, which gets posited as cause and effect, is this not in and of itself
but only in connection with something else; and this connection is strictly
contingent for it, something other than it [and] not in it. Water can 46
Trans.: We follow ce's emendation.
Relationship
55 be rain, but it need not be; it is perfectly free, not under the necessity
of wetting; the condition that it does wet lies entirely outside it, and hence
this too [lies outside it]: that it be cause and effect. As force, on the other
hand, substance is cause with respect to it; substance as cause is, of course,
connected with an other, but it is not essential for it to be cause. But force
is essentially the determinacy that makes substance into this [52] determinate
substance; and at the same time it is posited as connecting with what is
opposed, or as having its contrary with respect to it, so that [it is] cause
not contingently but through itself. The moving force is not, for instance, a
body that as mass is indifferent to motion and rest, but it is in itself the
cause of the motion, being posited strictly as one with it. Force is the whole,
the whole magnitude of the motion, the product of mass and velocity, whereas in
causal linkage, on the other hand, mass is on its own account, and it makes no
difference to it whether motion is conjoined with it, whether it connects with
other substances through motion, and whether it is cause, or not. Just so
attracting force is not a substance that is on its own account and to which the
determinacy of attracting may or may not be added externally as a connection
with others; rather, attracting force is in itself simultaneously the
connecting with another. Since force thus expresses the idea of relationship
itself and what falls asunder in causal linkage is sublated, the duality of
substances falls away too. Force itself is just substance that (as relation)
has necessity in itself, is inherently self-equal, and as this equality is the
unity of opposites. Moving force is with respect to itself product of mass and
velocity, a self-equal product, and at the same time a mass that, through
itself as one with velocity, is the alteration of motion with respect to it.
Just as the attracting force is self-equal and infinite within itself as the
connection of one to an other with respect to it, and the connection itself
embraces this one as well as the other—each is contained in its simplicity—so
moving force not only grasps the opposites of location within itself, as motion
does, but also comprehends within itself motion and mass together as one. In
the same way, magnetic or electric force, etc., is not a substance that would
have what is magnetic or electric outside itself, but it is posited with
respect to it as one with it, so that this being is not contingently, but
essentially, magnetic or electric. Whereas substance as such would only possibly
have in itself what is electric or magnetic as well as motion, but would have
the actuality of what is electric or magnetic outside it, substance as force
has its actuality immediately within its possibility. On the
56
Logic contrary, the substance that is cause is to be cause with respect to it
only possibly, and has actuality outside itself. [53] In that force thus
expresses relationship in truth, it is no wonder that the so-called discovery
of attractive force or of general gravity, of the irritability of the organic,
or of the force of chemical affinity has been accounted such an enrichment of
knowledge in general, and that also what is relation has penetrated elsewhere
(for instance, the relationship between mass and volume, density, what is dynamic
as one energy, and the magnitude of what is thus simple, of force as an
intensive magnitude). Just as attracting force is nothing but the implicitly
posited connection of one with an other, so likewise irritability is this
infinite that in itself connects with an other, since here the connection with
an other as it were first appears as a posited effect of something else,47
which is reflected, however, into itself or displays itself as a connecting not
with an an other but with itself. In the same way the force of chemical
affinity is just this: that it [is] the essence of this body not to be on its
own account but to have its essence in its connection with an other. Just as
dynamic density is the relation of space to mass, posited simply (so that this
pair [diese beyden] is one and their difference is reflected into itself), so
too irritability embraces both what the body is on its own account and what it
is through something else, and establishes its own self-equality; likewise
density saves the weight of the mass from its ideality as pure space, which
destroys that reality; it establishes the weight, [and]48 maintains against its
otherness as space its self-connection in the infinity of the simple oneness of
mass and of space. The force of affinity is likewise the connection of the
determinacy with its opposites, but in such a way that both these opposites
[are] one in the relationship and the determinacy that exists only in
connection with an other, or only as outside itself, maintains itself at the same
time connected with itself in its being-outside-itself, as what it is. Force
thus ex[presses] relationship itself and the necessity to be within itself even
in its being-outside-itself, or to be self-equal; in other words, it expresses
infinity. But in order to express infinity truly, it must not, in the first
place, be distinguished any longer from the substance or the thing, or whatever
one wants to call the subsistence 47. Trans : Lasson retains the original draft
that Hegel later corrected, "effect of an other[ness]." 48. Trans.:
ce adds a subordinate conjunction here.
Relationship
57 of the one determinacy; for substance is in truth nothing more in particular
but necessity—that is, force itself; and force is not a possibility to which
actuality still stands opposed as substantial being. [54] Hence force, if it is
to be infinite in truth and not express infinity (that is, relationship) merely
in a formal2 way, must express its inner opposition truly in itself; it must
express its determinacy in these its ideal2 moments and be just their
connection. Force must not [run] together again into an identity and thus set
itself against its actuality, its utterance; nor must it be again the
differentiation that it has with respect to its [actuality] (as in ordinary
causal linkage, a diversity of substances subsisting on their own account). But
both alternatives are involved in force: it does oppose itself to its
actuality, and in order to be it must first utter itself; it inheres as some
such merely possible [being], or ens rationis, in a substance that is not force
itself but is distinguished from it and that, as force without its utterance,
it needs as its bearer. Because it is thus simply something possible and
because as this identity it is a connection of opposites—though a simple one,
just pure connection—what are connected fall outside it: set over against force
and against each other, they are self-subsistent beings; they are not the
idealities of the infinite, but substances. Force must utter itself, for relationship
as force is just something possible; it has actuality opposed to it. But what
matters about this antithesis has been shown: to wit, it is the pure antithesis
devoid of content, [or] force itself is in truth the whole relation. It is an
entirely useless distinction to define relationship as force and oppose it to
its utterance; there is in fact nothing but the relation itself; it does not
distinguish itself from itself as ideal relationship, force, and as real,
existing relationship. The utterance of force, the relation as an actuality
(for instance, the actual attraction, the actual irritation, magnetism,
electricity, etc.), is always and everywhere relationship itself,
self-equivalent in its utterance. Relationship appears as a manifold of utterances;
but this manifoldness is nothing but the multiplicity of the moments of the
relation itself. For it is not something purely simple, an empty identity, but
an infinity or unity of opposites; and the multiplicity that has been posited
in utterance is the same in the force that is posited as not uttering itself.
If the relationship is a restricted one, then its actuality depends, to be
sure, upon conditions that are not within the relation itself; in other words,
the force can be posited as one that does not utter itself—magnetism,
electricity, motion, etc., appear actually in a single body (that is, they are
not necessary), and
5«
Logic utterance or actuality is separate from possibility. But this actuality
has nothing to do with relationship, with the [55] infinite itself as such; the
relationship is, purely and simply because the determinacies that are its
moments are posited. For a relation that is itself just a moment in the system
of relations, its condition is the relation opposed to it; but it is actual in
the absolute system of relations. Its singularization, however (and the
violence that can be done to it in this singularization), does not concern it
as relationship. Thus, for instance, electricity is a relationship infinite
within itself; at the same time it is a determinate relation, a moment within
the system of relations or of absolute infinity. As this moment it has absolute
actuality; it always is, and always utters itself. But the isolated display of
it through the friction of a glass plate is no more its absolute actuality than
the magnetism of magnetic ore or of iron. As to these single determinacies
electricity may or may not utter itself; it is free from them. But its
existence in these singularities is immediately something contingent. This lies
in the concept of the matter at hand [Sache], since we are only talking about
the singular positedness and that is something accidental, arbitrary, external.
A singular positedness of this kind, however, is not the absolute actuality of
relationship at all; it is actual even without this utterance in such single
[cases]. Hence, relationship [as] distinct from such single utterances is not a
force—that is, not the relation posited as merely possible; quite to the
contrary, it is the absolutely actual and possible simultaneously—that is, what
is simply necessary. And the singular activity, that being as a determinate
phenomenon, is rather in itself an ens rationis, something that is not, in that
it is. Singularized actuality of this kind will be dealt with in a moment; the
relationship that would have its utterance and reality in the singularized
actuality would have in itself to be opposed to it and would have to be
determined as possibility in connection with it; and this may well be what should
be said once relations have been defined as forces. But relationship as
absolutely actual is removed from this actuality only in the sense that
actuality is [re]cognized as ideality or as nothing with respect to it; and
actuality is thus in fact also posited in the place of what is called force,
since the entire infinity of relationship has been transposed into force.
However, the determinacy of relationship as force, as possibility against
actuality, is something quite empty. Relationship, however, being thus qua
force only as possibility, must simultaneously have its actuality with respect
to it; for force only is as connection with actuality. And since it is strictly
fixed as possibility
Relationship
59 and is not to cease to be possibility (or force) in its connection with
actuality, [56] and is not to be one with actuality (wherein possibility would
be destroyed)—[that is] it is not to be necessity—it follows that its
connection with actuality is just a bad external bond, in which force still
remains sundered from actuality and each of them (force as well as actuality)
is on its own account. This is expressed by saying that force inheres in a
substance. This being of force would again be nothing but the substantiality
relation itself—in other words, the necessity in which one determinacy is
connected with the other. But the force that inheres in a substance is not
locked within itself or within the substance but has passed over to the
causality relation, since this whole of the force as bound up with the
substance is connected with an other that is necessary in itself; in other
words, it is opposed to utterance. That substance and force [are] now external
to each other in this bond, that in truth each of them [is] on its own account,
is expressed by saying that the nature of matter (which is precisely the
substantial) is unknown, and that therefore we do not know whether force is of
the essence of matter or whether it has been implanted in matter from outside.
The bond of force with substance is also conceived more determinately as an
imparting of force. In order to make this imparting clearer, force is better
still posited as a substance or matter, specified again from universal
substance or matter; and the bond is supposed to be a mingling of the specific
substances, like the mingling of wine with water—so that, for instance,
magnetic substance is poured into iron substance, or repelling substance is
poured into light substance, or into the substance of the celestial bodies. In
short, whether it be done by implanting, pouring, accumulating, piling up, or
impulsion, force gets to be inside substance in a completely external way. But
as we have shown, this substance sundered from force is nothing but the
actuality opposed to force (since force is relationship posited under the
determinacy of possibility); but this empty actuality is a pure determinacy,
entirely the same as pure possibility, pure simplicity in general. The infinite
relationship, however, is itself this self-equivalent simple, and this [57] its
self-equivalence is the genuine substance—though it is not at all the form as
opposed to the self-nullifying determinacies but is precisely the one[ness] of
their nothing[ness] instead; not something that is separated from the relation,
but rather the essence of it. When the relation itself is something bounded,
then it is, qua determinacy, itself a moment—-just as, for instance, quality
6o
Logic and quantity are things infinite within themselves, reflected, and at the
same time moments; it is not the absolute unity itself but an expression of
infinity that is only formal (that is, one posited in a determinacy), whereby,
however, infinity as such is not affected. Instead, determinacy is, as it were,
the colour of the unity of the relation which displays [itself] as infinite
without stress or hindrance in this self-equivalence of the determinacy. Thus
the relation, qua moment, is not connected with itself but with its
determinacy, which is opposed to it. It is connected not according to its
infinity but according to its determinacy, and as single moment it is
distinguished from the whole of which it is a moment. But this whole is itself
the infinite, the relationship; it is the substance—with which whole, however,
the subordinate relationship, which is only a moment, is not bound up in a
contingent way but is rather an essential moment of it. And qua moment it is
not a fixed self-subsistent being (as force is defined to be) but is strictly
just a determinacy; and this determinacy, as the whole relationship, only is in
its connection with its own opposite relation, since its substantiality is just
this unity with its opposed moment. Force is neither something separate from
substance and over against it nor self-subsistent over against other forms of
the relation embraced within the unity of the substance (any more than the
substance as empty unity is). As force, the determinacy is even more fixed than
quality in general, because determinacy as relation is infinite within itself.
We shall soon have occasion to discuss this point when we consider what is
dialectical in the causal relation itself, since the two substances in a causal
relation are nothing but two things necessary or two relations which merge into
One within it. The relationship as it, defined qua possibility, is to inhere in
a substance and is thus not to be absolute substantiality in itself, is on its
own account separated from the substance that is its actuality, subsisting
[seyende] with respect to it. But qua force the relationship is also connected
with its actuality as something opposed to it, upon which it utters itself. The
actuality bound up with [it] is its positiveness; qua essentially infinite it
must be negatively connected with an actuality and hence must have it outside
itself and sublate it, perhaps partially, in the connection. [58] Force thus
becomes a connection between mutually opposed, self-subsistent substances,
opposed to force as identity, [or] it becomes something purely formal. What are
differentiated are outside it; they are not the moments of force itself as of
something infinite; since it has these moments outside itself, force itself
ceases
Relationship
61 to be infinite. Devoid of its moments it is something merely identical, a
form in which any determinacy [is] posited; and it ceases thereby to be
anything else but the same empty tautology as the causal linkage and serves
only for the same nonsense as the tautological type of explanation. [The]
attracting force of diverse substances, the force of affinity, etc., express a
connection, but what is connected are49 not absolute opposites, not moments of
the infinite, but self-subsistent and indifferent [indifferente] beings; and
the connection itself is thus not an infinite one but an identical or
self-equivalent one, apart from which there is the opposition. Diverse mutually
connected substances contain the contradiction: of being per se because they
are substances, and of not being per se because they are connected. Since the
substances are absolutely on their own account, the connection is what is
absolutely alien to them. And the request for explanation that arises itself
presupposes that the ground to be indicated for the connection is outside the
substances, and it requires this indication. What gets indicated is the force
of attraction or of affinity; or in other words, nothing else but the
connection itself. It must be something other than the substances that it
connects, for they are not connected with one another through themselves; on
the contrary, they are only on their own account; they are connecting only with
themselves. This other that connects them, what is it? It is nothing but the
connection itself. Once that being per se of what are connected as substances
is presupposed, there is no possible answer except this tautology. In order for
it not to be a tautology, the connection would have to be an infinite one, so
that what are related would be their own contrary. But the substances are only
self-equivalent; and thus there remains for the connection nothing but their
pure self-equivalence, or the tautology of their essence. "The substances
are connected by connecting force" means nothing more than "they are
connected just because they are connected." What is absolutely
incomprehensible is the binding of self-subsistent substances with their
connection, which posits them more [or] less as one and sublates them. And what
is absolutely incomprehensible leaves one nothing more to say but "That is
just how it is." Comprehension—in other words, positing the necessity—would
be nothing else but the [59] substances' being connected with each other
through themselves—that is, their absolutely not being per se, absolutely not
substances, but being with respect to 49. Trans.: The singular and plural verbs
are as in the ms.
62
Logic one another each only in its opposite, outside itself, the contrary of
itself. But upon the presupposition of absolute being per se, this necessity is
not possible. So there is no necessity at all, but instead the connection is on
its own account, separate from the substances, as they are from it and from
each other; and the ground of their connection is the tautology that they are
indeed connected. The pure being of "That is how it is" is empty
identity, the absence of necessity; [it is] the space of absolute contingency,
in which all things have their places, lying quietly and indifferently beside
one another without mutual hurt, [or] particular substances that stay as they
are on their own account; then, in addition, there is also a connecting—that is,
a sublating—of the substances. But the staying as they are on their own account
and the not staying so are external to each other; they do not touch each
other; they lie quietly next to each other; all relationship has disappeared.
The tautology that explains the determinate connection has been driven to an
antithesis by the need for explanation, which looks for necessity (that is, for
the being of one in its opposite), and thus it hides its tautology from itself.
The antithesis, which explanation then puts in the determinacy that has been
made identical, is precisely the formal one of possibility and actuality, of
force—of [its] inward[ness] and its utterance. This antithesis, however, is not
posited in the relationship itself in such a way that the relationship would in
truth divide itself thus with respect to it and be its infinite connection;
instead, the relation has been made into the pure simplicity of a name and
defined as possible. Force is exactly the same as it is qua appearance, or in
uttering itself—distinctions that have nothing to do with force in itself
(namely as relationship), [that are] not moments of force itself. Hence that
explaining has indeed an opposition in its tautologies as well; but the
opposition is just a semblance, since it has nothing to do with the essence
either of the explanatory connection or of what are connected. To explain the
rock's falling to the ground (that is, uniting with the ground) it is said that
it unites with the ground not because it unites with the ground but because a
force in the rock unites it, namely, the force uniting the rock with the
ground. The explanation of the turning of the magnetic needle towards north or
south, or the attraction of iron [60] filings to the poles of the magnet, or
the repulsion between homonymous poles, does not just assert that the magnet
turns to the north or the south because that is how it turns, that the magnet
attracts iron filings because it attracts, that
Relationship
63 homonymous poles repel each other because they repel; but rather because in
the substance in which all this is exhibited there is something other than the
substance, namely a magnetic force, and this magnetic force is capable of
turning the substance that way, of attracting such filings, of making homonymous
poles repellent. Likewise electricity or irritability is explained as force in
the way it appears. The content of the appearance and of the force is the same;
the totality [Gauze] of utterances is gathered together within the force.
Internally sundered as the relation may be, it still counts as one in name, a
simple togetherness; and the separating that is posited with respect to the
relation is one that is alien to it, a separating of force as something
possible from force as something actual; so that the tautology of the
explanation remains the same. From this it follows that for the cognition that
is infinite in itself [and] is only concerned with the infinite and the
necessary, there is no force; and that it does not consider moving or
accelerating force but motion, acceleration, etc., not the magnetic, electrical
force, etc., but magnetism, electricity, etc. Just as little does it consider
the force of imagination, of memory, or the faculty of imagination, memory,
understanding, reason, etc., but imagination, memory, understanding, reason
themselves; and least of all does it consider attractive force or the force of
affinity. For, although the electrical, magnetic, intellectual, etc., forces
are nothing but pure identities and, despite the differentiation [produced] by
explanation, are tautologies, these names do signify this determinacy of
electrical, magnetic connection. But the forces of attraction and of affinity
are completely empty; they express nothing at all except connection as such. It
is indeed remarkable to find investigations of the question whether attractive
force may not be an entirely universal force of nature, perhaps even of
spiritual nature. This is in fact the case, for attractive force is connection
as such, and there is, to be sure, no force more universal than the force of
connection. The force of affinity is in fact much too empty, as is also the
attractive force. To say "Alkali combines with acid because it has
affinity for it" does not truly mean anything more than that they posit
themselves both as one because they posit themselves as one; to say
"Sulphuric acid combines with the lime of a lime carbonate [61] and drives
the carbonic acid off, because sulphuric acid has a greater or closer affinity
with the lime than the carbonic acid has" means in effect nothing else but
that the lime prefers to combine with sulphuric acid rather than with carbonic
acid. The metaphorical expression "affinity" can quite well be
replaced
64
Logic by "drive to bond" or even "friendship," etc.; and in
that case one might say "Alkali combines preferentially with acid, because
it has a preferential drive to bind with it." We have remarked already
that force expresses [the fact] that the connection of one substance with
another is in the substance itself, or that it is in the relationship— [that
is,] that it is of the nature of an acid to connect with alkali. Hence
explanation in terms of the force of attraction or of affinity also expresses
the fact that the connection is not a contingent but a necessary one. But the
formula "Acid connects with alkali" signifies this necessity
immediately, whereas "force" leaves it open whether acid or alkali
could not be something sundered from their necessary connection (as if that
connection were not their definition) and whether there could not be an acid
without this force, just as there could be a magnet without magnetism, etc.
Chemical affinity stands higher in the signifying of relationship, since
whatever has this affinity is in fact nothing but something relative or (when
posited with respect to itself) its own contrary. But just for that reason the
utterance—for instance, the neutralization of alkali by acid—does not in
actuality sunder itself from possibility or force. There is simply and solely
one and the same necessity; and one can think of no diversity of actuality and
possibility, or of a separateness of utterance and of force, even in connection
with ordinary actuality, or the actuality of the singular. Iron is conceivable
without magnetism, but not acid without alkali; that is, iron may be posited as
self-equivalent or neutral without the differentiation of the magnetic poles,
but acid and alkali are not neutral at all. In other words, when as salt they
are neutrally bonded, then they are devoid of alkalinity and acidity, like iron
without magnetic poles. But this again is just how their affinity is not to be
taken; fixed by their nature as acid and alkali, each defined to be the
contrary of the other and hence, as necessarily connected, the contrary of
itself, this isolated determinacy is yet to remain substantial and be strictly
self-subsistent. And while they fulfil their nature, or display themselves as
what they essentially are (that is, to become as self-sublating [62] neutrals
in the neutralization so that neither the one nor the other [actually] is),
both are yet to remain what they are in their isolation. In other words, the
affinity is posited in fact as alien to their essence, and they are posited as
connected by something alien, still having these connections outside themselves
even in the neutralization, and still abiding on their own account. Chemical
affinity (which expressed the infinite or relationship immediately) thus itself
comes to be once more a connection
Relationship
65 without differentiation or relationship; it comes to be quantum, the
connection between a whole and its parts. 2 / Force, divested of its
superfluous determinacy, is causal relationship in which substance, or what is
necessary, doubles itself, and in this redoubling posits itself as actuality.
Substance, as cause, connects through its effect with an other, and this its
connection is its very actuality. This connection is the same infinity, the
same relation, that each of its members is; and it is itself infinite. In that
substance is cause—and it is in virtue of its essence that it connects with
another through itself as determinacy—this other itself is substance (for the
infinity of substance is cause) [and] only is infinite, the sublating of the
otherness, in that the other is. However, the connection of cause with the
other substance is nothing else but cause positing its determinacy in the
opposite substance as effect, yet just in that way sublating its own
determinacy as well as that of the other and positing both as one only as
sublated. The substantiality of the two necessary [terms] disappears as a being
per se, for each is essentially infinite determinacy reflected within itself;
the positing-in-one of both is the sublatedness of both determinacies and the
becoming-one of doubled being. The actuality of what is necessary, as a
positedness of its determinacy, is the oneness of the doubled necessity.
Substance realizes itself only as going out of itself, and only as going out of
itself to itself, [or] as absolutely self-opposed. The other substance is
nothing but this opposed determinacy substantialized; and the effect is not the
severing of the determinacy from the cause, but the going over of its essence
(which is determinacy) to its opposite, not to some indeterminate other being.
What is wholly annihilated is the empty duplication of sundered being. The
determinacy itself is not annihilated as one with its opposite. It is only
sublated as self-subsistent; at one with [63] the other, however, [it] is their
mutual, complete permeation, so that they are posited—for each was infinite,
reflected into itself; they were not pure determinacies—but they are posited as
sublated. Actuality is the product—this oneness with respect to which only the
possibility occurs of sundered, self-subsistent determinacies, in which,
however, they have ceased to exist as determinacies of this kind.3" 50. On
an inserted page: That is green, moved; this derives from a green-making cause,
thrust; it is effect. About the cause, force, we know effects; that is, we know
nothing but the green, the moved. Therefore, not even that it is effect.
Rightly have the limits of reason been laid down just here: that we do not
penetrate
66
Logic The character of the substances conceived in the causal relation is thus
determined. Both are posited as infinite or necessary, yet they are at the same
time mutually opposed. The one [is posited] as passive, self-connecting,
expressing the concept of necessity with respect to it. The other, however, [is
posited] as possible, [as] the cause that has its actuality outside itself; as
force, therefore, but in such a way that its actuality consists in its
connecting with its opposed determinacy, in itself, yet as with another
substance; as having its actuality, then, only in this connection, that is, in
the sublation of the self-subsistent actuality posited outside it. This other
substance is infinity connecting with some other infinite, the unity that is
infinite only in that it is not a determinacy but sublates an infinite
determinacy. It is on its own account, connects with itself, but only through
the sublatedness of something infinite. The actuality that comes to be in this
way is not the actuality posited in the concept of infinity—which infinity is
formally a positedness that in itself is only possible or in its positedness
excludes the other, though in truth [it] does not exclude but is connected with
it. Here the positedness has excluded the other in truth, in that the latter is
another substance; and at the same time it truly connects with it as with
something [64] that [is] within it, and thus its very excluding has become
sublated. The infinite thus ceases to be a being; with respect to itself it is
this movement, over against another substance that is passive but
self-connecting. The essence of each is the opposed determinacy; and actuality,
the causal relationship itself, is the unity of these determinacies, which only
are as sublated. The actuality that has thus come to itself from infinite
determinacies or from the sublating of substances is simply and solely one
substance, one necessity. How [it] distinguishes itself from the concept of
necessity is demonstrated, since for this concept what sublates itself was only
simple, not infinite, connections: the connectedness of one and many and the
non-connectedness of one and many—in other words, possibility only as simple
motionless unity (an indifferent being of op- posites), [and] actuality, the negative
determinate being of one together with the exclusion of an other. In this
actuality of the causal relationship, however, the being per to the inner of
the matter of force, of matter; for reason starts from here; it is totally
unreasonable to make of green [or] of what is moved something distinguished
from itself as cause and effect, for both are always just one and the same
green [or] moved.
Relationship
67 se of the infinite collapses. The product (and it is only product) is their
unity; their separateness is sublated. Relation is quite simply as this
sublatedness, or as the product, since the self-subsistent substances are
essentially determinacies—necessary, infinite determinacies, but only reflected
into themselves; and in truth they have therein no subsistence. What the causal
relationship is in itself is this product: the having-disappeared of the
self-subsistent determinacies; a third in which they are united in such a way
that they no longer distinguish themselves and their self-distinguishing lies
outside it. Quantum has emerged again, but in this way: [a] the product, the
connection, is something completely simple, not distinguished into whole and
parts; and [b] what is excluded is the being-distinguished of what are not
distinguished in the product (what are distinguished outside the product do not
thereby continue at the same time within it); rather [c] the continuity is
broken altogether; the distinction is not this external one of the limit of
quantum, but an absolute one; [d] what are distinguished are sublated in the
product as they are outside it—within it their unity is as actuality. [It is] a
unity that is a positedness, something purely self-equivalent and not something
empty; [it is] rather one that has emerged out of infinity, or is determined
with respect to itself as a sublatedness of opposites. The opposites, as
separated outside the product, are only sublated, purely possible, absolutely
unequal to themselves. [65] Thus absolute being stands opposed to and
unconnected with absolute possibility. The product is perfectly self-contained;
and in causal relationship it is rather its contrary—not diverse substances,
not a cause and its effect in some other substance, not an opposition and
infinite, self-generating connection; rather, something simple as substance. cc
I Reciprocity The reciprocal dependence and independence of the substance and
its substantial member-elements must emerge. In "Reciprocity" Hegel
shows us the problem from the side of the atoms or monadic selves. At this stage
the bad infinite triumphs. The whole—whether physical or ethical—is infinitely
divisible. The world as an infinite community of independent substances within
one substance is logically projected in the Monadology of Leibniz. This is the
topic of Hegel's two notes. First he shows that only God is real in this
system, and that he is a "paralysed infinity." Then he shows that
this infinite cognition is
68
Logic inconsistent with the reality of life. Living nature is not a perfect
"chain of being." The life that is free cognition must
"rend" this harmony. The transition from the relation of being to the
relation of thought is necessary because of the freedom of cognition. The
consciousness that the single member brings to the ethical substance is the concrete
fulfilment of the substance. Being and thought are its necessary attributes.
Thus the true reciprocity of being is the interaction and dependence of human
culture, through which the consciousness of the social substance is maintained.
The transient mortality (which appears first as the bad-infinite divisibility
of being) is the means by which the true infinity of thinking is maintained.
Instead of realizing itself in the relation of causality, the infinite has
rather fallen apart in it. The infinite is in itself the connection of the
unconnected; it is the simple that becomes an other to itself, which in turn is
the other of its self and thereby the first simple. In the relation of
causality, the becoming-other is sublated; the simple is only the sublated
otherness; and the opposition, which likewise is in the infinite, is nullified.
It is, however, the essence of the simple in the relation of causality to be a
sublatedness of the determinacies; its simplicity is only an abstraction from
their being perse, yet their being is for that very reason essential to it. The
simple substance, posited only as their sublatedness, is itself a determinacy,
to which stands opposed the other, from which it abstracts; it is not connected
with them; they are separated by the void. But its essence is thereby no less
connected with the opposition; and as this abstraction it does not display in
itself what it is according to its essence. Its substantiality, its being per
se as what it is posited, contradicts this conditionedness through the
opposition that, instead of being in what is simple, is rather completely
outside it. Through this isolatedness, the other outside the simple first comes
to be for it a genuine being perse, an absolute substance. In the relation of
causality, substance is realized only as one; here the multiplicity is posited
simply through its not being connected. What is excluded from the simple
product is the separating of what are opposed; it is itself, however, a being
per se and as such, self-equivalent as the product is, or in truth it is
something just as simple. It is the [66] pure possibility of the former [that
is, the product]; inversely, the latter [that is, the separating] is just as
much on its own account, and the former is its pure possibility. In this way
they are equal to each other, properly undifferentiated and undifferentiatable;
for in the second
Relationship
69 [possibility] as the separateness of the determinacies this [separate- ness]
likewise falls away, and the determinacies [fall] together. For they are
connected not with the first substance but with themselves; and they are
connected in that they are on their own account. "Being on one's own
account" means being connected with oneself, or a sublatedness of the
opposition; that is, outside of the first, a simple substance is also posited,
and again outside of that there is also the separateness, which collapses into
simple substance. This self-positing, the positing outside itself (or
otherness) and the sublating of this otherness is infinity, albeit bad
infinity, since the other[ness] of whatever is posited is outside it—so that
whatever is posited subsists. In truth nothing but the bad-infinite
multiplicity of numerical ones would be posited. As the simplicity of opposed
determinacies, however, substance is determined in itself to be simplicity, and
the separate, opposed to simplicity, is determined with respect to itself as
separated. In other words, in the equal simplicity of both, they are opposed;
the antithesis does not fall outside of them as bad infinity. For it is in
general the basis of quantity that is posited, [that is,] unity susceptible of
multiplicity (which in bad infinity is posited as falling outside of the many),
and thereby in truth opposition as well. Through this being, which is something
communal—that is, separating them—opposition is posited with respect to them
and itself stands over against the simple product initially as something
separate within itself. They are, but as pure possibilities for each other; they
are both unconnected substances. What is simple as self-determined thereby
expresses de- terminacy with respect to itself; in other words, in the
simplicity of what are thus opposed, it is, as compared with something else,
externally just as much the separation, having determinacy in it as its
essence. The other is just as simple; both [are] simple in the same way and in
their simplicity determinate, mutually opposed. In that the determinacy
vis-a-vis each other, thus taken up into the simplicity, substantiates each on
its own account, it is indeed posited under the form of externality, of
quantum; and infinity (as negative unity) is external to them. Bad infinity
occurs with respect to them—the subsistence of determinacy which just for that
reason is indeterminate vis-a-vis an other, [that is,] as quantum. The absolute
determinacies are as something simple in the substances that have this same
content. [67] The simplicity is this same content—is at once an externally,
quantitatively determined one; and the pure neutrality of what is simple is a
continuity to the point of their separation. In other words,
70
Logic as determinacy it is an indeterminate continuity of transition into its
absolute opposite. What are absolutely opposed are the same connections of
determinacies; within the medium of the commonality of this content they are
indifferent to each other. Their connection is a continuity, and their
opposition is the external one of quantum, according to which that continuity
is divisible in infinitum. For as continuity and determined by means of quantum
it has simply no immanent limit, does not have negation, absolute opposition in
itself, but has limit as an external, indeterminate one, only as limit in
general; as external it is only something called for. In this way, where a
quantum is posited, actuality is something infinitely51 divisible within it and
likewise something infinitely extendible outside it. It goes through infinite
mediations over to what is opposed; and the latter itself is not [absolutely
opposed]. For as absolutely opposed it would have its limit—determinacy—in
itself, not as something external. In this way self-realizing infinity has once
again fallen back into quantum; paralysed in the product of the causal
relation, it ceases to be the annihilating of what arises as separate. And it
is their sublatedness whereby it [is] an external, purely possible, empty,
negative connection; the unity [is] a subsisting continuity of infinitely
divided differences—not empty unity but the simplicity of opposites, a
simplicity that itself expresses the difference as something external. This
fulfilled continuity is the unity of what is infinite; the being of its
opposites is the subsisting of what is thus distinguished. And their
sublatedness as determined vis-a-vis each other is that each singular
determinacy has its opposite purely outside of itself; the sublatedness of each
is only the equal being of this other. In the relation of causality the one
substance as connecting with itself is something to be sublated vis-a-vis the
other that is connected with what is thus passive; it is determined as the
opposite of the latter, and the cause is likewise determined thereby through
that on which it acts. However, it is only posited as determining or as the connecting
of opposed [68] determinacies. Here each one in the same way is connecting with
itself and is not52 posited as being negated through the other, each as
determined through the other. However, this determinateness, as the reciprocity
of the substances, sublates just thereby what is negative in 51. Trans.:
Following ms rather than ce. 52. Trans.: This "not" could govern only
the first clause; or it could apply to both.
Relationship
7i the connection, in that each is hereby posited equal to the other, and their
distinction is indeed posited with respect to them but as an indifferent one,
connecting only with itself, neither of them positing itself in the other nor
on its own account connecting with the other. Instead of bringing genuine
movement forth—the reciprocal being of each in the other—reciprocity posits
them rather in the calm of equilibrium in that it sublates the distinction with
respect to them. Each [in] its essence is equal to the other; each is the same
simplicity of what are opposed; and the distinction, which just thereby must be
posited, is only something external. N[ote] 1 / The activity in the relation of
causality shows itself to be rather a non-activity too immediately for [it] not
to have had to go over into reciprocity. For if the activity is the positing of
the deter- minacy of the one substance in the other and therewith the sublating
of the determinacy of the latter substance, so it is just as immediately the
sublating of the first. And insofar as the first is active, it is precisely not
active. The activity as the sublating of both determinacies is their
simpleness; in truth it is what we have called product. When substance is
posited as active, its determinacy is sublated too; and with that the other is
in truth also active. In place of an effect of the first on the second, rather
the reciprocity is posited—the equal activity of both absolutely opposed
determinacies, a duplicated active state. The doubled activity, however, is
nothing but the expression of the fact that each of the two determinacies is
sublated in the same manner. It cannot be that the one meets the other, so to
speak, at any other point than where this other is active, so that each would
be divided into an active and a passive side. For the activity is simply and
solely the connection of determinacy to the opposed determinacy; and only this
opposedness, or the negation, the ideality of the antithesis in itself, is the
activity. Thus neither is active towards another that is not opposed to it, or
that would not be the very activity of the other. That is, there is only one
activity or, what comes to the same thing, only a product; [there is] no
reciprocity. Both determinacies reduce [69] to a simple unity. And only in that
this [unity] itself is a determinate one does it indeed have external
determinacy,53 antithesis against another. This its reciprocity, which is a
determinateness of both as connected with one another, is their indifferent
being per se, a rest without relation, a positive, not a negative, positing of
determinacies, or the multiplicity 53. Trans : Lasson reads "does it have
determinacy, however external."
72
Logic of diverse substances. The relation, the absolute activity, is simply not
in the being of the same whole or the same simple as would be doubled and
should have the external form of opposition in it; it just reaches this
paralysed infinity. N[ote] 2 / This reciprocity is no more a living entity than
it is what it displays itself to be in truth: namely, rational cognition as an
infinite mediation of transition. Cognition is thus only cognition as infinite,
in absolute opposition. As the otherness of spirit, nature has in itself
infinity only in this external way of mediations; in that it is the same simple
unity of opposites, it [dis]plays this opposition itself, not as being infinite
in itself, but simply, and only externally as separation, as a determinacy that
is in the more or less of the emergence and preponderance of one or other
opposite. Cognition must first rend this unity absolutely, display the extremes
purely and simply, and thus sublate them as qualitatively opposed. The
transition, mediated in infinitum, has already given the moments of the
antithesis; in what is simplest, where such cognition begins, there are at
least the traces of the antithesis that subsequently emerges and articulates
itself further. What is essential to the idea—[that is,] the relation of
determinacies— does not come into consideration as relation, as infinite; but
[it does so] as an appearance of determinacies, which are here the same as in
all forms of mediated transitions and are distinguished solely through the more
or less, the one and the other. And just as what is essential here, namely, the
relation, does not come into consideration, so too it does not come into
consideration in connection with its diverse determinacies, which are
themselves once more the relation among themselves; rather, the qualitative is
reduced to a quantitative. The metamorphosis, which forms a system of its
conditions, is only a range [characterized by]M a diverse, quantitative mixture
and [by] stronger and weaker emergence. [70] The identity of determinacies
(which thus in the relation ought to be a diversity of aggregates over against
one another and which alone is what is rational) and equally [the identity] of
the determinacies as inner (that is, as moments of the relation itself, as its
own in the way the relation appears in them as a whole) becomes rather a
self-equivalence of the separated matters which only increase and decrease; but
in addition each is on its own account already and originally presupposed as
present. The interruption of the uniform streaming forth of the waxing and
waning 54. Trans.: The German has the genitive case.
Relationship
73 aggregate (through what is qualitative in the pure moments of relation, over
which the quantitative or formal in nature cannot become master) creates gaps
in the ranges and scales, which no longer pertain to this historical view of
what is simply present. 2 / Relation is realized in reciprocity since its
moments preserve a subsistence; they are themselves necessary infinite
relations. But this reality is at the same time the sublating of relation, its
absence. Since relation as paralysed infinity or reciprocity is the reality of
relation, it must be set forth in respect to each of its moments as just this
bad infinity—that is, in its two forms, the relation of substantiality and the
relation of causality—not with respect to their immediate determinacy of
relation. For this is not yet the totality of relation; but insofar as they
[are] relations at all, [they are] this totality under the determinacy that
they only are just as relations, that reality is expressed with respect to them—which
at the same time can be, not this indifference of reciprocity, but reciprocity
only under the determinacy of the form of the relation. In other words, the
substances in the reciprocal relation itself, as determinacies according to
their essence, are themselves only under the form of incomplete, ideal2
relation; and the relation that has gone back into itself as reciprocity
displays in itself the moments of its going back into itself; that is, it
displays itself as formal reciprocity. Since it reverts in this way to its
ideal2 moments, it thereby preserves, as it were, the moment of ideality that
it lacks, although it affects it with the subsistence of the substances. a /
The relation of substantiality, as the concept of necessity, is the positedness
of substance as of one determinacy with exclusion of the opposite one; [71] and
since necessity [is] absolute possibility at the same time,^ it [is]
indifferent to it which of the opposed determinacies substance may be under.
Through the causal relation this indifference is sublated. The substance as actual
is opposed to the other as possible; but in reciprocity each has equal
actuality again. This equal actuality contradicts the relation of
substantiality; in this actual the essence, the simplicity of the opposites, is
this very [actuality]. In the relation of substantiality this simplicity is
indeed only empty unity, connected with both, only their possibility. The
separated accidents are the fulfilment of possibility. But in this way the
unity is fulfilled—the possibility, the pure substance itself, what is simple
in the opposites. Possibility over against this posited simplicity [is] the
same simplicity 55. Trans.\ Lasson has a comma before "at the same time
"
74
Logic in a determinacy (or stage of transition) other than the posited one. The
connection is that the one substance only is, in that the other is not; and at
the same time [it is] the equal necessity of both. The positedness of each
determinacy in the relation of substantiality is only something hypothetical,
something possible; if the substance is in one accident, then it is not in the
other. Here, as the simplicity of both, it is in itself necessary—as
determinate substance. Not in the equal possibility, not in the empty unity of
the two opposites but in itself, the accident is at once the contrary of
itself; thus it is the totality of the relation of substantiality, not merely
one side within its unity. This actuality of the determinate substance is at
the same time only a possibility of the actual substance that is determined in
the opposite way; and vice versa, this [that is, the actual substance that is
determined in the opposite way] is just as necessary. And they cease to stand
indifferently beside each other, in that the fulfilled unity of both is the
same. In this way again there is only one possibility on its own account. It is
the reflection on this unity of their essence or of their fulfilment that puts
the relation of substantiality back into reciprocity, whereby the substances as
such [become]: the one becomes actual over against the other as possible. Since
each is equally necessary, the being of the one is the non-being of the other;
and the being of each is as necessary as its non-being; that is, the one must
pass away and the other arise. The opposition of both is infinitely mediated;
and the passing away, just as much as the arising, is this infinitely mediated
transition [Ubergehen] itself, not as an already completed transition
[Ubergegangenseyn] (as [72] in the concept of reciprocity itself) but [as]
negatively posited. In this way transition, the mediation itself, is the unity
that, in the form of substantial unity, separates into the opposed accidents of
arising and passing away, and is thus realized. Reciprocity is the concept of
transition or mediation, a unity in which there is posited in an indeterminate,
external way an otherness that progresses in accordance with an absolutely
arbitrary unity by continuous addition—that is, precisely by external
increments, transition is in truth substantiality, the determinacy of subsistence
itself. In the pure relation of substantiality there is subsistence, the pure
self-equivalent being. As transition it is this inherently self- determined and
differentiated being; but differentiated only as something indifferent, as
something diverse, multiple, as expressing only a tendency towards [gegen]
opposition,5° that is, as expressing every- 56. Tram.: The German could equally
well read "direction against opposition "
Relationship
75 where just the demand for the same [opposition]. The negative positing of
this demand, the actuality that excludes, is itself thus merely a demand for
actuality. It is connected with its not-having-been only as one that comes to
be (that is, timelessly, a being of the determinate substance, in that its
other ceases to be); and [is] passing away (a not- being of what is posited, in
that its other'is). The transition or mediation divides, sets itself against
itself; it is the actuality of the determinate substance connected with its
possibility. This connection is just as much possibility qua the first, which
posits itself as actuality— arising—as [it is] the contrary, the actuality that
posits itself as possibility—passing away. [This is] a separation that occurs
only in reciprocity, since in it is the necessary qua one—that is, itself under
the opposedness of the determinations; and so it is something necessary both as
possible and as actual. The necessary that is possible, however, must connect
with actuality—arising; [and] the necessary that is actual [must connect] with
possibility—passing away. In the relation of substantiality itself this
connection is one only external to both; the necessity [is] not in itself the
antithesis of the possible and the actual, but each [is] just as much possible
as actual: either the one actually and then the other possibly or the reverse.
Here each [is] itself the two [together] and at the same time, the two
separately. The opposition is, however, a formal one, simply required, in that
the arising [73] and the passing away is something absolutely mediated,
something external to the substances. What is arising has posited the other of
itself absolutely, as a being outside it, as another determinacy not reflected
with respect to it. The simplicity, in which the substance is turned back into
itself, is its undifferentiated basis, which has outside itself the being of
the determinacy as an opposite, and only one as actual. The negation is being
excluded, a not-being- actual, merely a having-been, or a possibility of
arising; and the indeterminacy of the antithesis makes the arising and the
passing away into something absolutely mediated. b / The arising and passing
away, however, is essentially only through the in-itself the necessary
connectedness of the determinacies with one another, [that is to say,] through
their ideality with respect to them, or through their absolute though only
formal opposition—that is, the relation of causality. And through the latter it
is the mediated arising and passing away. Determinate substance arises or comes
into actuality as the possibility of an other that ceases to be. But "It
comes into actuality" means nothing other than that it does not exclude
the other but is active [thatig]; it sublates the opposed determinacy as its
76
Logic possibility, its ideality; and only so, as acting [wirkend], is it actual
[wirklich]. Its arising is through itself, through its activity, the self-
equivalence, which is infinite—that is, which takes its possibility, its other,
back into itself, that is to say, acts [wirkt]. But in that substance arises
through itself, just so is this immediately its perishing; for this is what it
is: this determinate [substance]. In that [it] equates itself to the opposed,
[in that it] acts, becomes actual, it [subjlates itself in itself; it perishes
through itself. Just as before only the concept of arising and perishing was
posited, so it is here with respect to substance itself. This transition is,
however, infinitely mediated; it is at the same time posited as something
external with respect to the substances. "With respect to themselves and
external to them" means that they are divided; through the essence of
reciprocity they are separated,57 each for itself, and in their actuality at
the same time connected—they are so only in part, [and] separate themselves
determinately into an unalterable and an alterable part. This is not the pure
accident; for in the opposed substances, determinacy qua reflected within
itself is the essence itself, not the void of unity; yet at the same time [it is]
substance subsisting too, thus something simply parted within itself into
several substantialities. In its becoming actual the substance passes away; or
rather its becoming actual is the arising of another substance, though one part
is58 passing away with respect to the active and passive substance. But by the
same token this substance that has arisen is actual only [74] within activity;
it is a determinacy, opposed immediately to what is separated, whose simplicity
it is: a determinacy reflected within itself, but as a being-reflected, not
through this substance itself, [not] through its activity. The substance that
has arisen must likewise have on its own account, negatively, the one opposed
to it, must sublate the latter, actualize itself, and in its actualization thus
pass away, become another substance than it is. If the perishable seems thus to
be diminished in that only one part passes away, enters into the new substance,
and one part is always thrown down, precipitated, as separate, self-sub- sistent,
imperishable, this is nevertheless only one determinacy, and now actual just as
the other is. The line of arising and passing away proceeds forwards and
backwards ad infinitum, and in the same way 57, Trans.: Following Lasson, we
omit the comma before "separated." The ms requires "They are
through the essence of reciprocity, separated each for itself." 58.
Trans.: We read als as ist.
Relationship
11 there are infinitely many lines and infinitely many parting and starting
points. This infinite criss-crossing and entanglement of arising and passing
away makes actuality into an arising-and-therein-perishing being of substances.
The essence of its movement is the self-equivalent simplicity of opposites; yet
this simplicity is what is latent, not posited, in this entanglement. Because
such—fulfilled—unity lies outside it, it falls wholly into bad infinity; and
there appears in general this simple unity of opposites qua substance, the
fulfilled and self-equivalent being, and alongside it a multiplicity of arising
and perishing substances. But what is arising and passing away is in fact
nothing but the deter- minacies. The reflection of determinacy into itself—singular
substance—is infinite only in this way: that precisely in the simplicity it is
as determinate, and as determinate sublated or the contrary of itself. But this
contrary of itself is only in the simplicity something sublated (the singular
substance itself being something sublated); yet something posited as the other
is not. This inequality equalizes itself through its becoming sublated, in
which the substance itself becomes the sublated one as well, yet in which it is
a posited one, as the other is. But, to be sure, if both are here posited and
sublated in the same manner, their sublatedness (the simplicity of opposites)
falls outside their alternation [Wechseln]] as the substantializing of
determinacies it is itself multiplied. And if the simplicity is the same for
all, it is, of the separated determinacies, numerical one, not infinite unity
or their sublation. Since what is simple is posited thus in the form of
numerical one, it falls outside the unity of sublating; it is rather its
multiplicity. But in fact it is rather the equivalence of all these
determinacies posited as substances, is fulfilled being; and in this there is
[75] no distinction at all. The determinacies as such are distinguished only
vis-a-vis one another. Their distinguishing is not a subsisting of the one and
the non-being of the other, but rather they are for their part immediately sublated,
posited as sublated and ideal2. [It is] not a non-posited, a vanishing into
simplicity, but [it is] rather what the determinacies are inherently, something
posited in the same manner, though as sublated, in their one self-equivalent
simple unity, a unity that is their non-positedness. Reciprocity, thus returned
to itself, is the sublatedness of the separated substances. It is simply and
solely a substance, but absolutely fulfilled substance, the rendering
indifferent of all determinacies that are posited in it as sublated.
Relationship has fulfilled its concept; it has not stepped outside itself. And
the fulfilling of its concept is that
78
Logic it posits itself as what [it] is in itself, a fulfilled oneness of
opposed determinacies, and in this sublatedness at the same time their being-
posited as sublated. But relationship has thereby become the contrary of
itself. For in its concept the opposites were in being, [while] their oneness
[was] itself something differentiated, connected negatively with them. Yet here
those are merely posited as sublated; this latter is self-equivalent, connected
purely with itself, the connectedness of what are ideal2, or the ideality in
them. It has gone over into the relationship of thought, into universal and particular.
B / RELATION OF THINKING The proper model for the paralysis of the infinite,
which we arrived at in the "Relation of Being," is not the One
Substance of Spinoza"14 but the divine Monad of monads in Leibniz. The
"paralysed infinite" is the Great Chain of Being. The thinking
consciousness of the cognitive subject breaks the paralysis that the completed
cycle of the categories of being has produced. On the objective side it
produces a Platonic theory of science, in which life is viewed as the universal
that specifies and individuates itself necessarily (yet freely, and subject to
contingency). This universal is identical with its own logical process of
division (or judgment); and in cognition it comes to self- possession as the
mortally singular rational animal. (Formally speaking, this identity of the
concept with its process of determination is an impossible operation—like the
imaginary number J — \) But now that we have passed over to the territory of
"subjective logic" (though only relationally, just as Hegel proceeded
from the categories to the forms of finite cognition in "concepts,
judgments, and syllogisms" in 18(H),60 it is quite evident that the appli-
59. As the Italian commentators (especially Chiereghin, Logica e metafisica, p.
342) believe. Chiereghin's interpretation of the transition in Faith and
Knowledge (Logica e metafisica, pp. 350-51; Gesammelte Werke, iv, p. 354, 11.
27-34, anc^ P- 359' H- 1-3> Cerf and Harris, trans., pp. 107, 113) deserves
study because Hegel does have Spinoza's substance in mind in the preface to the
Phenomenology. But his own account of the relation of substantiality here
points forward to his mature rejection of Spinoza's theory as acosmic. The
Leibnizian conception of the Great Chain of Being gives the finite term of the
relationship of being its necessary place. Evidence of the importance of
Leibniz in the evolution of Hegel's logic and metaphysics is supplied by his
"Scepticism'' essay \'7bGesammelte Werke, iv, 22gf; di Giovanni and
Harris, trans., Between Kant and Hegel, pp. 3461). 60. See Rosenkranz, Hegels
Leben, p. lgi (Cerf and Harris, trans., Faith and Knowledge, p 10); compare the
Introduction, pp. xvif above. If the parallel between 1801 and 1804 is valid
and can be extended, then "Proportion" corresponds to the
transitional
Relationship
79 cation of Hegel's argument to the mortally singular rational animal is what
matters most. In this context it is the "ethical substance" perfectly
stabilized by its constitutional customs that is the paralysed infinite—and the
single consciousness is the moving particular, a mortal "identity of
non-being and being," which subsists stably as a reproduction process (as
the family, which is the unit of the polity). In the ethical substance,
universal and particular are immediately "in one another." This is
the "determinate concept." The universl here is (negatively) the
customary law that makes all citizens members; and positively it is the common
territory that they share. Socrates the Athenian knows that his whole existence
is at the disposal of "the laws"; but the injustice of the verdict
upon him is the "contradiction of the determinate concept within
itself." As realized reciprocity, the infinite has become paralysed. It is
the fulfilled oneness—that is, a oneness of [opposites] that are not qua
opposites—and equally a oneness of the same, so that they are qua opposites,
but as sublated; and their connection, their simple unity, is just that
oneness. This it is that has arisen; contradiction (or the infinity that
[consists] in a oneness of opposites, wherein as such they are not at all
posited and wherein as ideal2 they are at the same time distinguished) is what
is dialectical in this relation, which [76] in its very realization has to
posit itself as our reflection. Right here nothing concerns us but what has
thus necessarily arisen; and just as infinity is brought to rest in it, so we
too must bring our reflection to rest, as it were, and only take what is there.
Our reflection will become the reflection of this relation itself. The
universal, as has been shown,61 is not pure but fulfilled unity, the
self-equivalent oneness of the opposites. The particular is not a substance;
but what is distinguished is something posited as sublated, what is as what is
not: a determinacy, yet not determinacy in general but in itself, infinite, or
posited as such. The determinacy is in itself m this way because it is
reflected into itself out of being per se and is itself posited as the identity
of non-being and being. It is not—that discovery of the speculative meaning of
the syllogism in 1801. The connection of the syllogism with mathematical
"proportion" is made through the Platonic doctrine of the truly
beautiful bond" (Timaeus, 3ic~32a, compare Difference, in Gesammelte
Werke, iv, p. 65, II. 31-37; Harris and Cerf, trans , p i58n). 61. Trans.: The
ms includes "not" with "shown," separating it from
"pure" with a comma.
8o
Logic is, it is not connected purely with itself; as what is not it is not
sublated, not at all.62 Rather, it is the unity of both: it is connected with
itself, sublated; and, in this state of having become the contrary of itself,
connected with itself, equal to itself. This self-equivalency in its sub-
latedness, its form, is substantiality as something universal. Yet this
universal is not merely this form, but it is what is fulfilled, what is simple
in the determinacies thus posited as distinguished in their ideality2
[ideellseyn]. The universal as this connection of what is distinguished [des
Unterschiedenen] is its ideality and negative unity; but as the sublatedness of
this opposite [it is] hence the indifferent connection of just these that are63
not set against one another negatively, in that they are so with respect to
themselves. Likewise the universal is not opposed to the particular, but it is
immediately the form of the particular; determinacy is, as sublated, reflected
into itself, and the universal is this its reflection. A I Determinate Concept
The connection of the universal and the particular just now determined, their
simple being-in-one-another without antithesis, is the determinate concept.
Determinacy is no longer substance, not something posited as positive numerical
one, but as something universal, something reflected into itself; and
determinate being has received a completely different [77] meaning. For it is
in truth nothing other than the determinate concept, realized being, just as
the relation of being is properly the realizing of it; that which is usually
understood as determinate being is rather the determinate concept. The accident
of substance that is something actual has its connection, its otherness,
outside itself and therefore is not; it is only something possible, not
something that is in itself. Only the reflected accident, the determinate
concept, is within itself; it is something determinate, and thereby itself only
something possible, one only in connection with another. But as this possible,
it is posited; it is, not for the reason that it is something possible—on the
contrary, this [its being possible] is its coming-to-be- sublated; but it is
for the first time, through this its being posited as 62. Trans.: Lasson omits
a comma, to read "It is not what is not, sublated, not at all." 63.
Trans.: There is a shift from singular to plural here, because the universal is
a species of itself
Relationship
81 something possible. What is determinate inherendy disintegrates within
infinity; it is a nothing. That it is something that is not is for it an alien
reflection; it is in itself only this [thing] that is not; and [when]64 posited
as something sublated—that is, as determinate concept—it is posited as it is in
itself; or for the first time, it is. This being is simple infinity, infinity
brought to rest; it is the existing of what is determinate; its being is
synonymous with universality. It is something determinate, but as something
particular; [it is] as something determinate that, just because it is outside
of itself, is, with respect to itself, connection with another; for in the relation
of being, determinacy is with respect to itself not at the same time reflected
into itself; rather, it goes only outwards. In the determinate concept
determinacy \'7band reflection) is strictly one, simple. Determinacy without
reflection is not the particular■, else it would be nothing; likewise
reflection is of itself the void; for it is only as what has come back out of
opposition—that is, out of determinacy. But the determinate concept is in truth
not this simple [thing], of which the concept has been established. It may be
considered from the side of its having come back out of opposition, out of the
relation— then it dissolves itself into the relation again. But [when] this
relation [is considered] as simple, in the way it has come to be, then this simplicity
must carry this determinacy of being conditioned upon itself as a trace in
another way. It has the form of freedom; but that it does not in fact have it
absolutely, as we realize (even though the bridge has been broken off through
its simplicity), this it must therefore display in itself. The determinate
concept is subjected to the same dialectic of which it [relation] is the
quality; which quality is determinacy in the form of pure being, into whose
place reflected being, being-in-itself, has here stepped. There is in fact a
contradiction [78] present between determinacy and being reflected: the former
is only one side of the opposition; the latter is the unity of both. The
relation of causality was the negative, the moment of reflecting itself into
itself, wherein determinacy was to sublate itself; but it was only a formal
sublating. Similarly, what is reflected did not of course remain the initial
[determinacy] (for that became one with its opposite); yet this one[ness] is
itself something just as determinate and therewith has being-in- itself only as
form in itself, to which in truth it is not equal. It can 64. Trans.: Replacing
es, or "it."
82
Logic just as well be posited again as one with its opposite, but it still
remains something determinate; for as something reflected thus it is on its own
account and simple, yet just thereby opposed to those whose unity it is. It
exists indeed in a two-fold mode: in one way as being something determinate and
thereby as connecting with negative unity, which is its infinity; however as
unity reflected into itself it is itself negative unity, though of a kind
wherein the negated is [as] sublated. It is negative unity posited in the form
of positive unity, as simple positive unity; in other words, as universality.
Through this it is itself preserved in that connection, whose infinity is
thereby formal, opposed, a negative one instead of negative unity. In this mode
of subsisting determinacies that are reflected into themselves, it is this
substance as negative one. The substance is their separated being per se, yet
is like the determinacies. However, their65 dead one, as this one, is in
connection with the being per se of determinacy, or their universality; [it is]
what is determinate and indeed what is absolutely determinate, what is
negative, the particular, which is contingent to the universal. Universality as
reflection is the non-being of particularity; and the singularity of the
substance is what is accidental or merely possible. The singular or the substance
is a particular, not a mere singular, in the positive connection with the
univesal—a particular that is in the universal as in its universal space
wherein it is connected as excluding. Conversely, substance is equally the
universal as (negative) unity, in which apart from the determinacy, which is
the universal, something other is also posited, or in which this universal in
just the same way is connected negatively as determinate, excludes the other
from itself, though the other is its like, such as is equally in the form of
being per se, [79] of positive universality—just as in it the negative one
[excludes] other ones. The universal is one property of substance along with
others; substance is something particular, something posited in the universal
along with other particulars. Each is subsumed under the others, but these two
subsumptions go in opposite ways: the particular is negative one and the
properties according to their determinacy and in opposition are; the universal
is the positive unity of numerical ones, This our reflection about what is
essential in the determinate concept, developed with respect to it, is its
realization or the reflection of the same into itself. The determinate concept
is determinacy comprehending itself, or determinacy reflected into itself.
Reflection as 65. Trans. Ihr. ihre could be singular and refer to
"substance," rather than plural.
Relationship
83 the simple, or the universal, is in the form of determinacy; and the latter
is the self-subsistent being and the sublatedness of the deter- minacies, the
negative unity, the merely possible, posited precisely as possible; substance
is absorbed in it. Insofar as substance is posited, the universal is what is
essential and this substance is posited as something sublated; in other words,
the negative one is subsumed under the universal. Conversely, substance is the
particular, what is subsumed, connected with the universal, posited in it as
sublated, indeed positive unity as well, something universal; and the
determinate concept is through its determinacy something only posited as
sublated and therewith posited rather as what is subsumed. For, since it is
something reflected into itself, substance cannot disconnect itself from that;
just as, opposed to this reflection, [it is] connected with its opposite and
thereby with negative unity, in its being per se having in itself only to be as
the connection with negative unity. Thus, the contradiction of the determinate
concept within itself is that it [is] this doubly opposed subsumption in
itself; the determinacy is contradictory to the reflection within itself, and
the positing of the determinate concept is this ± V- 1. Its positing is its
square; its reality, its concept is this opposed possibility. The determinate
concept, expressing what it is in itself—[expressing] not the determinacy
reflected into itself but that the determinacy equally sublates [itself]
therein and that the concept is a one that posits the determinacy at the same
time as sublated, but simultaneously [is] a universal that posits this its
being sublated as sublated—is judgment. [80] b I Judgment Here "bad
reality" follows the "bad ideality" of the determinate concept
(contrast the order in "Simple Connection," ce 31 above). In the
first moment we reflected. Now Socrates himself is the subject whose judgment
"subsumes" the whole community of the Athenians (including himself);
and through him the laws speak—so the subsumption goes both ways. Hegel's
treatment of the forms of judgment is itself formal. But if we take him to be
concerned about how the community is present to the citizens as the laws, we
can see why he orders the forms of judgment as he does. "The law-abiding
Athenians are Athens" is convertible; "All Athenians are Greeks"
is inadequate; "Socrates is an Athenian" is accidental; only "If
Socrates heeds the laws, then Athens is," is necessary. (Note that Hegel
gives the hypothetical
84
Logic judgment this odd form.) This is "the reflection of Socrates the
Athenian into himself." The reverse subsumption goes: "Socrates is
not just the human animal that he was born" (because of his education—but
this is accidental); "Socrates is not a lion, but an Athenian" (which
is a necessary truth but a superfluous statement, even though a circus lion
might be called "Socrates"); "Socrates is an Athenian, or he has
not heeded the laws but has fled to Boeotia" (which is a choice that he
does have). The disjunctive is the absolute judgment because it expresses the
freedom of choice implicit in Socrates' being a "human animal" to
begin with. What is realized in judgment is contingency or freedom; and that is
not yet named. Hence the advance to syllogism is necessary. 1 /Judgment is the
moment of otherness of the determinate concept, or its (bad) reality, wherein
what is posited as one in it goes asunder and is distinguished on its own
account. In the determinate concept there is reflected determinacy as taken
back into itself out of the otherness; yet it is not so in truth, but rather
still determinacy, and still in otherness. And the reflection into itself is
the negative one, or the posited side of the sublatedness of the determinacy.
Judgment is the expression of what the concept [is] in truth; therefore it
includes within itself a negative one: a substance that, however, [is] no
longer posited as such on its own account (as in the relationship of
substantiality) but rather [is] what is reflected into itself, itself connected
with the reflection into itself, with the universality, [and is] subsumed under
what is reflected into itself [and] posited as merely a sublated one. In other
words, substance is something particular, or subject. But just as [substance]
is posited through the universal as sublated, so in its turn as a negative
unity it posits this universal (which at the same time is a determinacy) as
something sublated. This universal is not posited as being in itself but rather
only with respect to an other as subject; and it is a property of it, something
other than it itself is. This otherness, or the being in an other, is
necessary; [it is] the expression of substance as of a determinacy, [it is]
what is opposed to opposed determinacies whose negative unity is the subject.
The substance has [them] next to itself as other properties in general, not as
[things] that are connected with each other through themselves ([that is,] are
only as [each] the negative of the other) but [has them] rather as reflected,
self-subsistent, and indifferent to one another, [things] that do not relate to
each other as their possibilities but rather
Relationship
85 each of which is on its own account as opposed to the other ([that is,] is
only an other like the others). [They are] qualities whose being per se, as
subject, is however just as much opposed to them as it also is in them; they are
in the form of the subject. To this subsumption of the universal under the
particular, under the subject, is tied the opposite [subsumption]. These
properties are universal, positive [81] unities; [they are] a self-equivalent
being per se in which the negative unity is sublated or (insofar as it is
posited) is designated with this determination: to be posited only as sublated—
that is, not as substance but rather as subject. Just as the predicate,
regarded from the perspective of the subject, was also posited only as
something sublated and this expressed itself in the fact that it had others
beside itself, so too this positedness of the subject as something sublated
through the predicate is expressed in the subject [an ihm]. And regarded from
the perspective of the predicate, the subject similarly has others beside it,
against which it [stands] even as it is indifferent to them. Its connection
with them is outside of it. Just as the connection of the properties is outside
of them, namely in the subject, or rather the subject is this connection
itself, so is the connection of these subjects something other than they—namely,
the predicate. It is their equivalence; [it is] what in this its otherness, the
diverse subjects, remains self-equivalent as reflected into itself, and thereby
posits this its otherness only as ideal2, as sublated. These two opposed
subsumptions are unified in the judgment; in the concept they are in simple
unity; what the judgment expresses is a reflection alien to the concept itself.
The subject and the predicate are what is essential in the opposed
subsumptions; in whichever, when one is the essential, the other is posited as
the ideal2 or sublated. The simplicity of the concept has vanished; its
reflectedness of determinacy has divided (or doubled) itself under opposed
determinations. And the simplicity of the connection of their connection66
doubled is not the concept, but rather the copula is, empty being,
non-reflected connecting. And the judgment does not so much accomplish the realization
of the concept, but rather in it the concept has come outside of itself. That
it may be maintained in the judgment, the subject and predicate must make
themselves equal even in their antithesis, must both express in themselves the
determinate concept, a simple oneness 66. Trans.: Here we follow ms; ce omits
the second "connection."
86
Logic of universal and particular. The question is how the judgment is able to
do this in itself, how this necessity is displayed in it and, in the inability
of having the concept in itself, drives it out of itself. [82] 2 / The subject
and predicate coupled in the judgment, the former the particular and the latter
the universal, contradict themselves through their antithesis to themselves and
through the opposite subsumption that they exercise over one another. Each is
on its own account, and each is connected in its being per se with the other
and reciprocally posits the other as something sublated. One just as much as
the other must display itself as positing this ideality in the other; in the
manner in which they are connected with one another in the concept of judgment,
the contradictory being per se of each is posited. Each is, however, only on
its own account in that the other is not on its own account; in the manner in
which they are in judgment, each is on its own account. Thus the being per se
of the one must make the other into something other than what it is posited as
immediately in the judgment. This self-preservation through the coercion of the
other under it is therefore immediately the becoming-other of this other; but
at the same time the nature of the judgment must equally validate itself in
this alteration and simultaneously sublate the otherness; it is thus the path
[of] reflection of this other into itself. The realization of the terms of the
judgment is in this way a doubled one; and both together complete the
realization of judgment, which, however, in this its totality has itself become
something other. For the determinacy of the members essential to judgment has
sublated itself through its reflection into itself, and it is rather the empty
connection that fulfils itself. a / Being per se of the Predicate, and
Reflexion of the Subject into Itself The fact that in judgment the predicate on
its own is not subsumed under the negative unity of the subject makes it cease
to be a property—makes the predicate into what is self-subsistent and the
subject into what is posited as sublated. a / The subject is itself a universal
when posited immediately as sublated in its determinacy of particularity. It is
not a numerical one, but itself something positive, a determinate concept. It
must at first be so posited, for it should be on [83] its own account and not
as substance, as actuality. Rather, it should have in itself the being per se
such as it has now become—that is, universality. In order that the judgment,
Relationship
87 however, not cease to be a judgment, the subject must still retain visa-vis
the predicate the relation of a particular to its universal; besides the
subject there must be contained in the universal other determinate concepts,
"a is a" or "Matter is heavy" is no judgment, for
"What is heavy is matter" or "a is a" is just as correct;
that is to say, the possibility of converting the relation proves that what was
previously posited as particular is likewise a universal and that the universal
still loses nothing of its universality in being posited [as] particular; [it
proves] that for these terms the distinction of subject and predicate is something
quite external, not expressed in their essence. As this determinate concept
that retains vis-a-vis the predicate the relation of particularity, the subject
still remains thereby a negative one. But a one, taken up in universality,
expresses itself as allness\ and the judgment "All a are b" (or, when
the negative unity is brought out even more determinately, "Every a is
b") determines the subject equally well as negative one and also as
something universal. This restoration of particularity in universality itself,
however, is not a positing of what the subject as such is. The subject should
be on its own account, and precisely as subject. Yet as allness it is in fact
not subject but has the universality of a predicate and is something particular
simply and solely in this connection with it. And the predicate does not
preserve itself in its universality; rather, the subject is likewise something
that subsumes, something universal, just as the predicate is. The latter only
remains the universal in that the subject becomes a negative one and is posited
as such above all. The subsuming of the predicate is sublated by the
universality of the subject; for the subsuming to occur, the universality must
be restricted and must express in itself this becoming subsumed. 3 / The
judgment in which the universality of the subject has been restricted in this
way is the particular one67 "Some a are b." Here the subject is no
longer something universal, particular only in connection with the predicate;
rather, it expresses negativity with respect to the predicate itself. But the
particular judgment ceases in fact to be a judgment. It is through and through
only a problematic judgment, for the subject "some a" is something
wholly indeterminate. [84] A distinction is drawn [in] the sphere, [that is to
say, in] the universal a, but only a 67. Trans . In the following, particulare
and besondere are used as indifferent synonyms and translated indiscriminately
as "particular "
88
Logic quite general distinction, one that is without any determinacy; and the
opposite judgment "Some a are not b" is equally correct. Precisely
because the connection of b with a is possible in the completely opposite
manner, it is an indeterminate connection just as well positive as negative: b
is connected and also not connected. Suppose, however, that the negation is
connected with the predicate and this is determined as not-B; the predicate
would then cease altogether to be a determinate concept; it would be, rather,
something fully indeterminate, something sublated, instead of being what it
ought to be: something that preserves itself. In that the connection of the
subject in a particular judgment generally is considered without reference to
the possibility of [its] opposite or negative, the predicate is connected in
truth not with some a but with a generally (partly positive, partly negative,
from which we here abstract)—that is to say, we would have again the previous
universal judgment altered only by the requirement of a restriction. The
particular judgment only claims "b should not subsume a as
universal"; for the subsumed is immediately a particular just because it
is something subsumed. It is also nothing but the mere "should,"
however, that is asserted; the requirement that the subject be posited as a
negative one is not in fact fulfilled. 7 / The mere "should" of the
particular judgment is sublated; and in that the subject is a numerical one,
something singular, what is problematic in it is determined in the singular6*
judgment "this is b." A "this" isperse a particular, a
negative one; it is opposed to the universal and freed from it. But just
because of this, it is rather only a singular, not a particular, for the
singular qua particular is at the same time posited as connected with the universal.
And in that the subject thus posits itself on its own account—what it is
vis-a-vis the universal of the predicate: to be only subsumed under it—its
connection with the predicate is in fact sublated in it too. In the way it must
express in itself the connection, the subject is no longer a particular. Just
as the subject as universal has destroyed individuality within itself—it is not
posited as particular—just as little is it posited as singular in that it has
now destroyed universality. The middle between the two, particularity, is the
negative unity of both, something merely required in the positing of
universality and singularity as one. [85] 5 / The true union of both consists
in singularity being posited, but as a sublated, as a merely possible one. The
subject expresses its nature 68. Trans.: "Singular" translates both
singulare and einzelne.
Relationship
89 in this way since its content is a substance, a numerical oneness, and this
oneness (as at the same time only possible) is both distinguished from its
possibility and connected with it; [it] is thus itself expressed as a
proposition. When the subject is posited in judgment in this form, the latter
is the hypothetical judgment "If this is, so is b." The
"this" of the singular judgment is the subject of the judgment, but
in such a way that this "this," this actuality of the numerical one,
is posited at the same time as only a possible, as a sublated one. The
predicate b governs the whole judgment. It is the universal that this subject subsumes
under itself, so that the subject is not something positive but only something
possible; or so that it expresses at the same time its determinateness by means
of the universality (since it is a "this") and displays fully
developed in itself the nature of particularity. In the hypothetical judgment
the preservation of the predicate has been established. In the universal
judgment the predicate is equal to the subject, and the relation is lost. In
like manner, since the subject expresses only its connection with the predicate—[that
is,] its being in the universal—it is for its part not as particular; it is
this, rather, only relative to the predicate. As merely for this relation it is
thus subject: [that is,] what it is in itself in the relation;69 and its
becoming- other is its coming to be on its own account. In the particular
judgment the predicate is indeed the universal, but it dispenses with the
subject. It both connects with "these" subjects and also not with
"these"; that is to say, it connects with some of them and not with
others. And that with which it connects in general throughout its duplication,
or in respect to which it does not have this indifference, is in fact the a, or
the subject as universal. The subject in this particularity is something other than
the way it is merely in relation, connected with the universal. But it [is] an
otherness only externally, formally posited with respect to the relation,
something that should be, something non-universal, not a "this." In
the singular judgment the predicate is indeed the universal that subsumes the
subject but is itself still a property of the subject, something determinate;
and its subsumption of the subject under itself is not expressed with respect
to the subject. This is accomplished only in the hypothetical judgment. But
thereby the judgment is in general a problematic one, for the "this"
is posited as 6g. Trans.: The German reads: "es ist so Subject bloss fur
diss Verhaltniss, was es irn Verhaltisse an sich ist." An alternate English
reading: "It is thus as subject what it is in itself in the relation, that
is, merely for this relation."
9°
Logic sublated; and the predicate has not emerged from its [86] subsump- tion
under the subject by means of the developed particularity. The subject is
indeed posited on its own account as what it is in the relation; but because of
this, were the subject posited ideally^ by means of the predicate, the
universal for which the subject is posited as sublated would itself come to be
negative unity. But the subject of the hypothetical judgment is thus posited on
its own account as something only possible. From the side of its
"this" it is connected with the predicate, but not as something
sublated; or "this" is not its substance whose accident it would be,
its necessity. The condition is a possible cause; but it would cease to be
cause and necessary precisely in virtue of this non-identity. Both are
connected, to be sure, but in such a way that, since the subject is only as
possible cause (as ideala cause, that is), it is in truth as something
separate. The connection of the universal and particular is a simple being of
the particular in the universal. In judgment the two separate; the connection
must become again the differentiating one [that we saw] previously in relation.
The realization of the judgment comes to this point in that what has come apart
connects. But it becomes necessarily a realization that is not that of the
cause but that of the condition: the condition, namely, that the subject not
become an other in the predicate; or [that] its otherness only consist in its
remaining identical, its own self; and in its being bound only with another. In
this being bound with another, its simple being per se as cause would stand out
against this bonding of itself with another as with the effect. Rather, the
cause remains as subject on its own account; and its connection with another is
not a bonding of itself to another in which the connection would be a real2
crossing over. On the contrary, what is here identical, which is [also] in the
other, falls away. The cause is posited ideally/, necessity is a connection
that does not express itself as identical. The relation of causality is a: a +
b; that of condition, a: b. The hypothetical judgment is thereby a requirement
of necessity, which as such (that is, as the identity of opposites that are at
the same time self-subsisting) had disappeared until now in this relation and
[which] first comes in again with the hypothetical judgment; for here the
opposites are posited again as self-subsisting. But necessity emerges simply
and solely as something required, as something negative; for in the being per
se of the subject that has realized itself, and in the being per se of the
predicate (for the preservation of which this happened) in their very selves,
something positive in identity is not ex-
Relationship
91 pressed: that the a might be in b, or b in a, the one or the other a uniting
of both. Rather, what is identical is [87] just the negative: the fact that
just as the predicte is a universal that is posited as sublated, so too is the
subject (which as unity of actuality and possibility is the resolved
universality) the realization of the previous relation as itself something
connected, or as one term of the connection. This relation of the relation of
actuality and possibility to the universal, to the predicate, is a necessity
that should be. The terms are posited as ideal2; they are what is fluctuating,
unstable; and what is required is the middle term that would be their expressed
necessity, their posited identity. This demand is what is last in the
realization of the subject; it can be satisfied only by the realizing of the
predicate, of the universal. (3 / Being per se of the Subject and Realization
of the Predicate aa / The subject preserves itself as a posited particular in
that it realizes the subsumption of the predicate under itself or displays it
as subsumed under the subject according to its determinacy, just as previously
it preserved [itself] in the contrary way, namely, as reflected into itself, as
universal, as that which already on its own account would be the sublatedness
of opposed determinacies. Displaying the predicate as something determinate in
itself (as it is in itself qua one property of the subject) can be nothing else
than its self-sublating and its being posited as one with the opposed
determinacy, whereby a new unity, a higher universal, originates. The immediate
display of the judgment "b is a"—that a, the predicate, is something
determinate and subsumed under the subject b, in other words, something
sublated through its negative unity—is the positing of a as not-A. It is the
expression of the negative judgment, in which the predicate is posited
according to that moment in which, as determinate, it is in fact something that
is not in itself but rather something going under within its opposite through
its negative unity. Negative judgment, however, is just for that reason
problematic, like the particular judgment; for the subject is not connected
with something universal. There is posited only the universal form of the
judgment, not a judgment itself; in other words, it is problematic whether
there be a judgment. The predicate is not-A. This universal just as it is is
something absolutely empty, a determinacy not reflected
92
Logic into itself. However, this not-A, as reflected into itself or as
positive, can also be the determinacy opposed to a. The negative is something
with a double sense: the "not" in general, pure nothing or being; or
the "not" of this determinate a whereby it is itself a determinate
"not," which is [88] opposed to a as positive. If the former is
intended, the judgment is something completely indeterminate in its predicate;
it is no judgment. If the latter, it is something determinate; what it is,
however, is totally problematic and such that one just as much as the other,
and the one as little as the other alone, must be intended. Were not-A itself
something positive, then the judgment "b is not- a" would in fact be
a positive one, "b is c." And since c is expressed not as c but as
not-A, then the subject would connect with c as with something opposed to a and
thereby with the unity common to a and c—the higher universal that incorporates
a and c in the same manner and is their negative unity or their universality.
Since b is connected nonetheless by means of a with a higher sphere not yet
posited, what is required—the sublatedness of the predicate as a determinacy—has
not been achieved through the negative judgment. As we have shown, it can only
[be] realized (or the predicate be completely displayed as something
annihilated) [in] that this equivocation of not-A cease, and it be posited as
nothing. And this can only happen [in] that the connection of b with the higher
sphere d, common to a and c, completely fall away. (3p / In negative judgment
lies an unexpressed but indirect connection of b not with a but through a
itself with the not-A opposed to the a as c, and the higher sphere of A-and-c.
"b is not green; it does not have this colour." By that is meant: a)
it has some other determinate colour, and (3) it has colour in general. For the
predicate to be posited as sublated, the other colour, as colour in general,
must fall away, and with colour in general also every other determinate colour
falls away. The negative judgment has become an infinite one: "Feeling
does not have a red colour"; "The spirit is not six feet long";
and any nonsense of the same kind. That is to say, it has simply to do with the
fact that the connection of the subject with the sublated predicate is at the
same time a sublating of the sphere, which as unity has the negated predicate
for a negated term opposed to it. The predicate as such is negated: in the
negative [89] judgment the subject does not have this predicate; in the
infinite it has no predicate. The negative expression of the infinite judgment
must therefore be so constituted that not through this determinacy does the
connection with its uni-
Relationship
93 versal still [subsist], but rather that this universal just as well, hence
the predicate, is sublated in general. An infinite judgment of this sort
therefore presents itself immediately as an absurdity because, since the
predicate is completely negated, no judgment at all occurs, but only an empty semblance
of one (a subject and a connection with a predicate having been posited), which
dissolves into nothing. As the negative judgment to the particular, so the
infinite judgment corresponds to the singular judgment; the latter's subject is
posited completely on its own, but just thereby it steps out from under
subsumption and in fact, in its not being subsumed, [its] not being reflected
under the universal, is not on its own and is also no judgment.70 So in the
infinite judgment the predicate is completely negated by the subject; at the
same time, it has thereby stepped outside the subsumption under a subject and
is completely on its own, just as the subject is. But just thereby the judgment
falls apart and is no more. However, the negation, the nothing, is not at all
something empty; it is the nothing of this determinacy and [is] a unity that is
the negative of opposed determinacies. It must thus be posited with respect to
the predicate as it has been determined by us under the negative judgment. 77 /
The negated predicate, or (as it is for the subject in relationship) the
property that is posited as determinacy only in a sublated way, is such that,
being determined as a, it is connected strictly with its opposed determinacy
and is a not-c, just as c is a not-A. And in that both of them are as reflected
into themselves, the connection, [or] their negative unity, is equally
something reflected into itself, a universal, what is common to the two, which
are particulars for it; yet [they are] not as negative one but [them]selves as
universal. For each on its own account is not the one of opposed determinacies
but a formal one of this kind, reflected into itself, determinacy, [so that]71
outside of their own reflection [there is] equally a reflection into itself. Their
sphere is indeed one of this kind but it is also at the same time [90] opposed
to the subject. It is the positive unity, the subsisting of the opposites; it
is just their common reflection—that is, a universal. 70. In the margin:
subject in the particular moves towards the being of actuality, in the infinite
the predicate towards nothing. 71. Trans : The ms reads "determinacy,
which one, outside of their proper reflection [is] just as much a reflection
into itself." We have followed ce's emendation.
94
Logic With respect to the subject as such the opposed determinacies do not in
fact subsist. The subject is their negative unity; its properties are
completely indifferent to each other. As the being of its properties it is a
formal universal, not negative unity but unity. The properties are only other
for each other, not differentiated as against one another. The subject is the
empty one, paralysed substantially, or determinate substance, which, as not
particular, not posited in the universal itself, connects its determinacy
infinitely with the other and sublates its actuality. On the contrary, the
subject as one reflected into itself is particular substance; or the essence of
this one, posited in the form of negative one, is universality and is thus its
determinacy reflected into itself, not sublating itself as actuality. In
connection with their determinacies, the higher universal is their negative
unity; but opposed to the subject [it is] what is self-equivalent in these
particularities. Opposed to the subject, the negative unity is a universal and
does not appear as negative unity; but rather the determinacies just on that
account [appear] in it not as self-sublating but as sublated and thereby
external, independent of it. The negative unity is only their common space; the
determinacies are not its accidents but its specifics [Beson- dern]. The
negative unity is in this their otherness the self-equivalent, but the
determinacies as this its otherness are equally such as are self- subsistent in
their determinacy. The predicate, posited in the judgment in this way ([that is
to say,] that the subject is connected with the predicate and its opposite and
thereby with what is universal in both of these), is something that excludes
its opposite, and the opposite does the same; thus both subsist in the same
way. The subject that is connected with the one cannot be connected with the
[other]; yet it must be connected in this way with both. It is connected with
both at once in such a way that the connection with the one excludes the
connection with the other, hence also not with both at once and positively only
with their universal. This judgment is called the disjunctive. It is the
counterpart to the hypothetical; as in the latter the subject, so in the former
the predicate attains its totality (which is here developed as determinacy
reflected into itself). It is determinacy, and thereby at the same time is with
its opposite and hence is also their universal.7* The judgment in which the
predicate is thus developed is disjunctive—the [91] subject con- 72. Trans.: We
follow ce. The ms could read " . and hence also their universal is."
Relationship
95 nected either with a or c. That is, the predicate excludes its opposite from
the determinacy; yet it is equally excluded by it; and one no more and no less
than the other. The subject is connected with each in such a way that in this
connection it excludes the other, yet in the connection is thus also connected
at the same time with this other. Through this totality of the predicate, the
subject has genuinely preserved itself, or has made the predicate into what it
is in truth in this relation, namely, a determinacy, something posited as
sublated in the negative unity of the subject. This now pertains to [ist an]
the predicate in that it is not the predicate that is the exclusive determinacy
of the subject; rather, its opposite is connected with the subject in the same
way. They are both at the same time not nothing, as in the infinite judgment
(which is no judgment at all), but both pertain to the subject just as much as
neither the one nor the other does; and right through them the subject is
connected determinately only with their sphere, which is present as
undeveloped. The judgment is thus completed through the two opposed subsump-
tions: of subject under predicate [and] of predicate under subject, a / In the
first, the predicate preserved itself as universal; and the subject was posited
with respect to it as what it is, not outside this relation but rather [as]
what it is in it. In other words, it travelled the path of reflection into
itself and set itself forth as determinateness of negative unity through
universality. Thus, in the [second] subsump- tion the subject remained a
particular, undeveloped, and the predicate developed itself as what is
determined by the negative unity of the subject. The determining [term] (in the
first case the predicate, in the other the subject) was posited as the one that
remained whatever it is, as the self-subsisting; but in fact it is rather the
other, which displays its reflection into itself, the self-subsistent or real2.
For it displays in itself the totality of relation, while the other preserves
itself only as the fixed term of the relation. And the bad and true reality
stand in converse relation: in the first subsumption wherein the subject is
determined through the predicate, the subject is rather reflected within
itself, real2, just as the predicate [92] is in [the] second. In this their
genuine reality, both cease to be something positive. In the hypothetical
judgment the subject is posited as something sublated, and similarly in the
disjunctive judgment, the predicate; and so they are both posited as what they
are in themselves in truth. The subject is in itself not a particular, a
self-subsistent being, but rather a singular
96
Logic that is only posited as something possible; the predicate is not a
universal as determinacy (in other words, not the determinacy as reflected into
itself, as self-subsistent); but rather it is in itself only as the either- or,
the equal being or the contingency of opposed determinacies. Thus it has come
about here for the first time that what we have hitherto opposed ([that is,]
the bad and the true reality) and what in each fell outside one another in the
exposition (namely, the one as the determinacy of the concept, the other as its
totality) are here opposed in one and the same relation. But at the same time
the doubled subsumption falls apart, and the true realization of subject and
predicate is itself a bad realization of judgment; for judgment has not
returned into itself out of its duplication. In the duplication judgment has
only come outside itself, for this doubled judgment is a problematic one; [it
is] the hypothetical [judgment] as necessity merely called for, with respect to
which the identity of necessity is not posited. The disjunctive judgment is
equally problematic, for the subject is in fact not bound to the posited
predicate and its antithesis. Rather, that with which it is necessarily
connected, namely, the sphere of both, is what is not posited; thus there is
necessity in it in like manner.73 In the hypothetical judgment the predicate is
what is necessary, while the subject is contingent to this necessity and the
other [that is, the subject] is lacking. And conversely, in disjunctive
judgment the subject is posited as one term of the necessity, but the other,
the predicate, is lacking to it. In both, what is posited as essential is not
even connected with that with which it stands in connection (rather, this is
posited as ideal2, as sublated); but through this [it is connected] with an
other that is not yet posited. The subject of hypothetical judgment is ideal2,
like the predicate, and at the same time a "this," but the
"this" is not posited. In disjunctive judgment the predicate is
ideal2, but the determinacy is similarly not posited. In virtue of the fact
that previously the subject was one-sidedly identical with the predicate and
now the predicate is one-sidedly identical [93] with the subject, the principle
of necessity is present. And in the hypothetical judgment the predicate,
through its identity with the subject (which at the same time is also something
determinate, a singular), can be bonded with the singular that is posited,
which is just thereby identical with this subject. So too the subject in
disjunctive judgment is identical with the predicate, which is posited on the
side of its determinacy; 73. Trans.: That is, the necessity called for
(explicitly added by ce).
Relationship
97 this predicate is at the same time a universal, and the subject can thus be
bonded with something of the sort through the realized predicate. For the
subject and predicate there is present the form of the necessity of a
connection with something not yet posited. But it must be posited. The
hypothetical and the disjunctive judgment are problematic, but there must be a
judgment; and it can only happen now because in hypothetical judgment the
particular, outside of this subject in which it is as sublated, is posited [as]
self-subsistent in the way it was in the disjunctive judgment—because the
subject of the hypothetical judgment connects with the subject that is
self-subsistent and with it constitutes indeed a judgment, which it can do
since it is itself a universal. Likewise, [it can only happen now] in that the
predicate of disjunctive judgment connects with its sphere, or rather only
posits this connection; and with it constitutes indeed a judgment, which it can
do since it is itself something determinate, thus takes up the self-subsistent
universal in the hypothetical judgment. In this [way] both these judgments, the
disjunctive and the hypothetical, are united; the self-subsistent subject of
the disjunctive and the self-subsistent predicate of the hypothetical are
posited; and the realized predicate of the former and the realized subject of
the latter are both one and the same; [they are] the middle between the
extremes, between the self-subsistent subject and predicate. There is hereby
posited one judgment split within itself, its middle being a fulfilled,
developed universality, the unity of particular and universal; and subject and
predicate cease to be bonded through the empty "is" of judgment. They
are interlocked [zusammengeschlossen] through the fulfilled middle, which is
their identity, and thereby through necessity; and the judgment has come to be the
syllogism [Schlusse].7* [94] c / The Syllogism7'' Judgment establishes freedom
in its problematic aspects: contingency and choice. Syllogism realizes freedom
as reason. The concept of the ethical substance (formulated in the
"Relation of Being") is now "reflected into" Socrates 74.
Trans.: Scfiluss means both "syllogism" and "conclusion";
the English does not catch this. 75. In the margin. Concept of the syllogism
Trans.: The marginalia and the frequent underlinings in this section suggest
that the ms was used later either for lectures or for preparing another ms. The
text is not as carefully edited
9«
Logic the thinking subject. As the incarnation of the laws he is not just the
singular subject but the middle term through which the concept of the ethical
substance becomes the syllogism of self-definition. He "subsumes"
both his own singularity and the universality of the law in his own activity of
self-realization (and as family member and citizen he is also subsumed). As
freedom of choice the subject is "the actual itself as universal." As
family member he is resolved, and the contingency of his decision is wiped out.
Through birth and education Socrates is one of "the Athenians," and
this is his identity (as it is the identity of the family also). The hypothesis
of the judgment is positively asserted. Socrates is an Athenian because he is
the "son of Sophronisus," born of an Athenian, and now head of the
family. The ethical Thing contains many such particular universals, and they
have both different private interests, and different social functions. But the
absolute determination of all of them is that they are Athenians. Because they
are free agents, however, this determinacy is not necessary. Socrates can
abandon Athens just as Athens can condemn Socrates. The disjunctive syllogism
is voluntary. The subject realizes itself by defining itself. The community has
its own logical process of realization. It must sublate the privacy of the
family. Hence it divides into the government and the governed. It does not depend
simply on voluntary consent (which is a contingent judgment). The citizen as
middle between city and family must obey or perish. (The form of rationality
here is inductive: what a good citizen does is what all must do.) The
sovereignty of law is "the calm simplicity of the connection." The
infinite in the "Relation of Thinking" is stable but not
"paralysed." At this stage the new transcendental logic has sublated
the older tradition of rational ontology. Up to this point the "critical"
Logic of 1804 should be read and interpreted as a reconstruction of the Kantian
position. "Practical faith" is not necessary because the logical
structure of scientific language is the real supersensible world. The theory of
the finite categories (including the forms of subjective cognition-concept,
judgment, and syllogism—which serve an architectonic function in the critical
philosophy) is the formal identity that understanding produces by copying
reason. In "Proportion" the finite reflection of the understanding
sublates itself and becomes "absolute reflection." Absolute
reflection—cognition as self-conscious self-position—forms the transition to
authentic speculation (metaphysics).lb 76. Thus Hegel can say that "Logic
ceases at the point where relationship ceases" (ce 126, 1. 2); but this is
ambiguous. As the system of reflection, logic includes the bringing of the two
great "relationships" into the "proportion" that makes them
one.
Relationship
99 1 / The subject and the predicate preserve themselves in the realization of the
judgment as what they are in determinacy vis-a-vis each other; and at the same
time—in that each realizes itself in itself, each constitutes itself with
respect to itself to be the totality of relation—they both coincide. Each in
itself [ex]presses the development of universality in itself, the particular as
much as the universal, since each is equally a determinacy reflected into
itself. The subject that remains in its determinacy connects, not determinately
with a predicate thus developed, but through the predicate with the sphere of
the predicate as something determinate. And conversely, the predicate that
remains determinate [connects] not with the subject thus developed but through
it with something determinate. Both judgments are one syllogism, since the
developed subject and predicate are the same development. In this manner the
subject and predicate, thus interlocked, are not immediately as in the
judgment; but [are] through this development, which has taken the place of the
empty "is" of the judgment and through which the judgment has become
something necessary. For the middle term is the posited middle of the extremes;
it is universal and particular at once: a) it is a determinacy, hence equal to
the subject, [and] a universal, hence equal to the predicate; and (3) the
connection of its relation is the converse of this equivalence, for this allows
no relation. It is the universal over against the subject and subsumes it; it
is the particular over against the predicate and is subsumed under it. Both
these subsumptions, expressed as judgments, are common, simple judgments, and
precisely the interlocking of subject and predicate. But the interlocking no
longer has as judgment any meaning at all; rather, what is essential to it is
not their connection in general but their connection through a middle, or the
necessity of connection. The judgment is not as such on its own account, but is
returned into the concept and subsumed under it. The [95] determinate concept
obtains its reality in the syllogism. As middle it is the simple oneness of
universal and particular, since the development For the struggle of the
understanding to copy reason, see the outline of 1801 (Rosen- kranz, Hegels
Leben, p. 191; Cerf and Harris, trans., Faith and Knowledge, p. 10) and the
Difference essay \'7bGesammelte Werke, iv, 16—19; Harris and Cerf, trans., pp.
94-98). The philosophers who pushed this effort to the limit were Plato and
Aristotle, who thus "perfected natural consciousness" and made logic
(as systema leflexionis) possible. The systema rationis is a distinctive!)
modern achievement, for which the long journey from the Stoics to 1789 was
essential.
lOO
Logic preserves itself in the unity. Its moments are simultaneously set apart
from one another as the extremes and determined vis-a-vis each other. As
relation of the extremes to the middle, the judgment is realized as something
duplicated; but it is at the same time posited as sublated, for what is subject
in one of these two subsumptions is predicate in the other one, and so the
determinacy of the judgment is destroyed through the opposite.77 Yet ideality
is not merely posited through78 this duplication of opposites but—in that the
interlocking of subject and predicate as extremes does not have the meaning of
a determinate judgment but rather of not being a judgment at all—is immediately
to be the identity of the mediating concept, the emanations of which are the
extremes and only as such are taken up in it. The simple circle of the concept
has narrowed itself and cast itself apart into the line, whose middle is the
narrowed circle itself, gathered together into a point, and whose extremes are
the universal and the particular. 2 / In the syllogism the concept has returned
through the judgment,79 in that it is this casting apart through the judgment
of its antithesis yet is the essential middle term of the antithesis. But the
syllogism has immediately also the higher standpoint of being relation returned
into itself generally, the identity of the relation of being and thought.
Relation in its first realization has become something other than itself,
though the realized other relation is the other[ness] of this other[ness] and
the return to it. In the self-realizing judgment, in the hypothetical one, the
entire universality, distinct from the particular, steps aside; but the
universality becomes precisely for this reason purely negative unity, numerical
one. The subject of the syllogism is in fact particular only in connection with
its [96] subsumption under the middle—that is, as enclosed in the circle of
universality; but it is just as much opposed to this middle, and on its own
[is] pure singularity of substance. Yet substance is no longer mere substance
itself; rather, as what has gone right through the concept and emerged out of
it, the alternation of accidents is brought to rest; [and these] accidents are
not self- sublating and opposed but are other only for one another, and
therefore other in accordance with bad infinity. In other words, this sub- 77.
In the margin: falling apart of the realization of subject and predicate in
hypothetical and disjunctive syllogism. Ideality of both. 78. Trans.: We follow
ms and not ce by placing "posited" before "but immediately"
and by not inserting a sondern before "is to be the identity . . ."
later on. 79. In the margin: subject of the syllogism is the substance returned
into itself.
Relationship
101 stance is an infinitely determined one. Substance has returned into itself,
for as the negative unity of absolutely altering accidents it is this one—that
is, their self-equivalence. It is opposed as much to the particular as to the
universal. The universal is the predicate, the particular the middle of the
syllogism; for it itself is, as particular, the unity of singularity and
universality; and its singularity is therewith particularity—universal over
against the subject, and unity of singularity and universality, or
particularity, over against the universal. 8oIn the syllogism the subject, as a
"this" to which the relation of universal and particular has
returned, is connected with the universal through the particular, not through
itself; it stands only in immediate combination with the former and in
subsumption under it. Three levels of ascending or descending are herewith
posited: a pure "this," absolutely singular; a particular, at once
this and universal (that is, as taken up into the positive unity, the negative,
infinitely determinate one); and a pure universal. Just as the two extremes of
the pure "this" and the pure universal a) are contained within the
middle, 3) so are they also opposed to it—they are on their own account. The
determinate concept of the middle is as such the simple unity of the universal
and singular, and as such its doubled connection is for the concept something
external. It is our reflection that has developed it into these extremes. The
concept is the universal unity of the two; but over against it as well stands
the pure universal, which, just as the "this" is no longer the
particular, is equally no longer determinate concept, but purely universal.
Since this has appeared outside the middle, just for that reason the middle is
not at the same time the genuine middle, subsuming both. The unity of both
extremes in the middle and [97] their separation in it are not themselves
united again: in the separation the middle is merely the means that is not on
its own account but [is] the point of transition in the ascending of singular
to universal or in the descending of universal to singular. In the concept of
the syllogism, that which is opposed to itself is thus this being-subsumed of
both extremes under the middle, as well as the being per se of both and their
relation to each other, by which the one as purely universal subsumes both
positively, just as conversely the subject subsumes both negatively. The middle
is what is common, on the one hand in that it is subsumed under both in the
opposed, positive and negative, manner, and on the other in that it subsumes
them 80. In the margin: Contradiction in the syllogism a) the being subsumed of
extremes under the middle P) the not being subsumed.
102
Logic both. In the middle the extremes are related by way of opposition,
equally as subsuming each other and being subsumed. The syllogism must realize
its concept, in that it displays this contradiction in itself. The middle
displaying itself as subsuming both would be the universal itself, and the
realization of the middle would coincide with that of this universal; over
against that realization stands the realization of the singular, which displays
itself as sublating the particular and universal in negative unity. The two
paths are opposites. But in this current, flowing opposite ways, both will be
penetrated; and the equilibrium of both will be the realization equally of each
singular.81 a / The Realization of the Subject as Singular The subject as
"this" infinitely determined [singular] (which is also called the
individual) emerges here not merely into actuality; rather, the actual itself
[emerges] as [something] universal. The actual as "this" is the
negative unity, which is connected through determinacy simply and solely with
the opposite. In the particular this connection, which turns its actuality into
possibility, is wiped out, and the determinacy is posited in the form of
universality reflected into itself, although only in the form of being per se.
For this form is opposed as the universal to the particular, and the latter has
not freed itself from this connection. [98] As subject in the syllogism82 it
emerges from the ideality in which [it] is still posited in the hypothetical
judgment; and as negative [one] it is in and of itself determined absolutely,
or absolutely in its determinacy?* the unity of many, indeed of infinitely many
determi- nacies. For as negative unity the subject is the unity of opposed de-
terminacies; but having universality in itself, as subsumed, these
determinacies are other only relative to each other, and each is freed from
that for which it is only a possible [determinacy]. The subject has subsumed
under itself not only particularity, the middle, but universality, the other
extreme. It is something universal, but in such a way that its negative unity
[is] what is essential (the universality with respect to it, posited only with
respect to it as something sublated) in this way: that it has infinitely many
properties. Universality is just this: their being with respect to the subject,
indeed their being only as the 81. In the margin: Opposite realization of the
subject and of the universal. 82. In the margin. Subject in the syllogism. 83.
In the margin singular or subject is unity of absolutely many determinacies as
universal
Relationship
103 being of others and according to bad infinity. For their being per se,
their unity, is not just their sublatedness; but it is outside of them, as
onefness]. It [is] moreover infinitely many; its multiplicity is not determined
through the unity. This so-called individuality should have reality: "it
is" is what is said of it, since the merely possible being in the
hypothetical judgment is expressed as actual.84 Thereby the hypothetical
syllogism is posited, since the subject of the hypothetical judgment turns
itself into a positive proposition. The "is" of this subject is,
however, nothing else but wholly empty being, which is perfectly equivalent to
nothing. "This c is,"or "c is a this" means the same thing.
The "this" is the "is" added to the subject as predicate.
The reality of the subject remains an empty thisness. It should have reality
only insofar as it is a "this," not insofar as it is the unity of
these determinacies. For this reality would be quite another necessity, an
inner necessity: unity of positive and negative unity in which the numerical
one is completely lost in the positive unity. It is the simplicity of the
"this" that as absolute being and as absolute certainty [99]
validates itselP3 in ordinary cognition as absolute truth. It is the concept of
infinite determinacy: the pure "this" dissolves itself immediately
into nothing; the "this" is not thus empty but rather reflection into
itself, determinacy as totality, whose form is just the "this," the
numerical one. As totality, however, it has a content: it is the unity
preserving itself in the opposite; and the opposite is, as shown, the
determinacy as multiplicity, though as completed multiplicity, as absolute
determinacy. Yet the multiplicity is not completed™ for these many are
properties reflected into themselves. They are on their own account as many;
they have unity outside themselves; and so they are simply not [the] all*'7
What is completely determinate, or the "this," is a mere ens
rationis. Of course it seems as though the mere "ought," an
unfulfilled demand, is only this: to display these properties, these absolutely
many determinacies to thought, and to exhaust them; [it seems] as though the
subject in and of itself, without connection with this enumeration, is yet
something completely determinate precisely insofar as, in that independence, it
would be a "this." Now, the subject in the syllogism should be on its
own account, not as subsumed under 84. In the margin: the hypothetical
syllogism expresses the "is" of this subject. 85. In the margin: In
the ordinary cognition the simple this is absolute truth. 86. In the margin:
The properties are not fulfilled. 87. In the margin: The properties are neuUal
vis-a-vis one another.
io4
Logic the universal, not posited as sublated, but rather as subsuming the
universal in general under itself. However, just this being in and of itself of
the absolutely determinate is this: that it have infinitely many, separated
determinacies, neutral [indifferente] to one another, outside of which their
one is precisely indifferent to them; and this [is] an ens rationis, for it is
null, this indifference of the determinacies whose essence is only to be in
connection with another; and this their connection or their differentiation
over against one another is their immediate negative unity, their essence,
which is not simply outside of them, not indifferent to them. So the subject is
essentially not a "this," something absolutely determinate and
subsuming the universal under it, but rather equally something subsumed; and
subsumed, indeed, not merely through the determinate universal or the
particular—[not] through this, since it is itself something subsumed through
the pure universal. But this is in [100] fact not the pure universal, for it is
immediately the universal of this particular that constitutes the middle. The
subject is not a pure "this" but essentially something subsumed in a
necessary way through one determinacy under a higher one, just as it subsumes
it.88 In this way the universal itself [is] just as much not a pure universal,
for the reason that it is subsumed under the negative unity by the particularity
and through this by the subject, [and that it] is hence opposed to another and
is itself something determinate. So the subject's being per se consists in
this: that in the twofold manner of subsumption it is interlocked, not
immediately with one determinacy, but through this with a higher, relatively
universal one, so that the connection of the subject with a predicate is a
necessity; and in essence this necessity alone is what is real2. But the
question is whether this necessity is posited through this interlocking. To
begin with, the subject must be connected with the middle term; as numerical
one and at the same time [as] something particular it must be determined as
universal. But as subject it is absolute determinacy and therefore equally as
opposed to the infinite multiplicity of the determinacies', it is indifferent
to the determinacy of the middle term. The determinacy is a "this,"
just as the subject came to be considered as a this and as such is equally
null. The subject thus determined would be this singular determinacy; but just
as little as it is a singular, a numerical one, so little is it a singular
determinacy.89 In the disjunctive judgment it is connected in the same way with
a = — c and with c = — a. To sublate 88. In the margin' the subject is subsumed
through one determinacy. 8g. In the margin: But it is indifferent vis-a-vis
this its determinacy.
Relationship
105 this either I or and to posit the one with respect to the subject while
excluding the other in the disjunctive syllogism means nothing else but to
posit here as this predicate what is in the hypothetical syllogism as a
"this" subject. It is of course the pure unmediated positing, the
minor of the disjunctive syllogism, about which we are talking. But as
numerical one the subject is posited essentially as substance and simply
indifferent to the opposed predicates, which as accidents in their actuality
(in which they are to be posited as singular determinacies [101]) are affected
by possibility—in other words, by not being posited. Insofar as the determinacy
would be neutral beside the infinitely many others, however, it has as
"this" no priority at all to be posited before another; in other
words, infinitely many others are just as good as it. And in respect to the
subject as non-substance yet as infinitely determined, it is contradictory to
posit only a single determinacy. However, it is not this determinacy of the
subject, either, but rather its necessity as reciprocity that is to be posited.
For the connection of the subject is not with this determinacy but rather
through it only with another, and indeed, in such a way that it is reciprocally
subsumed under the universal as well. Since as "this" it is
determined, just for that [reason] it is also sublated. This sublating of the
subject through the universal is, however, itself always a determining
sublating, a determinate being- bound to a predicate. But this, too, cannot so
come about that it would not be bound up with it immediately, but only through
another, through the syllogism in general or the simple syllogism. But the
syllogism in general binds the subject to the predicate not with necessity. The
latter, although universal, is itself something determinate; and the subject as
this determinate substance is through its determinacy precisely the contrary of
this determinacy, and through this is interlocked with the contrary of the
predicate. 9°If the predicate with which the subject is to be interlocked has
only the appearance of subsuming the particular, the middle, but is in fact
equal to it and the judgment is only a tautological proposition, then in
general all that is present is a judgment in which in place of the predicate
only another expression is substituted. If the middle and the other extreme are
in fact related as particular and universal, then the interlocking of the
subject with this last is rather a sublating of its determinacy,^ which is its
connection with the middle as a determining 90. In the margin- Identical
judgment in the syllogism. 91. In the margin: as relation of universal and
particular the interlocking is a sublating of its determinacy.
io6
Logic of the subject. Insofar as this universal is itself a determinacy, it is
[an] absolutely contingent [matter] to interlock the subject with it. For the
latter as absolutely determined can be interlocked with infinitely [many]
others—which just thereby must also contradict themselves. [102] For the
subject through its nature as negative unity is the unity of opposites, equally
connected with the opposed determinacy and interlocked through the latter with
the determinacy opposed to the previous universal. Thus, instead of the
necessity of the bonding, its contingency and the contradiction of what is
combined is posited. And what comes to be through the syllogism is something
quite other than this bonding. As absolutely determined through the determinacy
with the determinate universal and through its infinite determinacies with the
pure universal, the subject is in fact in and of itself something universal in
its determinacy. It is the neutrality of infinitely many determinacies, their
reflectedness into themselves. It is negative unity, though posited as a
universal, not as substance; rather [it is posited so] that in and of itself
the possibility is not connected with the determinacies or only with respect to
them, but is in itself. And the subject is not interlocked with the universal
through the determinacies but immediately in and of itself,92 The subject
completely sublates the separation that is in that line of the syllogism in
which the subject and the universal are combined through a middle dividing
them; the subject is a universal. Its absolute determinacy, reflected in this
way into itself, is itself something simple, not the pure empty negative unity
but determinate, just as its universality is the determinate one. But this
determinacy, excluding the opposite, is posited as being in itself, as the
essence of reflection into itself. The subject is a particular; this
determinacy is what remains the universal self-equivalent in its pathway of
becoming-other. Particularity is a particular;^ through its determinacy it is
connected with other negative ones and opposed to them. It has its completion
outside itself; but its completion is just as universally reflected into
itself, in and of itself. The subject is the middle that has come to be
itself,94 the middle that, turned against another, is opposed only in diverse
connections. This subject is realized particularity, which in itself, turned
inward and 92. In the margin: subject is not contingent, that is, interlocked
through one determinacy with the universal; rather with all[ness] it is
inherently universal turned back into itself. 93. In the margin: it is a
particular. 94. In the margin: the middle that comes to be itself
Relationship
107 outward on its own account, is on its own account; [it is] itself reflected
into itself only by being determinate, [103] for through this it is other to
itself. But in this its otherness it itself is; that is, it is determinacy as
such, which reflects itself into itself. Determinacy as a universal or as a
particular is only formally reflected into itself as unity of opposites. But
the third or synthesis—what proceeds^ forth posited as simple— became something
other; and this other again an other, the first once more; but this first,
insofar as it has become the third, distinguished itself from the first simple
through this very having-become. It is the realized particular, however, which
in its proceeding forth is already itself: [the] "this" that has
become, and thus maintains itself on its pathway of reflection. That is to say,
the subject is its definition. b / Realization of the Universal The universal
in the syllogism—how the subject realizes itself as particular in that it posits
the universal with respect to itself—must realize itself in that it posits the
middle and the subject with respect to itself. Its essence is to posit
determinacy within itself as sublated; it is opposed to negative unity as to
the particular in that it, as universal, does not exclude the opposite of the
determinacy but is equal to it, or is the positive of the disjunction. The
subject is negative unity, positing the opposites as sublated, and thus itself
universal; but as universal it is something determinate. The universal
(negative unity, but as such only the universal [on condition] that it itself
is again something determinate) is the side of the subject in which the
universal comes into consideration in connection with the subject as subsumed
under the same. But as a universal, as it is on its own account, it is not
connecting with a subject through the determinacy but as the reflection into
itself dividing itself into the opposed determinates, and positing them as
sublated95— self-enclosed reflection into itself What is more determinate in
this totality of the universal is that it connects with the "this"
that is posited as sublated in the hypothetical judgment; but it connects not
only with that: it has likewise other conditions. Its reality is not only the
interlocking with this determinate and with a "this"; [104] it
subsumes the same46 and posits it as sublated, 95. In the margin: the universal
as self-subsisting divides itself into opposed deter- minacies. 96. In the
margin: it is the subsumed "this."
io8
Logic in that it posits others equal to it. Through this equivalence the
"this" ceases to be a negative one, for as such it would exclude all
equivalence, all connection; there is one particular and beside it several more
particulars. But this their indifference is sublated through their deter-
minacy; they connect with one another in that they exclude each other in the
disjunctive judgment. But just as little as the hypothetical syllogism posits
the universal in its reality, so little does the disjunctive; rather, the
universal is the contrary of both. The universal is not through the being of
the "this" in the hypothetical, nor through the exclud- edness of
some other determinate in the disjunctive and through the being of this determinacy
alone, but in like [manner] the universal is linked to the other; and it is not
purely on its own account but only in connection with these particulars; it is
their negative unity. This is the realization of the universal: that like the
subject it is negative and positive unity at the same time, not in such a way
that according to its determinacy the universal would have the opposite outside
itself, but rather it embraces both and posits them as sublated. And it is not
interlocked with negative unity through a middle but is immediately the unity
itself. The reflection of the universal into itself is this: that as a it
becomes the antithesis of the b = — c, and c = — b, and in this it is equal to
itself, recapitulates itself out of it, for it sublates [it] in its self-equivalence.
The reflection of the subject is that it [is]97 as equal to itself, as b, in
that it becomes something other than +b against c = -b, and again sublates this
"plus" of its determinacy. The positing at the same time of the universal
as a particular (in other words, its realization, but as self-subsistent being
that would at the same time not be negative unity) would be the demonstration
of the major premise of the syllogism or of the subsumption of the middle under
the predicate. That with which it is interlocked cannot be something singular,
for in the connection, in its determinateness through the universal, it is a
particular. The syllogism, which displays the universal as subsuming,
interlocks it through singularity with the particular, and is induction. The
fact that the subject is this universal does not exhaust it in its [105]
universality; it is absolutely many, this universal. For the universal to be
posited as it is, the whole aggregate of this many must be posited under it;
and in that this aggregate together, as subject, as one, confronts the
universal, it is itself a universal against 97. Trans.: Lasson and ce insert
"determines itself as the verb here
Proportion
109 the singularity of the aggregate and a particular against the universality
of the predicate; what previously was the nature of the middle is posited as an
extreme in that the subject has become the particular from being the singular.
But this interlocking is no more valid; for the singularities, whose
togetherness the subject should express, are as singularities absolutely many
and have* as such no reality. The connection of the universal sublates the
negative unity and is thereby immediately bound up with the particular,
separating itself precisely as negative unity into the particular. The
syllogism is the connection of the singular with the universal through the
particular. The pathway of reflection is that the singular at first becomes the
particular and displays its subsuming of the middle and of the other extreme under
itself. In this the universal is not satisfied; its subsuming must display this
as well. And an immediate oneness comes to be out of the mediating connecting.
In the relation of being, the simple infinity of the connection passes over
into the infinite mediation, into synthesis. In the relation of thinking it
passes back into the calm simplicity of the connection; and in this it is
itself complete. The connection is that of equivalence, and each side of what
is connected is itself a relation, under opposed forms that are posited as
ideal2. Each is a universal and a negative unity, and the unity of both; and
the determinate form under which they are opposed is each of these two that are
sublated with respect to them, namely, each with respect to the other. in /
Proportion "Proportion" completes the Logic by providing a synthesis
of self-conscious relation and the simple connection of consciousness. (Thus it
is analogous with "Reason" in the Phenomenology.) It is probably
called "Proportion" in homage to Plato's doctrine of the "truly
beautiful bond."1*8 98. See Timaeus, 3 ic~32a. Hegel quotes (and
translates) this passage in the Difference essay. His version (in a literal
translation) goes as follows: "The truly beautiful bond is that which
makes itself and what it binds one [...]. For whenever, of any three numbers,
or masses, or forces, the middle is such that what the first is for it, it is
for the last, and conversely, what the last is for the middle, the middle is
just that for the first, then since the middle has become the first and last,
and the last and first conversely have both become the middle, in this way they
will all necessarily be the same; but things which are the same as against each
other are all one" (Harris and Cerf, trans.,
no
Logic The first section is the theory of self-definition. This is no longer
regarded formally. It is now applied. The concept of self-definition explains
why (in natural science) living species are defined in terms of their
self-preservative capacity. But the actual self-definition of reason makes the
singular consciousness into a concrete universal. This is not a static concept—it
involves the motion of division and is achieved in cognition. In the animal
process division is sexual. ("The universal sunders itself into two
mutually connected definitions"; quite apart from the influence of Plato,
the natural model of sexual division explains Hegel's insistence on a dicho-
tomous theory of logical specification.) The species emerges here as the true
subject, and the definition applies to all species members. The wholeness of
the breeding community involves the syllogistic structure of cognition. The
Italian commentary points out, very aptly, that there is an important
correspondence between "Definition" and "Division" and the
two sections of "The Syllogism": "(a) The Realization of the
Subject as Singular"; and "(b) Realization of the Universal"—see
especially ce 97, lines 20—21; 103, lines 10, 29—30; 107, line 33.w This is
just what we should expect, since "Proportion" in 1804 has entered
into the place of "the speculative meaning of the syllogism" in the
outline of 1801 (compare page xvii, note 16 above). The equivalence of both
relations is the connection turned back into itself. It is so simply as this
connection; and the opposed are themselves the two relations posited ideally,,.
The concept is realized in that it has preserved itself and both its [106]
sides have been posited with respect to it just as it has been. The syllogism
as the bad reality of the concept has gone back into its circle. Out of the
absolute inequality of its extremes it has become the contrary. a / definition
The oneness of the positive and negative unity,1™ the subject as a determinacy
both posited and reflected into itself,im is something real that is immediately
interlocked with the universality in its determinacy, an absolute being p.
158). That this passage expresses what Hegel called in 1801 the
"speculative meaning of the syllogism" is confirmed by his discussion
of it in the Lectures on the Histon of Philosophy, Theorie Werkausgabe, xix,
8g-gi; trans. Haldane and Simpson, 11, 75-77. 99. Franco Biasutti, in
Chiereghin et al , Logica e metafisica, p 397. 100. In the margin, oneness of
the positive and negative unity. 101. In the margin, determinacy reflected into
itself.
Proportion
111 per se that in its determinacy is on its own account. The excluding is here
for the first time real; the positive connection with what is excluded ceases;
and it is the going back into itself. What thus far sublated the determinacy
was that it only was in connection with the opposite; now, however, it has its
reality. The subject is something determinate only according to this
determinacy. It ceases to be something infinitely determined in manifold ways; and
only this determinacy is the subject's essential determinacy. For the essence
is the being per se or the having been returned into itself. The subject that
is equal to its definition and nothing but this is thereby not something
singular. Its essential determinacy is the one in which the subject [is] turned
against other particulars and in this being- turned-against-them preserves
itself.10,2 In the definition of living things, therefore, the determination of
the weapons for attack or for defence has necessarily been taken as [the
determination] of that whereby they preserve themselves vis-a-vis other
particulars. [One] must determine the weaker plant kingdom [Pflanzengeschlecht]
according to that whereby it likewise preserves itself, yet only as universal;
as singular, however, it goes aground, namely through relation of [107]
generation [Geschle- chtsverhaltnis]. The inorganic, weaker still, does not
ever preserve itself as genus in its going under but therein ceases altogether
to be what it is, and its essential determinacy is that in which it goes under.
What is essential to the subject that preserves itself thereby as an
individual, as a singular, is that it be self-equivalent in this its
being-turned-against-others, [that it] be connected only with itself. It
remains self-equivalent since in its becoming-other it does not cease to be
what it is but rather sublates what is thus other than itself.
Self-preservation or definition has as immediately one what was hitherto
separated, or was only our reflection: that the one as universal in its
otherness is immediately equal to its concept, to the universal; it is, only
because it has separated off this otherness or its determinacy from itself as
something other. According to its determinacy it is completely on its own
account in virtue of the fact that it annihilates what is opposed to its
determinacy. Its being perse is not an abstraction from the opposite; but it is
connected with it. And the oneness of both is not the sublating of both; but
the one is itself the universal in its determinacy, or the sublating of the
other. 102. In the margin: The subject preserves itself through its determinacy
or it is through the determinacy turned back absolutely into itself.
112
Logic This genuine reality of the "this"—that its particularity is,
subsists, and, having been taken up as such into the universality, is on its
own account—expresses the concept of proportion in general; in it the relation
goes completely to one side; the particular is immediately incorporated within
the universal, and the "this," connected immediately with both, has
only their unity for its essence. It itself is that side of the relation
according to which [the] "this" is negative unity, the one. And the
two relations that are posited equal to each other are that of the negative one
(the essence of the relation of being) and that of the positive one (the
essence of the relation of thinking), so that the merely self-sublating
determinacies of the first at the same time subsist in the universal element of
the second—are in and of themselves—and the indifference of those that fall
outside of each other in the second disappears through the negative unity of
the first. 103Yet this reality, or the definition, is in fact a reality of
singularity, or of what is determinate in general. The universal has not
achieved its due; and the determinate that is posited as self-preserving can
not in fact preserve itself. The determinacy is posited as being in itself and
as [108] determinacy equal to the universal; and it is so posited that the
universal [has] separated off its otherness as an other from itself and is so
connected with it in a nullifying way that it is as universal in its sublating
and preserves itself as this determinacy. Yet in truth only the side of its
universality is what is thus self-preserving—what is equal as the unity of the
opposites; and the sublating of the determinacy is not the sublating of one and
the subsisting of the other but absolutely the sublating of both. In
definition, therefore, the proportion is not completely expressed; the one side
is only that of the negative one (not its expression as relation) or the
"this" that should be simple; the other is its expression as of a
relation but not of it as of a negative unity. For embodied in the universal,
the determinacy subsists; that whose negative unity is the one side is the
universal and particular. The former, however, is not a genuine universal, for
it is only posited as subsuming one of the opposed determinacies. These terms
are not posited as what they are in truth; the determinacy [is] not something
ideal/, at the same time the universal is not a real, non- negative unity.
Definition therefore expresses only the demand for the absolute reality to have
returned back into itself. Directed outwards it is a 103 In the margin:
Dialectic of definition; it posits in fact a singular.
Proportion
1*3 negative one that excludes others from itself and preserves itself, is on
its own account. Its positive connection is not at the same time a sublating of
its own determinacy but its persisting. And the moment of universality in it is
not true universality but rather is the whole under the determinacy of
particularity. The particular is a unity of universality and determinacy, but
conversely the universal [is] not also as unity of determinacies [that are]
opposed as a universal and a particular; that is, the universal is only posited
as determinate. And the same [the determinate], as reflection of the
determinacy into itself, is therefore only formal2, not real2, as expressing
what it is with respect to it [the universal].104 Reflection into itself must
not have the other as an other separated off from it, indifferent to it,
vis-a-vis which it posits itself in a differentiated way and sublates itself in
the connection; on the contrary, this other is in it according to its essence;
it is the unity of both, and the sublating is the sublating of both
determinacies. It is the ideality just as much of itself as of the other; in
other words, the subject is essentially a universal. As reflecting itself into
itself and sublating the determinacy, it sublates its own [determinacy] and is
as a universal. That is to say, definition passes over into division. [109] b /
DIVISION a / Since in its immediate oneness with determinacy the universal is
itself something determinate, this unity of both is a determinate unity, and
something particular; this particular, as it thus reflects itself into itself
becomes rather a universal, one that sublates its determinacy.1"5 This
universal is the equivalence of both opposites—that to which they return—and
one is what the other is. Thus the self-preservation of the particular is
rather its ideality, and a production of the universal. Since its self-
preservation, its reflection into itself, its being per se, is this universal,
it does not properly [re]turn to universality. Universality is not the product
or the result; it is rather the being per se of the particular— that from which
[the particular] originates just as much—the first, but in general the essence
of the particular. 104. Trans.: We have introduced "the determinate"
and "the universal" as our interpretation of an ambiguous text 105.
In the margin: The particular sublates rather its determinacy, and becomes a
universal.
ii4
Logic This universal is as such the empty undifferentiated space, the
subsisting of the determinacies. It is yet more: it is the reflection into
itself, the absolute being perse, which in its otherness is self-equivalent.
The determinacies thus posited in it are themselves this other, this op-
posedness or the duplication of the universal, so that this [is] the essence of
both; and they are in virtue of this alone. As something determined, in the
necessity of the universal alone, they are themselves to be an other. But this
their reality is essentially the equivalence or the sublatedness of both, and
as strictly simple or self-equivalent the universal is the sublatedness of its
otherness, or of its duplication, the negative unity of its parts. The division
that the universal makes with respect to itself renders the definition
ideal2,/br the universal sunders itself into two mutually connected
definitions,1^ which, as indifferent to one another, subsist both in the same
manner. [It is] not [the case that] the other of one is sublated through the
other as in the one-sided definition. But this their equivalence is their
substance, and because of this it posits them both ideally2. The determinacy
that is reflected into itself is at the same time [no] sublated, and sublates
itself. It is simply and solely in connection with what is opposed to it, and
just in this connection it is itself ideal2. The terms of the division in which
the universal realizes itself— posits itself as opposed to itself, and as
finding itself—are determined immediately through the nature of the universal
itself;107 for the latter is only such insofar as it becomes an other, and
becomes itself out of this other. The two moments whose unity the universal is
(it as something simple, and it as an other to itself)1"8 are the moments
of its concept, and just these are the terms of the division. As moments of the
concept they are only opposite, purely ideal2. When posited in the one,
however, each is as it is in itself or really2, having in itself the
determinacy of the other, so that it is posited as the essential. In the
universal as such they are completely equal to each other, so that neither is
what is essential with respect to the other; both are rather equally ideal2;
the universal is the ideality of both. However, the reality of the concept is
this: that each is alternatively what is essential, and 106. In the margin: In
the division the universal sunders itself into opposed definitions. 107. In the
margin: The terms of the division are determined through the nature of the
universal itself. 108. In the margin it as something simple, and it is other.
Proportion
115 the other is what is posited ideally, in it. For the concept of the
universal, insofar as it is the equal ideality of both, is itself the
determinacy of the universal vis-a-vis the particularity, and the concept is
itself again the one term of the division; as opposed to the particularity it
is itself something particular. This determinacy of the terms of the division
is as such ideal2; but it is as reflected into itself, as posited equal to the
universal, and the duplication of the definition. In this reality both are
indifferent to each other; each is in and of itself, for each has in itself the
essence of the whole. They are not per se turned against one another, as in the
case of the singular definition with respect to the opposite determinacy; for
each preserves itself in the same way as the other, and neither can do so at
the expense of the other, for both have equal rights. Because of this the
determinacy obtains just this indifferent [expression]. (Its differentiation
vis-a-vis the other is, as it were, outside it). On its own account [it] is a
pure quality that abstracts from its contrary; and the most indifferent expression
of this determinacy is number. The universal, the genus, becomes through this
embodiment something purely universal, something communal; and the division is
a multiplication of definitions whose unity is outside them [and] is
indifferent even for them. For as negative unity the universal is, only in that
it posits the [111] determinacies (whose negative unity it is, in virtue of
sublating them),109 to be their other. This otherness, while it remains itself,
is the dividing up of the universal, so that the universal is as the continuous
unity, outside of those in which it is. b110/ Division makes the subject of
definition into something universal; and the relation of the definition itself
is converted into an aggregate of subjects. Division brings out the universality
that was suppressed in definition, which had not received its due in that it
was not posited as preserving itself in otherness, in multiplicity. In the
division itself, however, universality preserves itself only as falling outside
the many. Connected with the terms of the definition, it is the same in a, b,
c; but [it is] not [thus] on its own account, a, b, c, are indifferent with
respect to one another; instead of the universal being on its own account, it
is rather each singular that is on its own account. There just must be, not
this [universal] divided into particulars, but rather 109. Trans.: We follow ce
in inserting a comma here. The ms would read "since it posits the
determinacies to be sublating them as their other." 110 In the margin:
Dialectic of division. The divided are indifferent to each other.
n6
Logic simple negative unity, which just because of its simplicity is what sub-
lates their multiplicity in connection with them.111 The species must stand in
connection with one another simply and solely as moments of the one whole of
the genus. And because of this, the genus itself is a negative unity,112 which
posits the moments in itself as ideal2 [and posits] itself as undivided. As a
result [it is] a substance that sublates within itself the differentiation and
is on its own account. But it sublates the differentiation only insofar as the
differentiation was [previously] present. It is the universal posited as
singular, as pure point of unity, as a positive (a manifold in itself) that
disintegrates into parts and equally sublates this disintegrating once more. C
/ COGNITION IS POSITED Here we have reached the self-definition of rational
consciousness. Thus the reflective character of logic is overcome. Cognition is
the form of the "true infinite" (which will be realized in
metaphysics) reflecting upon itself and constructing itself. The discussion is
a recapitulation of the earlier reflective argument in this light. Logic
concludes by discussing its own method. It seems that Hegel's object in
comparing logical proof with geometric proof (the heading
"Proportion" comes from Euclid) is to show us how cognition continues
to be reflective. Self-cognition is reconstruction and involves supplementary
constructions, but the argument dictates these step by step. The
"circle" of cognition goes from the "fact" to the
"reasoned fact"; and this is the whole pattern made (deductively) by
the Logic. We should notice that although the explicit criticism of geometrical
construction is the same one that is made in the preface to the Phenomenology,
the attitude towards the mathematical model of reasoning is different. The
Italian commentary points out that this phase of Hegel's argument seems to be
guided by Plato's discussion of the "third hypothesis" in the
Parmenides."* 111. Trans.: We follow ms, not ce. 112. In the margin: The
genus itself is negative unity. 113. Franco Biasutti in Chiereghin et al.,
Logica e metafisica, 408-9. This insight comes from earlier works by F.
Chiereghin that are there referred to. The influence of Plato's "truly
beautiful bond" can still be seen in the theory of the "speculative
proposition" given in the preface to the Phenomenology (or so I would
argue). But the mathematical terminology (like the Spinozist parallelism implicit
in the concept of a "proportion" between being and thought) is there
abandoned. Dialectical development is regarded as a kind of organic growth
rather than as a kind of construction. But it was the fact that logical thought
is a self directing process of accumulation—that is, it was the
Proportion
117 The way up from singular to universal, and the way down again, met in the
singular consciousness as family member. "What passes through the circle
of reflection is not itself this absolute circle." Cognition belongs to
the historic link in the chain of generation. Thus the empirical self that is
the sublated content is perpetually novel, but the content of absolute
cognition is the circle of self-determination. This Fichtean contradiction is
what makes the transition from formal logical idealism to real metaphysics
necessary. The absolute knowledge (pure cognition) that has emerged from
experience must make a circle of circles that returns finally to the moment of
simple self-identity from which its emergent evolution began. (Half of sheet 39
is missing, so we do not know exactly how Hegel developed the dialectic of
absolute cognition and finite experience. But the general review character of
the whole discussion suggests that the "three determinacies of cognition"
are the moments of "Proportion": definition, division, and totality.)
a / Until now the transition of the concept into its becoming-other, or into
its reality, and the taking back of this becoming-other under the concept was
our reflection, a dialectical manipulation that developed the antitheses that
were present undeveloped in what was posited. The latter, however, or the [112]
content, was not of the kind that would thus move on its own to its
becoming-other and back from it; rather, it was something dead whose movement
was outside it: pure being is sufficient unto itself \fiir sich befriedigt].
The infinity into which pure being or nothingness went over was this being and
not-being of the antitheses, their vanishing and coming forth. But this movement
[was] only an external one—that is, one in which only the being of deter-
minacy came forth—and then its not-being as the being of some other. That from
which what came forth proceeded and [into which] what vanished lost itself, the
inner, the zero of the passage [Durchgang], [was] that empty being, or the
nothing itself. The absolute concept is itself what is without concept,
uncomprehended; the equivalence is only the nothing. In the relations each was
posited thus: as connecting with the other— preservative aspect of sublation—that
caused Hegel to accept Schelling's extension of the Kantian doctrine of
"construction" from mathematics to philosophy in the first place.
This is quite unaffected by the change of terminology. The criticism of
geometry from the Phenomenology is to be found at paragraph 42 of Miller's
translation, p 24.
n8
Logic in its being per se, only being in the equivalence with the other, or as
self-sublating. There was expressed only the requirement of being per se, which
could not be realized; what was posited as self-subsistent being vanished
instead in its realization. Only in the relation of thinking did being per se
define itself as what would be because it is equal to its contrary, and would
maintain itself as itself in its contrary—[that is,] as reflection into its
very self. As definition, the latter posited a determinate, negative unity as
this reflection into itself, to which universality or positive unity was
restored in division; and both [unities], qua posited in one, are cognition:
the positing of the numerical one as of something universal and divided, and of
the taking back of this divided one into the negative unity. Here reflection
describes itself. Cognition a) has a definition, the display of the one11* of
self-subsistent being in such a way that it has taken up its determinacy into
universality—an immediate oneness that has already come back from the movement
of separating and of sublating the separation and in which, in the immediate
unity of the determinacy and the universal, the movement and the being-apart is
nullified. Definition is not merely the definitum, nor merely the definition,
but precisely the unity of the two: the definitum [is] the one, the singular,
immediately the "this"— the definition, the same [one] released from
its immediacy and simple unity and divided in itself, in such a way, however,
that [113] what is divided is not per se but rather posited ideally2, as
sublated; and its unity is precisely the one, the immediacy of
"this." b)115 But it was exhibited as what is dialectical in
definition that the definitum was not in fact posited as something universal
(but rather, as one it excluded what was opposed to it and abstracted from it),
and that it is to be posited as definition, as reflected into itself, as
universal. What is opposed would not thereby fall outside what it abstracts
from but would rather be what is equal to itself in its being-other, something
divided. The presentation of the subject as thus divided with respect to
itself, as an indifferent being that remains itself in multiplicity, is its
construction. It is the division: not however of a universal, or of a
determinate concept—that is, of the [kind of universal that] would be something
merely communal, whose parts [are] on their own account while as
self-equivalent unity it would fall outside them—but rather, it remains the
ground, the sphere embracing the parts, while they 114 In the margin: Cognition
has (a) a one, a definition. 115. In the margin, (b) is what is universal, and division;
construction.
Proportion
n9 [are] simply and solely parts—that is, connected with one another. It is
precisely the exposition of their connection that sublates11*5 this semblance
of the being per se of what is divided, and brings forth the universal as
connection, as the definition. The exposition of the connection is the negative
unity that subjects the parts to itself and thereby has exhibited the one of
the definition as unity—not as one in which differentiation is sublated and
which abstracts from it, but which is rather unity—that is to say, which has
division but within itself—that is, which is with respect to itself the
sublating of the parts. This bringing back of the division of construction to
the unity of definition is proof This movement of cognition has until now
always been the exposition of a concept as reality or totality. The first
potency was the concept or the definition itself; the second, its construction
or its exposition as bad reality, its coming-outside-itself or its becoming-
other; and the third, the true reality, or the totality, the moment of
sublating this becoming-other through its subsumption under the first unity.
With respect to the first unity it was demonstrated that it has in fact a
separation in itself; in the face of this separation [it was demonstrated] that
the connection rather is essential to it. The negative [114] turning of the
separating against the unity, of the unity against the separating, becomes a
positive result in reality, which interlocks both [of them] in that it is a
universal, self-reflexive definition in which the first and [second] potency
are not nothing but are posited as sublated or as ideal2. The spinning forward
of the concept through its moments is in this [way] a movement turning back into
itself, and its circle is reflection; self-subsistent being is only as this
whole of the circle or of reflection. Through cognition there is first realized
the definition,117 which from the side of the subject is displayed as
determinate one; and because the one is not qua unity of the definition but is
the one of the definitum, the determinacy is not something sublated as
determinacy through the negative unity but subsists as quality of the one, this
being an infinite aggregate of qualities.118 On the other side definition is
the same, but bounded, as relation, one particularity reflected into itself.
[The terms 116. In the margin: (c) sublating of construction [;] proof. 117. In
the margin: Cognition realizes the definition that is a) multiplicity of deter-
minacies, empirical intuition. 118. In the margin: p) relation.
120
Logic of] that aggregate, however, are119 indifferent vis-a-vis each other;
each quality excludes its opposite; and together they make up the whole of
so-called empirical intuition, that is, of the being per se of the subject as a
"this." The determinacy reflected into itself is that of
self-preservation, which, being in itself directed outwards against others,
turned back into itself, and connected with itself, has sublated inequality in
itself. Thus the definition of a right-angled triangle is that a right-angled
triangle has the square of the side opposite to the right angle equal to the
sum of the squares of the other two sides (its catheti). The former
determination120 [is] that of determinate quality; the latter is that of
reflection; for out of the antithesis of one side to the other there is
expressed the return or the equality. In its own way the antithesis is that of
one side against two. The definitum is the one[ness] of the three sides,
figure; and the construction has to demonstrate this one[ness] of the movement
of the proof. The triangle must be divided so that the indifference of its
subsistence may cease and it may become differentiated [115] and thereby come
to negative unity. The proof sublates the division in such a way that, out of
that first division of the definitum as of something that is, and out of the
unity of the parts as a whole, it exhibits the second division and its unity.
The first one is the indifferent relation of the whole and the parts. For the
second division to originate from it, the first must in fact already be
contrary to the whole of "this," must deform it as such, must
dismember it (as in the cited example, the figure of the right-angled triangle
in fact is lost), and in general must be engendered through helping lines and
figures—figures that criss-cross and duplicate the whole piecemeal. It is not
this first relation that results from the proof, but a differentiated one in
which one part of the whole is equated to another, or to other parts, so that
the parts are not equal to the whole but determinate parts are equal to others,
[so that] therefore an equality is posited in the inequality or opposition;
that is, the whole as unity is a unity returning out of the inequality. What
are compared here are not parts of the whole but its moments; the angles and
lines of a triangle are not what constitute the figure as a whole, but moments
that presuppose the numerical one, the principle of the figure, and are its
determinacy. The result 119. Trans.: This verb is singular in the German text.
120. Trans.: "The former determination" = "right-angled
triangle"; "the latter" = "its definition."
Proportion
121 of the proof is that the indifferent relation of the whole and the parts is
at the same time a differentiated relation of the moments. The proof fastens
both relations together for the first time; it contains the ground—that is, it
discovers that in which the former is indifferently the parts and the latter is
a differentiated one. In the proof of the Pythagorean theorem it is shown that
half the square on one side is equal to half a rectangle produced in the
construction by dividing the square on the hypotenuse, since both are equal to
a third triangle.121 All these triangles belong to the construction, the
dividing of the figure posited with the square of its sides. From them there is
eliminated what belongs to the triangle as figure, and there remains only an
equivalence of opposed moments. This transition from the indifferent to the
differentiated relation, and thereby from the positive to the negative [unity]
and from parts into moments, is what constitutes the nature of cognition and of
reai definition. In the [116] concept of proportion or in the definition it is
first a question of the determinacy reflected into itself as an essential
characteristic that is embodied in the genus, maintains it on its own and makes
it into something singular. Through the division the subject becomes for the
first time something divided into moments; and cognition displays the unity of
both relations. b / In this way cognition displays what has previously taken
place, namely, the transformation of the undifferentiated relation into the
differentiated one, and the equivalence of both. Just as the former is itself
an equivalence of the whole and the parts, so the latter too is an equivalence
of what is posited as simple and what is posited as separated; and cognition is
the equivalence of these two equivalences. The antithesis of the second
equivalence can be nothing else than that of the two relations. The relation of
being is the transition of the infinite or of relation in general into the
equal that is equal to itself, into the equal reflected into itself, the
universal; the relation of thinking is the transition from the universal into
the separation of [the terms] interlocked by the middle, by the unreflective
equal, the relation. In the preceding example the relation of being is the
right angle, the relation, something equal that is not displayed as equal; and
what is equal to it in the triangle (with the side angle beside it) goes over
into the hypotenuse as a non-relation, non-equality, but something simple and
self-reflexively [in sick reflectiertes] simple that 121. Trans.: See Euclid,
11, 14.
122
Logic has posited itself equal to itself, the square on the hypotenuse. Opposed
to it stands the breaking up of that line into the opposition of the sides that
have a relation to each other [and] together constitute an angle, so that,
being [first] self-equivalent as squares in their duality [and] then conjoined
as a sum out of their separation, they are equal to the other simple square. It
appears not to be the case that here only moments or lines are being compared,
rather than figures or parts of the plane triangle or even plane figures; for
as squares they are posited equal. However, a square is precisely not a
quantum, not a part, not something externally limited. In cognition, therefore,
the preceding is recapitulated; it is the totality of the totality of simple
connection, of quantum, and of both relations; and in itself [117] [it is] this
circular movement whose content (that passes through this movement) is the
definition of this circle. Cognition equates the whole divided into parts to
the one distinguished into moments—the former undifferentiated equivalence to
the latter differentiated equivalence. The whole alone, through its
determinacy, is capable of division. It itself is determinacy reflected into
itself; and in its indifference it preserves itself through abstraction from
the opposites. The other division into moments is the inner determinacy, which,
opposed to itself, does not abstract but posits both in itself; only thereby is
it the whole equivalent to itself and connected with itself. The relation, or
the second division, is as such a/b; but as unity it is the c, - a/b, the
quotient and indeed a determinacy, the simple determinacy of the whole, which
has the opposite outside itself. What is self-equivalent in the relation is
something coming back out of its inequality, something sublating the
inequality, and just thereby an opposite, which has, however, annihilated in
itself the form of inequality. Thus it has in itself only the form of
universality, but in fact is determinately abstract. Cognition, therefore,
posits both relations equal, for within itself it splits the determinacy of the
indifferent whole; yet this split, like its reflection, is in fact always
something determinate. Thereby the movement of cognition is indeed the
universal. But what moves in this way is a particular; for it is a
"this," a singular. In other words, it is formal and not equal to its
content, which is not absolutely universal. As the division of the indifferent
whole into parts at first indifferent, construction is just for that reason
completely indifferent in itself; it turns into a dividing [Theilung] into
moments, or passes over into division [Eintheilung], differentiated relation.
Yet as indifferent divi-
Proportion
123 sion it has this principle of differentiation outside itself, and its di- •
viding insofar as it is determined and ruled by the second division, is
indifferent vis-a-vis the whole—that is, is not determined through it. In
mathematical cognition it indeed turns out at the end that this construction is
necessary for the proof; but it has proven itself to be necessary not through
itself but only through the proof. That is, it is indeed cognized that the
indifferent passes over into the differentiated relation; but this transition
is not itself cognized; it is not grasped. The wonder of mathematical proofs is
this remaining lack of satisfaction, which indeed passes over from what appears
to be contingent in the construction to the necessity of the proof, but which
does not grasp that construction [118] through itself because it is not a
concept, not something differentiated, and therefore also not the transition.
But the fact that cognition—this reflection of the indifferent whole out of its
bifurcation and otherness into its self-equivalence—is still formal2 follows
from definition being self-preservation—that is, the reflection into itself of
the determinacy as such, something determinate posited simply, something that
is. It passes over into division; that is, as something universal it becomes
differentiated, negative unity. What is dialectical in the definition brings it
to this point; and cognition itself is at first nothing but this transition of
definition into division. The transition between them is what is empty, the
[mere] requirement that definition come to be division, the equivalence of both
in general, their interlocking; but the equal, their middle, has not yet come
forth. Since definition passes in this way into division, it does presuppose
for its [middle] the only authentic one among the absolutely indeterminate
partitions; that is, definition would just as well have properly to proceed
backwards, from division to construction. But so far only one path has been
pointed out, that of movement, and not this, [namely,] that definition and
division precipitate out of the totality itself. Just for that reason totality
or cognition is indeed reflection, which from definition returns by way of
division back to it and posits the two as equal—that is, sublates the
inequality that issues from the second moment. But since cognition is
essentially division as well, the definition does not preserve itself as what
it was; self-preservation succumbs to the differentiated unity; and in its
reconstruction out of division, definition becomes something other than it was.
The internally reflected determinacy of the definition, or the singular
dividing itself, passes over into internal difference, into a du-
124
Logic plication of the definition; and the reconstituted unity is the
equivalence of both definitions, but an equivalence where the very determinacy
of the first sublates itself. This is what makes determinate division possible,
a division that collapses once more into what is simple; but what is one in the
parts is itself that determinacy of definition. The definition is the
self-partitioning universal, and itself one of the parts. In the Pythagorean
theorem the determinacy of the right angle a) changes from an external
equivalence (or, in other words, from [119] one that has its equivalent
alongside itself) into an internal equivalence of [terms], both of which—the
hypotenuse and the sides—are posited in the figure; the right angle remains
what is equal, universal, p) The right angle becomes something else, a part
opposed to it. From being a relation it becomes a line, quotient, determinate
magnitude, the hypotenuse opposite to which are the sides. It is thus the
equivalence of the square of the hypotenuse and the sum of the squares of the
sides, and is present as a moment, as one aspect [Seite] of this relation. The
definition is produced thus: its determinacy comes to be the universal, the
exponent of the relation, which as aspect of that relation at the same time is
sublated; but in that aspect the exponent, being determinacy against the other
aspect, was universally reflected into itself, and this is what gets lost.
Thus, with respect to definition as such, what in cognition preserves itself is
not that definition is the determinacy reflected into itself; but rather what
preserves itself is reflection, and the sublating of this determinacy with
another's having come to be, since the sublated determinacy along with its
opposite becomes something simple, which again has the opposites outside it. In
other words, cognition is deduction. The realization of the concept, which the
first moment expresses and which is the universal of the whole sphere, is
posited as such a universal—a simple, not reflected, not opposed; in its
reflection the universal becomes all this and simultaneously becomes sublated
according to this its determinacy. What remains equal with itself and preserves
itself is so qua unity, qua connection (though what is connected becomes
another, and thus the whole). The remaining-equal is merely formal; the
realizing by means of construction and proof is a transition of definition into
division and, from these two, which themselves are the parts of the
construction, into the gathering together of both. There is something other
than the definition, just as previously in the realization of the concept
something other than the concept itself has always arisen for us. What remains
equal to itself in its totality is the pure unity, which, however,
Proportion
125 comes to be a negative unity, sublating its own as well as the opposite
determinacy. The result is that the universal of the sphere is something
deduced, something for which the antitheses, being ideal2 and extinguished
therein, are as simple moments (which were the real moments for the other that
was its concept). It is the universal that realizes itself just as much, that
[in] remaining equal to itself duplicates itself and thus constructs itself.
These real moments (of which the universal in its determinacy is itself one,
ideal2,I2a posited as sublated, in a negative unity) form its totality, which
is reality and something other than its concept. It is the antithetic path of
the climbing of the singular to universality [120] and of the universal to
singularity immediately united. The deduced sphere is a singular, negative one,
as unity of the preceding moments. As realizing itself once more, itself as
something determinate, and as in the contrary of its determinacy remaining
equal to itself, it is at the same time as singular immediately a universal or
a particular. In the totality, however, annihilating these determinacies one
through another, it is universal. Conversely, the sphere as unrealized is a
universal, which in duplicating itself comes to particularity and [which] as
negative unity of its duplication [comes] to singularity. These two paths of
climbing up and down cross each other and meet in the middle term, which is
particularity or bad reality, not in the absolute middle. Only in connection
with an other is the sphere its deduction, a singular, not in the connection in
which the other is a universal—in other words, not within its own sphere
itself. For in the latter the other is universal; and as totality it becomes
singularity again, though an other singularity than what it was before.
Therefore, as absolute reflection on its own account and [as] equality of the
simple connection and of both relations, cognition has in itself this
inequality, which appears distinct from the indicated aspects as well. What
passes through this circle of reflection, the content, is not itself this
absolute circle; content and cognition fall asunder. In its reflection into
itself the content becomes something else instead, while the cognition is
deduction, itself a circle that in its return is transition into another
circle. In its repetition in the diverse spheres into which it passes,
cognition is the same. But the content is a diverse one, and becomes unlike
itself; its return into itself is rather a spinning forward into another;
inasmuch as its negative unity alters the moments whose 122. Trans.- ce has
made this an adverb rather than an adjective.
126
Logic negative unity it is. Qua negative unity enclosing itself within itself,
it falls outside cognition and is what is passive vis-a-vis the othering of
cognition; qua content, or negative unity that moves within cognition, it
differentiates itself within itself, becoming instead unlike itself. Content
either preserves itself, thus falling outside cognition and having cognition
outside itself; [or] it is the movement of cognition, thus arriving outside
itself and becoming an other than it is itself. The inequality develops to the
point where, opposed to a cognition that remains the same [in] all spheres, a
cognition as the transition [Ubergehen] from singular to universality, or
conversely, as diversity of content, opposed to what is going over [dem
Ubergehenden], there stands cognition itself, inasmuch as in its reflection
(that is, the finding of itself) it is an other. The in-itself, [121] what is
self-equivalent, is not what is posited as reflected into itself, but
cognition; though this—as the movement of this transition, of what alters
itself in reflecting—is the universal, the particularity of which comprises the
moments of this cycle but which presupposes a content, a negative one, whose
rest is set in motion through [that universal]. But in fact this form of what
is at rest, of result or product, is itself a moment of cognition, the welding
together of the moments as self-sublating. And cognition is in and of itself a
pure self-equivalent cycle. Since cognition is deduction, what it starts from—the
negative one—is itself again its final term. For the universality of cognition
there is only unity of opposite moments; and their determinacy falls away along
with the fact that what is deduced is an other than what it started from. Yet
deduction coincides wholly with cognition—that is, is itself reflection. Over
against this self-equivalent [cycle] there nevertheless stands a self-altering
content. With respect to it cognition is essentially deduction; for content
exists as simple unity, determinacy reflected into itself, which in its
realization does not turn back into itself but is a moment of another simple
unity. Because of its determinacy, content as a universal must enter on the one
side; in its moments cognition is indeed itself something determinate; yet in
itself [it is] a universal, inasmuch as it is the unity of its moments, the
entire cycle. With respect to content, determinacy is posited as reflected into
itself, as something indifferent; with respect to cognition it is posited only
as something sublated. The moment of content with respect to cognition is
thereby not negative one, indifferent determinacy, but negative unity,
infinity, absolute (that is, self-sublating) determinacy, which [has
determined] itself to be what it is. What cognition separates itself from is
the indifferent one,
Proportion
127 undifferentiated determinacy reflected into itself. Inasuch as it fixes
itself as negative unity, it sublates itself as this deductive process, which
runs off without rest or respite backwards and forwards into bad infinity—a
grounding whose very ground, according to its essence, it is necessary to
ground once more. For as negative unity it incorporates the antithesis of what
is grounded, while as determinate, it is itself once again only a moment, which
as negative one must be deduced but which can itself exist merely as moment in
a proof for which the one is to constitute the ground. Being this determinate
content, the ground must be deduced, [122] and so on in an infinite regress. As
the universal of the sphere—that is, as ground—it is not that which interlocks;
but it was so as a result of deduction. As ground of the sphere it is the
basis, the universal, of the construction; but in the proof it has become just
one moment and sublated, since it is negative one, and cognition proceeds from
it to the totality in which it has become an other. But insofar as ground is
the universal or the basis of the construction, the totality is its
realization. In it the ground becomes negative one\ its particularization is
not comprised within [the ground], but to the extent that it, as determinate,
places itself on one side as a moment, only to that extent it sublates itself.
Insofar as it is considered only as universal, however, the universal remaining
the whole process of realization, to that extent its reality stands opposed to
it. It is indifferent, posited as being in and of itself; and the movement of
cognition proceeding from it to reality is for it something alien. For the
necessity of thus proceeding would lie only in its determinacy, which, however,
because ground is supposed to be being per se, is out of the question;
proceeding in this way the determinacy would sublate the ground. Cognition is
the universal as totality, since in it the whole content of the universal is
displayed in a developed way; it is the whole reflection, which in its
alteration remains simply self-equivalent; it is free from the content, which,
as something indifferent, abstracts from its determinacy and which has
separated it from itself outside itself. Through cognition, which is directed
towards its determinacy, however, the content comes to be posited in the way it
is with respect to itself, namely, as an other. The universality of cognition
is itself this form of indifference, in which the content enters, or the
cognition is only content, what is posited in this indifferent form. The
determinacy itself becomes only a content, by way of the form of cognition.
Cognition itself, however, expresses itself with respect to the content, so
128
Logic that its positing itself in this way is a deductive process—in other
words, so that the content alters itself. The nature of the content is thus the
same as that of cognition; the content as determinacy reflected into itself
goes over qua determinacy into another. The content realizes its reflectedness,
and sublates itself as this determinate indifferent [thing], and becomes
another indifferent [thing]. Cognition is itself just this transition; the
content falls asunder; it is a series of indifferent [things] that enter as
isolated, each on its own account. The unity is the differentiated unity of
cognition. The indifferent [things] form a line; the unity is a circle and is
only deduction, itself a series of circles as to content or as seen from the
side of content. The content is again itself this repetition of reflection into
itself, for each of its singulars is what is reflected into itself. Its [123]
determinacy, or what the content is for the differentiation of cognition,
consists in its having other content next to itself. This [latter] content is
not for it. In other words, it is not its differentiated unity; but rather this
unity is cognition, its inner or outer, which is the same; only it is not what
the content is posited to be. The self-equivalent circle of cognition is in
this way itself something indifferent [gleichgultiges] to the content, wholly
fulfilled in itself, the absolute reflection into itself, but only as a
universal. Cognition, as a universal itself from the side of negative unity,
sublates the content as indifferent [indifferent]. The indifferent content is
itself derived from it; and cognition goes over into the content. From
definition, cognition comes to be cognition through division; for cognition is
itself a definition, and it has not sublated itself as definition. It is itself
still formal. It is the transition out of definition through division into
another definition; and as definition it again stands opposed to the first
definition as an other one. The former one would be sublated, of course; but
cognition itself is determined as a definition stemming from it; and thereby
the former is for it just as well, or [is] another one. For as this moving or
sublating, cognition is opposed to the former rest or being; and qua not at
rest, qua not in being, qua a moment of cognition, definition is something
other than the cognition whose moment it is. It is on its own account
determinacy reflected into itself; but cognition as self-subsistent is the
sublatedness of the determinacy, and into this rest it indeed passes over as a
universal and becomes through it a content next to another content. For it to
be its concept absolutely and not formally, it would itself have to be its own
content, its moment; and the moment would
Proportion
129 thus be indistinguishable from the whole—in other words, from the
universal. Cognition is therefore the self-equivalent reflection into itself,
which, though not itself a moment, not yet posited as a singular, has as a
universal another content than itself, whose movement, however, it is. The
self-equivalence of cognition preserves itself in virtue of its sublating the
content, which is other than it, making [it] into an other than itself. It thus
asserts against this alien [content] that it is not alien to it but is rather
posited qua alien as sublated. What is thus sublated as alien is itself,
however, once again a content; for it is to itself posited as not sublated,
coinciding with cognition, an other, and so something determined again. The
former, however, still alien to cognition, something not determined through it,
is outside [124] cognition, or just on that account also its inner. Both
together, cognition is still. . . .I2* . . . the content, determining it, as
the movement, or rather as the differentiated unity, as positive in the
preceding moment. The former, distinguished as totality in itself, determines
in both of the latter the antithesis of cognition as totality over against its
moments, or determines the determinacy of the content in opposite ways.
Cognition itself is the universal, or the basis of these three ways of considering—in
other words, of these three determinacies of cognition itself, posited
indifferently vis-a-vis each other. It is that which subsists in itself, the
absolute, since it is what is closed within itself, absolute reflection, and
since as this reflection it is the universality of the antithesis posited in
this universality. Reflection, as opposed to the content, is reflected into
itself in such a way that it expresses this antithesis in the totality of its
moments, and is intuition—that is, their self-equivalent indifference. Such
being in and of itself, or cognition, is the last to halt immediately: for in
the circle it turns back into itself and, although the content always alters,
it remains self-equivalent in it—does not itself spin forward any more, but as
content (that is, as something determined by standing over against the
determined content) is rather not content, and simply falls outside of the
movement of cognition; it is not [as] moment, but in and of itself. Cognition
is what is thereby taken from the relation; for the content is on the contrary
what is 123. Trails.: The inner half of the double sheet 39 is missing.
130
Logic differentiated. Cognition only solicits in order rather to perish in the
content, and in its cycle to be determined and altered rather than to alter and
determine. In this way cognition is the realized infinity, which is thrown
apart in the doubled relation and returned to itself. Their moments were
abstractions; the moments of cognition are themselves infinite, are relations.
The whole pathway has been nothing but an enrichment of these moments.
Cognition, as this in-itself that has withdrawn from all connection with
another and whose moments [125] are themselves totalities reflected into
themselves, is no longer [the] object of logic (which has constructed the form
up to its absolute concretion) but rather of metaphysics (in which this
totality must be realized in the same way as the totalities have been set forth
up to now, they being only moments of the absolute totality). What meaning the
realization [will]124 receive here—whether this idea itself [will] go over into
something else, whether it still has in itself a determinacy— will become clear
in this science itself. [126] 124. Trans.: ce inserts "must" here. We
have chosen the milder alternative.
Metaphysics
The discussion of cognition at the end of the Logic is like the section on
infinity at the end of "Simple Connection." Only a formal review of
cognition can be given in the Logic because cognition is the proper topic of
Metaphysics. In the Logic it is a climax that poses a problem. The logical self
comes to the recognition of itself as the free agency that the ethical
substance sustains, and upon which the fate of substance itself hangs. Now the
problem is: how is the identity of this absolute cognition with the historic
moment of consciousness in which it has emerged to be realized? The first step
is for cognition to comprehend its own objective structure. Metaphysics shows
us the process of logical consciousness from the side of the substance itself.
It is the absolute self-consciousness of the substance. (Thus Metaphysics
corresponds to chapters 6 to 8 of the Phenomenology, and cognition is only the
formal "certainty and truth of reason.")' Hence every moment is eternal.
The absolute transience of simple connection is now seen as the absolute
permanence of the principles of rational consciousness. Logic began with the
unity of consciousness as self-equivalent. Metaphysics begins with the
principle of self-equivalence (and shows that this must be a self-mediation).
Logic ceases at the point where relationship ceases and where its members fall
asunder as beings on their own account. For cognition as reflection into itself
comes to be its own first moment; it unfolds i. Since the two discussions are
so vividly different, it seems unlikely that any useful parallel can be
established between the moments or phases of the two texts at this level of the
argument. Where Logic passes over into Metaphysics, the phenomenology of spirit
becomes the explicit Bildung of the Weltgeist.
132
Metaphysics as what is passive and self-subsistent beside cognition (as another
moment, which has its reflection into itself); it is the other of itself; and
as itself it is connection with another. This differentiated cognition, as it
connects with another, posits this other itself as an other itself; it is no
longer an other for us, but rather for itself; that is, it negates itself. For
the unity of reflection is what remains constant in the moments of cognition;
and the otherness of its own self is for cognition itself. In other words,
otherness is its moment; it itself is ideal2 on its own account. This is for
us: that the object of cognition is the whole cognition. This is for cognition,
as formal: that in the object cognition is something negated, something other.
Its otherness has only its own negative meaning; the object [is] only
determined as this other; within it [the other] itself is only negated. The
in-itself of metaphysics is this form of cognition: what is negative for
cognition. The course of metaphysics—that is, the coming to itself of cognition
out of its other or the cognition that becomes cognition—is that this
undifferentiated other (something differentiated for the cognition) determines
itself only as its negation, whereby cognition becomes that which is solely
positive, or the true in-itself. As the universal for which there is an other,
cognition is at first simply connected with this other; it is the
undifferentiated space of this other, and its movement as reflection into
itself is this: this other moves within it as simple connection; it comes and
disappears. In the space of cognition an other is posited and it returns into
itself again, so that this other sublates itself. As at the same time
differentiated vis-a-vis what thus comes and disappears, cognition is itself
this its negative connection. Since the other is the in-itself—that is, it is
the essential—the differentiated connection of cognition is thus only
superficial; over against it stands the in-itself, and its movement is still on
its own account. As above, there are only two passives, two self- subsistent
beings, hence two movements on their own account, which [127] just thereby are
indifferent to each other. But as movements these are immediately in one pure
indifference [Indifferenz], in one universality, in one space; and this is
determined immediately as negative unity, as infinity, because it is the unity
of these movements, which are themselves differentiated vis-a-vis one another.
It is the essence of their differentiation [Differenz], their absolute
differentiation, or infinity. For the negative reflection, [that is] the
comes-and-
Cognition
as System of First Principles 133 disappears,2 or this uniquely linear
movement, is connected with its passive self-equivalency, or equally with the
movement of cognition as one that bends this linear moving into a circle. Since
that necessity is determined through this cognition, the linear othering must
reflect itself into itself, or its connection must become self-equivalent. And
in that cognition thus [makes]* that first movement disappear (just as its
passive, unopened connection with itself coincides with its circular movement),
so everything in it is closed. And the in-itself of the passive is still only
something negative; cognition is absolutely negative unity of movement,
sublating the other. It is absolute "I," cognition as negative one,
hence at once another potency and its first moment. Since it is the sublating
of the differentiated connection of logic, cognition snatches away the moments
from the idea (from the dialectical advance and sublating), posits them
determinately as undifferentiated or as self-subsistent, and denies with
respect to them [von ihnen] this self-sublating. They are moments of knowledge,
and as such essentially on their own account, since they were hitherto
undifferentiated in general (that is, indifferent as to whether they were
undifferentiated or differentiated). For cognition itself is this negation of
itself, or the being per se of the other—that is, of the other formerly posited
as differentiated, as ideal,, or moment. As what passes into metaphysics,
cognition is just the sublating of logic as dialectic or idealism. Directed
this way initially, cognition posits the moments of its reflection
determinately as being-in-itself, not as possibly disappearing but rather
determinately as remaining. Cognition amounts to the moment of absolute
principles.[i28] 1 / Cognition as System of First Principles As reflection that
has become simple, cognition is self-equivalence that persists even in
oppostion; a universality that negatively posits itself determinately as
universality, is universality on its own account. The universality of the logic
was an unpolemical one; in this one now, the ideal2 is posited, thereby
snatched away again from becoming sub- 2. Trans : Das kommt und verschwindei.
because of the neuter article, cannot modify the feminine Reflexion. 3. Trans.:
Ehrenberg and Link reads "and while cognition, that is, that first
movement [must] disappear . . . ."
134
Metaphysics lated, and indeed posited as excluding the becoming-sublated. What
disappears and comes in cognition is simply and solely something relative,
something in connection; but this negative unity, the other[ness], is sublated;
in itself it is thereby on its own account. The content of cognition as thus
persisting is nothing but the universal determinacy, the moments of cognition
itself, which, as not to be sublated, express the absolute being and essence of
all things. Cognition, as self-equivalent reflecting, reflects the whole logic
(this advance into itself), posits it equal to itself, sublates the othering of
the moments, and posits them as a system of absolute being perse, so that from
being something differentiated, what is opposed becomes only something diverse,
whose [elements]4 subsist indifferently next to one another. Until now it has
been a moment of our procedure to take each result or each determinacy in general
as something positive at first and then to sublate it. That positive taking
counted as one side whereby nothing was yet decided about the determinacy; in
general it was a thought, something that belongs to us. Here in cognition this
positive is posited on its own account, and the determinacy is cut off from its
two sides: backwards, from that of which it was the result, and forwards, from
that of which it passed over to an other. The in-itself of cognition has indeed
sublated the singular. In universality substantiality has passed away; but in
cognition (or in its becoming) through thorough division, subject, or the
negative one, has passed away. The determinacies, to whom the subject imparts
being per se, are what is known, [are] posited as what is essentially taken
from the becoming sublated, and therefore [are] moments of the subject itself
in that it is this not-to-be-sublated universal. The positive side of the
previous discussion was not only a being posited [in] thought. [129] Rather, by
virtue of its being posited in thought it was also the content or the
determinacies themselves, universal; and the logic began with unity itself as
the self-equivalent. Logic did [not] vindicate itself on this score; that
happens here for the first time, since the in-itself here posits itself as a
self-equivalence, [an in-itself] in which all moments are abolished and which
emerges from this abolition. That unity at the beginning is a result, but that
it is a result was not at all asserted with respect to it; it was a subjective
4. Trans.: The verb is singular here, presupposing "something
diverse" as subject By introducing a plural subject we have had to alter
the number of the verb.
Cognition
as System of First Principles 135 result, from which it was to be surmised that
much must have preceded it in order to begin with it. Here in the absolute
return to itself [the unity] is as this result. Insofar as it was not posited
as a result, [the unity] was an arbitrary beginning that had absolutely many
[others] next to it; it was a contingent first. Here it turns out to be an
absolute first, or that which, after it realizes itself, has opposed to itself
in fact the absolutely many, or as connection, has opposed to itself the
absolutely many connections—that is, relationship. Having come back to itself,
it has preserved itself, but as one that has thus come back to itself, that has
annihilated the possibility of the many, of the other, and that is an
in-itself, which as cognition (that is, as this movement and reflection) has sublated
itself. The advance from this unity was precisely its not having been cognized,
or this: that it was the possibility of the other. It was the movement of
reflection that sublates itself, that leaves only the moments as diverse, being
self-subsistent in their determinacy and indeed "in themselves" (in
the sense that "in itself" has in cognition) as what are above [and]
beyond sublation. According to their form, the moments have been up to now just
such universals; they are cognized as they proceed from what is absolutely
simple. That is, their form was that of cognition, of the sublatedness of
multiplicity, even though according to their content they themselves were
determinate. For example, causes and what follows after are determinate, but
not universal in the way of an animal, which is followed by gender; rather,
they are the universals of knowledge, with respect to which all determinacy is
abolished. [Their determinacy is] the sort that they have in the antithesis, as
result; [it is] the necessary determinacy, that is, the one that they only
acquire just in this cycle. Their previous form as [object of] cognition is now
what is essential to them; or [they are] self-equivalent, and self-subsistent
in such a way that cognition, as self-moving reflection with respect to them,
is abolished. They are the in-itself of cognition; it is cognition itself for
which they are essential. Thus the unity or the self-equivalent goes with the
abolition of all diversity and is in itself, so that next to it there is an
other. Unity is present as what is thus determinate, apart from which [130]
there is another and which, in its connection with another, remains indifferent
in it and unchanged. Similarly, the many that is opposed to it is thus on its
own account, [hence] abolished; as opposed on its own account it is opposed to
itself and becomes fixed as this + or -. There is no
i36
Metaphysics third in which it would sublate itself. Thus, finally, the
connection of both, the third, is likewise in itself, and what is determinate
is present only as thus connected with its other, and as being in this
connection. A / PRINCIPLE OF IDENTITY OR OF CONTRADICTION True propositions do
not change and vanish like conscious selves. But in order to be cognitively
significant, they must relate two distinct terms. Thus a cognitive identity
involves a formal contradiction. The tree is not just tree but an oak—and that
entails a multitude of differences between it and other trees. This multitude
can all be spelled out as determinate differences: the oak is deciduous (not
evergreen); its leaves are not like maple leaves, and so on. And this mass of
truths is the same identical truth as "The tree is an oak." The unity
of a truth is thus the ground of all the other truths it contains. This ground
is rational consciousness. Thus in the principle of ground, cognition
"comes to itself." But here, too, finite cognition "goes to the
ground" (perishes), so that it is aware of the contrast between itself and
the imperishable truth. We must pass to the "metaphysics of
objectivity" because of this contrast. The self equivalent is such, with
indifference vis-a-vis every deter- minacy. a = a, let a signify what you will.
The determinacy is posited in this self-equivalence; but in such a way that the
self-equivalence is not affected by the determinacy and has completely
abolished the otherness of the determinacy, which is now on its own account.
Determinacy as quality, or for that matter as universal and as subject, is
posited on its own account in the form of being, but in such a way that its
essence—[which is] to be determinate—is; and in such a way that it is not to be
withdrawn in general from becoming other [An- derswerden], but only from a
determinate otherness [Anderssein]. For that very reason it cannot save itself
from being sublated, since it is in general open to becoming sublated. But
here, on the other hand, absolute self-equivalence is posited: a negation of
reflection in general, or of transition into another. It is not the determinacy
a that is in itself but the fact that it is self-equivalent; this is what is in
itself. And the determinacy is withdrawn from otherness only because it is in
fact abolished as this determinacy, only because it is wholly ideal2; in other
words, it is posited as something cognized. It is self-equivalent, so that a =
a expresses a diversity (that is, two a's), and this diversity, this
other[ness], immediately is not. The two a's ought not just to be equiv-
Cognition
as System of First Principles 137 alent; it is not a case of a = b: b ought
also to be an a. But a = a; that is, it is the same a that is on both sides.
They do not have an inequality in virtue of their place, as in judgment, merely
through being left or right when written, or earlier or later when spoken.
These are distinctions that fall away immediately in that one [can]not say
which is right or left, etc.; [131] it is not as [if] one were on the right and
another on the left; each is the one and the other. Here self-equivalence has
become a principle, and it is this principle that expresses absolute equality,
the in-itself,3 for in this way it is displayed as self-equivalence reflected
into itself, but one that has brought about reflection into itself, so that its
semblance is there as opposition to it; but this is also in fact wholly
sublated, pure semblance. This principle of equivalence, a posited equivalence
that is in itself, is thus withdrawn from dialectic; the equivalence cannot be
sublated, since it has completely sublated all sublating, and indeed every
connection with another. The determinacy a in which it is expressed is
indifferent throughout; and this determinacy that is distinct in itself—
materialized, as it were—is posited purely in the interest of expression. But
this necessity of taking in some determinacy or other (indifferent though it be
towards itself but just for that reason not as sublated) in order to express
the completion of reflection into itself, or the semblance of opposition within
itself—this is just where the not-being-in- itself of this self-equivalence is
immediately expressed. The opposition is completely sublated, and precisely for
that reason the determinacy is posited as not in itself. But it is the
determinacy in fact that is posited in the form of self-equivalence, as having
been in itself, a = a; if we abstract from a, the whole principle is sublated;
if we posit it, then self-equivalence is predicated of it as a determinacy; but
this predicating immediately dissolves into nothing. "The tree is
tree" is the nullity of the cognition of the tree. As determinacy the tree
is not something reflected into itself but quite the contrary; yet it is
posited so. What strictly has no being in itself is posited as having it. The
feeling of this contradiction (that the identity principle sublates itself)
expresses itself in this way: that nothing at all is said in such a statement.
"The tree is . . . "—we expect that something will be said about it,
something that expresses it as maintaining itself in a determinacy, as
remaining identical in the determinacy of the predicate. But "The tree is
tree" simply does not even express the in-itself of the tree, in 5.
Trans.: ce transforms the noun An sich into an adverb, an sich
i38
Metaphysics that it does not set it forth as something reflected into itself.
The expression of its opposition, into which it has gone and out of which it
has recovered itself, would be necessary for that. It [would need to be]
displayed out of that opposition, and indeed, the opposition being posited with
respect to it, it [would need to] reflect itself. [132] The principle a = a
falls apart into two "insofars," two sides that are mutually
indifferent in it, each one being quite alien and contingent vis-a-vis the
other. The determinacy is contingent for the self-equivalence to the extent
that to have the latter we must abstract from the former, and vice versa. The
two are in fact connected with each other, and when posited as one, each
sublates the other. Hence, although the self-equivalent and the determinacy are
united, they are not united in such a way that the latter should be subsumed
under the former and rendered ideal2; on the contrary, the determinacy is quite
indifferent to the self-equivalent. So in this way there is in fact only a
connection of the absolutely many, but of the many posited as something
unconnected, as something self-subsisting. There has in fact to be connection,
however, determination of the one through the other. B / FIRST PRINCIPLE OF THE
EXCLUSION OF A THIRD The many posited on its own account, as the
self-equivalent and the determinacy, is not opposed to and connected with a
third but connected with itself and simply opposed one to the other (and hence
also connected). The one is not what the other is; otherwise, they have no
determinate character. The many as something reflected into itself (or having
being in itself) is posited as excluding what is opposed to it, the unity in
which it becomes ideal.,; it is not something opposed as a many but rather as a
sublated many that is not opposed. Thus it does not exclude this third, its
becoming-sublated. The many, as cognized, reflected into itself, ceases to have
indifference (the being-external-to-it of distinction and of connection with
another) and has it [the being-external] in itself. It is not another generally
but another in itself and is thus only determined by its opposite. The many as
such is self-equivalent and in this way set against unity, but precisely
thereby not distinguished from it, since unity is self-equivalence. Here, however,
the many is not many in general, self-equivalent, but rather as it is in
itself, apart from this equivalence—something reflected into itself. The many
as it is in itself is thus strictly [133] not the indifferent determinacy next
to which
Cognition
as System of First Principles 139 there are others. Thus the many has so far
been dealt with only in connection with its opposite—which might appear just as
contingent as beginning with unity. But just as it emerged that the in-itself
is reflectedness into itself (the state where distinction has been abolished—that
is, unity) and that philosophy deals with the in-itself, or the absolute, so
the in-itself is immediately unity, and what is first in philosophy. Similarly,
the many enters immediately, through opposition to unity; but whether they only
are in connection with one another is a matter of indifference for it qua many.
The mutually indifferent many posited themselves in connection with unity and
qua one with it, as self-sublating; and this connection appeared as a
consideration alien to the many. But here it is posited that the many in itself
is, in fact, only as the opposite; it is only in its connection with the other.
And it is this differentiation in particular to which non- philosophic thought
must first rise out of its intuiting; from the indifference of the many it must
emerge to this point where the many is in itself simply and solely in
connection with the opposite. These opposites are, then, unity and the many
itself. At first the many appeared as opposed to unity; and just for that
reason unity itself is an opposite, included in the many, one of the many. The
many ceases to be an indifferent many for this reason alone, because its many
are posited as determined in this way: on one side, the not-many or the one; on
the other side, the not-one or the many. Herewith the many divides into a many
that is a many, and a many that is no many. That is how the many is with
respect to itself. This many, as it is in itself, excludes every third. For the
third would be the unity of the two opposites of the many; but this unity is
itself one of its members. Thus its exclusion of the third does not mean that
there might still be something else outside it; rather, there is no other
outside it. There is in it every other; there is in it6 the other of its own
self; it has unity, the contrary of itself, as one of its members. What it
excludes is not something indifferent, for then that would not be something
excluded. What is excluded is what is negated by it, but precisely thereby it
is posited with respect to it. What is thus excluded, what it negates, is
nothing but unity itself; for the other of its own self is [134] precisely what
it excludes in order to be what it is. What is excluded from the many is just that
which the many is not and which the many holds off from itself in order to be.
It is therefore 6. Trans.: Es ist an ihm selbst in both cases.
140
Metaphysics the other of the many; but the many is the other of its own self,
and so it is what is thus excluded from itself. Positing itself thus (as it is
in itself) both as a many that is a many and as a many that is no many—[positing
itself] as what it excludes from itself in order to be, or, in other words, not
as itself at all but rather as the contrary of itself—the many is that which
sublates itself. It is in itself in fact the nothing of itself. It is not the
nothing, for it is itself again. As the many that is unity, it is nullified; as
the many that is itself, it is itself self-equivalent. Hence it is neither
itself nor the contrary of itself, and just as much itself as the contrary of
itself. These two are not diverse ways of viewing it that are external to it or
that it is indifferent to; they are not a distinguishing and a sublating of the
distinction, which might not be posited with respect to it. Rather it is this
in fact with respect to itself—in itself the absolute contradiction, or
infinity posited in one, or as an indivisible, self-equivalent unity. Thus it
is, in fact, not the many as an either / or—the many that just divides into
opposed terms—but the third for these terms, or the absolute immediate unity of
them both, and a simple inward self-destroying, the absolute concept, which is,
with respect to itself, the contrary both of the determinacy and of the
sublated determinacy. The in-itself is thus neither the first nor the second
first principle in the way they expressed themselves; rather, they are in
themselves the third.7 C / PRINCIPLE OF GROUND The determinate is, then, simply
the other of itself, or one with its contrary; and this unity alone is its
in-itself or its ground: as [135] much that into which it returns as that from
which it departs; that is, that wherein it sublates itself, and that which it
is, as a self-equivalent determinacy. The being of the determinacy is its being
posited as something self-equivalent; and in connection with its reflection
this is its point of departure. As this self-equivalent determinacy it becomes
its contrary. In other words, it displays itself as that which it is, as a
many; it returns into itself; and it is thus the unity of itself, and its
opposed determinacy. This unity is its ground; the ground is the unity itself
as self-equivalent determinacy. "The determinacy has a ground" 7. In the
margin: All singulars would contradict themselves
Cognition
as System of First Principles 141 means two things: determinacy is posited
within itself as in a unity of itself and its contrary; as this determinate
one, determinacy has this unity for its ground, a ground that divides into them
(that is, into determinacy and its own contrary)8 or engenders them. Their
being engendered out of their ground is nothing other than that the ground
confronts itself, makes itself into one side and stands opposite itself as its
own contrary. Determinacy as indifferent is called "ground"— ground
of itself, insofar as it appears in the differentiation. And again it is the
ground as this unity of the determinacy posited differentially9— [as this unity
of] it as that against which it is differentiated, or as the opposite of
itself; hence it is that in which it sublates itself. Herewith the ground shows
itself as the reflection of cognition itself, as the self-enclosed simple.
Cognition has in this way come to itself, in that it has reached the ground; it
finds itself as the in-itself. [Previously] it was in relation to \filr] the
in-itself;in [now] it is the in-itself of [fur] the in-itself, since the ground
is for the in-itself. Cognition was the circular movement of the return into
itself, and thus the in-itself. Qua this in-itself it sublates itself, as that
in which the posited is changed; it is the self-equivalent in which something
other than it, as something self-equivalent, is connected only with itself. Its
content is the determinacy that is in itself, posited according to the first
principle as a self-equivalent determinacy. For cognition it is initially the
formal in-itself, or it posits itself as its first moment; and indeed according
to the determinacy of this first moment [it posits itself] in a simple form.
The necessity of once again becoming itself out of its having become—in which
case a start is made with itself in the form of the first power11—lies in
cognition's coming to a point as reflection while it is circumference as
movement. In its movement positive self-equivalence is, as it were, its [136]
universal space; but it is at the same time negative unity, the one of the
point, that in which the distinguishing of its moments sublates itself, a unity
as its negative connection in which cognition is sublated. This unity is its
moment 8. Trans.: Hegel first wrote "a ground that divides into itself and
its contrary." In making the addition he perhaps forgot to change the
gender of "its" modifying "contrary." If he had changed it,
the text would read "into determinacy and its contrary." 9 Trans.:
Following ms. ce: "as of one posited differentially." 10. Trans.:
Following ms. ce emends: "it was the in-itself for [us]." The editors
refer tO CE 126, 11. 1 l-ig. 11. Trans • Potenz. Compare Schelling and
Cartesian geometry.
142
Metaphysics and is opposed to it in its motion, which simply is connected with
it; and this one is the one that appears as content of cognition and what comes
to be the ground. This realization of cognition is its second becoming; in the
first it becomes the other that it is; in the second it becomes so for itself.
The content that comes to ground is the becoming of cognition within itself—that
is, its becoming for itself. However, this ground is indeed cognition, insofar
as cognitionl5i is for cognition; but in its reflection into itself (or in that
it is ground), this its content as negative unity (or indeed itself, though as
one) is at the same time within this determinacy. The content as self-equivalent
determinacy becomes an other than itself in that as ground it has come to be
totality; but this becoming other is now completely determined in that this
cycle is its own. Thus it retains the determinacy that it has outwardly as
something opposed to cognition, or as that wherein cognition negates itself. It
is in itself, and as ground it becomes reflection into itself; but it still
remains in itself as negated cognition. Cognition has not yet re-cognized this
other cognition as itself. The ground is a cognition, but as something
cognized, as something still affected with antithesis vis-a-vis cognition; this
differentiation is not yet sublated. That is to say, it is sublated, but
cognition has not yet sublated it. Still to be determined is how ground or cognition
(which for us are the same) display themselves for their part, in as much as
they [are] still not one1* for themselves but posit themselves in opposition.
This being encumbered with a differentiation, in that they are the total
reflection into themselves, lies in the moments of this reflection being
posited for one another, each still external to the other, or mutually
indifferent. We come back to the same determination that was initially made,
with the difference that in ground these moments are, of course, equally
indifferent, but that ground is the content of cognition; hence [it is] the
sort of cognition that has indifferent moments [that] is this totality of
formal cognition, indeed the moment of formal cognition. The other moments are
this very totality [137] in the determinacy of the moments, and mutually
indifferent. The difference in the way the ground is posited is that the ground
is for cognition and in cognition. Because of this it not only is with respect
to cognition; but 12. Tram.: The ms: dasselbe. ce reads derselbe,
"ground." 13. Trans.: Hegel inserted in the margin "They are
substances, souls," then struck it out.
Cognition
as System of First Principles 143 there is posited the necessity that the
ground make its way through reflection. It is on its own account, but at the
same time a first moment, a determinate content of cognition. It is not
possible to stay there, but its way is laid out before it—the ground must
realize itself. In the progress up to this point, what is displayed as result
or totality of a sphere was totality; and it became again its first power by
means of a consideration that was initially applied to it from the outside, as
it were: it was undetermined whether this totality might not be the last that
would not first have to realize [itself] in this way through reflection into
itself. Here, by contrast, the ground is immediately torn away from its
being-in-itself and from the opposition against its movement, because in
cognition it is posited as the point that arises from cognition in its
movement. As a result the path is not first displayed by the going but [is]
outlined beforehand; just as the necessity to travel it is posited in its
having already been embarked upon in fact. The ground, thus determined as
reflection into itself, as cognition in itself, and at the same time connected
with cognition, corresponds to that moment in the unreflective Logic that was
called the relation of being and that is now posited as being in and of itself,
self-enclosed, and held back from disappearing in the dialectic. The path that
it travels in cognition is indeed its own dialectic; but this side of the path
is what is not yet posited for cognition. To begin with, in other words,
nothing is posited but its connection with cognition: cognition is at the same
time the movement of reflection; but ground is in this connection posited as in
itself—that is, although self-moving, yet indifferent towards the movement and
unchangable through it. By contrast, the relation of being is posited as
undifferentiated, or liable just as much to be changed as to remain
indifferent. Here, by contrast, this relationship is posited as being in
itself, as such reflected into itself. The relation of being passes over into
the repose of universality. The ground, however, is in itself the universal
that has negative ones (or substances that [are] in relation) ideally2, as
contained within it, but in such a way that in their ideality they [are] at the
same time also on their own account. In other words, the ground as their
ideality is negated with respect to itself, since it is its own first moment—that
is, ideal2, sublated. As ground it is their ideality, they are only as posited
in it, and in their being-posited in it (not simply insofar as they are for it)
they are at the same time on their own account as well. The ground is their
arising and vanishing within it; and it is [138] indifferent towards them just
as it is towards its own alteration. Their
i44
Metaphysics arising and vanishing within it is indifferent to their
being-in-them- selves; and their being-in-the-ground is indifferent to their
own un- reflected movement. This determinacy of the ground's indifference is
posited, in that the ground itself is in cognition connected with cognition; as
the self-subsistent (or as that wherein the reflecting movement of cognition
negates itself) the movement of the moments over against one another in the
ground and against it as their unity has this indifference. The ground is
content of cognition, and indeed as its first self-equivalent moment; and the
determinacy of cognition is this determinacy of being indifferent: not as a
being-indifferent that could also become non-indifferent, [that] could divide
itself into itself and into its contrary, but rather [one] that excludes its
contrary and thus in its determinacy would be in itself. The ground, the
totality insofar as it is reflected out of cognition's moments to be its
content thus posited as first power (although the ground ought to be in itself
and is so posited), looks towards the path on which it becomes other, and out
of this becoming-other becomes other again. This path is its realization,
wherein it will give itself its real totality, a totality whose moments the
whole ground itself is. B / Metaphysics of Objectivity This is the theory of
the intelligible reality that the eternity of cognition presupposes. On the
side of consciousness the ground of cognition is the soul, the Cartesian res
cogitans. But this is not simply conceivable in abstraction from the realm of
truth that it knows. Rather, its independence is its own abstracting of itself
and positing of itself as independent. The intelligibility of this activity is
still dependent on the context of consciousness within which it takes place. So
immortality becomes a metaphysical problem. In its actual experience the soul
is nothing but a window on the world—a monad. The world is a community of other
selves, and its independence is identical with their freedom (of which
cognition is the primitive form). Truth is the objective structure of their
freedom, the structure that all must freely recognize. Freedom and necessity
are one world, not two; and there is no need for the establishment of harmony
by a higher power. As one world, the monads must necessarily be a harmony. Each
is "passive" in its self-defining activity of perceiving the world of
the others; and "active" in its reshaping of the world it perceives.
Thus the cognition of "the world" is the condition of free activity
in this higher sense; and active freedom is essentially communal in character.
Sexual differentiation and recognition is the natural anticipation of this
active freedom, but its proper exposition belongs to the metaphysics
Metaphysics
of Objectivity 145 of subjectivity. The natural identity of the genus (restored
in the offspring) is the real immortality of the soul. In the real order only
the Gattung is immortal. The family lifeline is the real monad. In the
"highest essence" God emerges as the necessary ground of our cognition
of all this. "In God we live and move and have our being." When we
think, we must think for the community, or for "the genus." God is
not to be conceived substantially (as in Spinoza, or in the bodily immortality
of the natural species). As the highest essence God is a subject above and
beyond the antithetic unity of soul and body. But now the final problem is to
reconcile this absolute subjectivity with the finitude of the world of rational
monads. Notice the influence of Boehme on Hegel's image of finitude as a
metaphysical darkness, or evil, that is a necessary moment for the
self-creation of the divine light (ce 153-54)-'4 In the way it has been
determined as being-in-itself, the ground is the same as cognition insofar as
cognition has a content, or insofar as it determines the content in such a way
that the content is in cognition and cognition is differentiated vis-a-vis the
content. At the same time it negates itself in its determination of the
content; or it lets it be on its own account. Just like cognition, the ground
determined in this way is something self-equivalent that, being indeed negative
unity according to its essence, sublates the moments. But as absolute
reflection it sublates itself as well; whether in the determining of the
moments or in their being-ideal,, it posits them at the same time as
self-subsistent, thus as a synthesis whose moments are on their own account
absolutely separated: reflection, and reflection as negated— a synthesis that
is indifferent oneness [139] of reciprocal action, each just as much the active
as the other, and the passive as well, the determinacy in the form of the
determinate concept. This ground or cognition is what is called the soul. 1 /
the soul Since ground has been sufficiently explicated and since the soul is
precisely the ground as first moment of its realization, to that extent the
soul has therefore been determined. The undifferentiation of the soul, or its
unity, has been cognized as absolute unity in virtue of its 14. Compare the
meditation in the Wastebook (Rosenkranz, Hegels Leben, pp. 547- 48; trans. M.
Hoffheimer in Clio 12 [1983] 405-7) and the discussion of evil in the
Phenomenology (Gesammelte Werke, ix, 412-14; trans Miller, paras. 776—77, pp.
468—70.)
146
Metaphysics being reflection into itself. As such it is determinate; and just
as absolutely is it the sublatedness of its determinateness. Its determinate-
ness—that is, that it is posited as something sublated—is13 the soul itself;
for it is so only because, as ground in its simplicity of reflection, the soul
comes to be just the determinacy of this simplicity and its own first moment—which
for the soul thereby comes to be its content, inherently [an sich] outside of
it. In that this content is the ground coming to be the first moment (the ground
being, however, the totality of the moments as absolute reflection), so it is
what is differentiated vis-a-vis that content, connected negatively with it as
sublating it. As this differentiated unity, opposed to the first unity, which
is connected with itself, the ground is only in that opposition, and therefore
something determinate. The unity appears as something passive, upon which that
first moment operates. But this is precisely something determinate—and indeed,
through its opposite, through the negative unity. It is something posited
through the unity; they reciprocally determine each other. And what is third,
or synthetic, is the content of cognition, whose factors, however, as falling
outside each other, are posited on their own account, each negated in the
other, existing in itself, so that only this synthesis is in the soul. There is
only16 this negative or synthetic connection as content of cognition (in the
manner this content is posited, originating as from what are independent from
each other), and in this incomplete connection there is the soul in the moment
of differentiation. [140] Therefore the soul must reflect itself into itself,
sublate this connection, and in this return-into-itself must posit itself as
simple, indifferent. It thus sublates its content just as it sublates its
connection with the content. However, since it is this negation only as ground—though
even as ground it has in general an opposition, a determinacy in itself, to
which it is nevertheless indifferent—its absolute reflection into itself is the
return to the indifference of the determinateness vis-a-vis the other, which
other, just as much as it, is in itself. Reflection is the falling apart of the
content, or the separation of its two sides. Since the soul as what is thus
separated is also17 as something determinate—namely, that of indifference—it is
reflected into itself through the other; and the disappearing 15 Trans :
Following ms. ce reads "is [for] the soul itself." 16. Trans..
Following ms. ce reads "only [since]," with the main clause starting
on p. 140: "therefore the soul . . " 17. Trans.. Following ms. ce
reads "has also [come to be] something determinate "
Metaphysics
of Objectivity 147 of the content is just as much a free movement of the soul
itself, independent of the soul. As this negative one that excludes itself and
in this exclusion is self- equivalent, the soul is substance, which, however,
is not merely the differentiation of the accidents that would be only posited
within it as connected with each other and in their positedness would have
their possibility outside themselves. Rather, their possibility is posited with
respect to themselves; in other words, they are posited as ideal2, sublated.
And the substance is rather subject, in which the determinacy is not an actual
but a particular determinacy—that is, withdrawn from its connection with its
opposite. This subject, however, is not at all something universal and
self-equivalent in general, but rather what is displayed as such, as
differentiating its self-equivalence: both taking itself and being itself taken
back from it—in other words, reflecting itself. It is determinacy only as
having an indifferent determinacy visa-vis the other in itself, in such a way,
however, that its alternation is equally present as an accident, and in this
alternation it yet retains the character of an indifferent determinacy. The
soul is therefore the one of substantiality and subjectivity, and neither
genuine substance nor genuine subject: not the former, because of the
indifference of the accidents; not the latter, because of the differentiation,
the alternation of determinacies. Through their indifference and the inde-
terminateness of the subject through them, these accidents at one and the same
time are [a] themselves substances, [b] as such in their alternation idealizing
themselves on their own account, and [c] synthetic in the connection with the
subject. The soul is the whole circle, and its peripheral movement, which is at
one and the same time connected with the soul as middle point [141] and
extended indefinitely as a straight line—extended indefinitely because, to the
extent that the soul is the middle point, to that extent the periphery is
opposed to it and on its own account. As what reflects itself into itself,
making itself into its first moment and becoming its own content, the soul is
the ground of this content, or of itself as of a moment. The second moment,
opposed to the first, is just the ground itself, which is differentially
connected with itself as its first moment; and the reflection into itself is
the sublating: of the soul as its content, of it as something passive, and of
it as something differentiated therefrom. This sublating is so constituted,
however, that the passive in it ceases to be something determined through the
differentiated soul and comes to be in itself again. Both of them, the
148
Metaphysics soul as this differentiated soul and the soul as its content, fall
asunder once more, each as a separate self-subsistent in-itself. For even
though the soul as ground is just the same as cognition, yet ground and
cognition are posited as opposed to each other, and the soul has this
determinacy on its own account. And for this reason its reflection into itself
is what is thus formal, in the sense that reflection only sublates the soul as
its content (in other words, the form of the first moment) and sublates itself
as its unity differentiated from the content. The reflection into itself,
however, is not this original determinacy that it has: as cognition, which
would be opposed to the ground, or as ground, which would be opposed to the
cognition. On the contrary, reflection occurs within this determinacy; and the
completed reflection of the soul (or its coming-to-be-totality) is itself only
a falling asunder vis-avis another in-itself, or the negation of itself, and
the position separated therefrom. Its totality is only the formal taking back
into itself of the determinacy, so that the indifference that is its form
retains a content that is determinate. The indifference [is] only something
common to it and an other; and the pure in-itself is divided into diverse
[in-themselves], which, within the movement of reflection, have their unity
only in the middle as a synthetic unity, only in the second moment (that of the
differentiated soul), not in the totality. This determinacy lies in the essence
of the soul; and the requirement of sublating it lies immediately in the fact
that the essence is a determinacy. This requirement is expressed in the attempts
to assert and to prove the immortality of the soul. The determinacy is to be
sublated, however, only to the extent that the cognition or ground is sublated
as posited under the determinacy that one is opposed to the other, or to the
extent that cognition or ground is sublated as soul. The soul as indifferent,
having another in-itself indifferently beside it [142] (or as in the movement
of reflection, which in its determining is itself determined), is immediately a
plurality of things that are in themselves, self-reflected into themselves,
connected among themselves in a superficial way—a chain of syntheses. Their
in-itself is what is not coming forth, for their being in their reciprocal
indifference comes to be immediately a becoming-determinate on their part
through each other, since one is the content of the other. Each is on its own
account a negated cognition; but just for that reason [each is] something
determinate and connected with the other as with its cognition. In other words,
it is something passive, which, as passivity, is immediately the first moment
of reflecting. To the extent that it is on its
Metaphysics
of Objectivity 149 own account, the soul itself is in fact through its
determinacy only this passive moment; and neither as reflected into itself
(that is, as thus passive) nor as what is differentiated from such a passive
[entity] is it the absolute in-itself. In fact there is posited a multiple
reflecting into itself that, as self-equivalent, is the first moment of
another; as self-moving, is differentiated from any such other. B / THE WORLD
The soul presupposes the world and itself as in the world. For its determinacy
is nothing else but this: that originally, in its being-in- itself, it is the
moment of an other just as much as the other is in turn its moment too. The
world would be nothing else but the reciprocal action of the synthetic series
collapsing into complete rest. It holds itself apart and in motion, however,
inasmuch as the [members] that connect with one another in this way are not
only in this connection with others, but in truth also in connection with
themselves, since they return back from the others into themselves, and in
their necessity they are free. For their freedom is their being cognition or
ground. Since something other than themselves is in them a moment, they are in
this way necessary; but the connection they have with this momentary [other] is
its ideality. They sublate their differentiation, and are free on their own
account: they fall apart, indifferent to the other. As was shown with respect
to the soul, however, this freedom is a formal, one; for it only has to do with
the [143] sublation of the formal antithesis in which the soul remains just
that original determinateness that is the moment of another, in that it is on
its own account, and that is therefore determined in its very freedom. What in
fact holds the many apart, however, is this formal freedom—as self-isolating,
as one of the opposites, not as the universal of reciprocal action, in which
nothing that stands in reciprocity is posited as self-subsistent—[that is, as]
tearing away at determinacy. For in this connection or in the unity with the
other, this freedom is in fact also not in the connection; it draws back from
it instead. This coincidence of freedom and necessity is not a semblance that
would have to receive its corrective through the sublation of the one or the
other. Just as little do they proceed side by side, indifferent to one another;
nor are they diverse aspects of one and the same thing, which, just for this
reason, would be other than they, and they outside it, indifferent to it.
Instead, this coincidence is a necessary moment
15°
Metaphysics in the realization of cognition. Freedom cannot [be] sublated, for
otherwise all movement generally, and every antithesis arising only through
movement, would immediately be sublated. No more can necessity, for the latter
is what is sublated by freedom for it to be. They are not two systems that
remain unaffected as they interweave, that would be together without
connection, as it were (in the way we think of space and time), such that one
could say of neither that it is and the other not, yet that in their being
united would be absolutely without influence upon one another. Each is rather
the moment of the other. Freedom is that which is passive, connected with
itself— which, just in being so, is moment vis-a-vis another; and this
connection is its necessity, which, once more as reflection into itself, passes
over immediately into freedom, into connection with itself. Both are moments of
one and the same whole—not, however, ways of considering it from which it could
abstract. Previously, in ground or cognition, this whole was the one that,
having turned into content, was then connected with it differentially, as with
something by which it was determined and which it determined, for its part,
just as much. This content disappeared, however; for the one went back into
itself, and thereby turned into content once more. And so what is now posited
is that in fact this content, the in- itself, is itself what is reflected into
itself and is self-reflecting; and that hence it is related within itself in
the same way as only the soul was posited as relating to it—like the soul
itself entering upon the [144] line of this kind of self-relating. But the soul
is not in a particular relation vis-a-vis the other with which it is connected.
This other is rather just as much an in-itself that reflects into itself; it
itself determines its determinacy through another, sublates the determinacy
thereby, and posits it ideally,,. In other words, this other is just as much a
representing monad as the soul is. Inasmuch as it reflects into itself,
preserving itself undifferentiated in its being determined through an other, the
monad is self-subsistent totality for which the other is something negated in
it. And the distinction can only be one of degree, a matter of the greater or
lesser freedom with which the monad remains indifferent on many sides. For the
distinction with respect to the monad itself is this alternation between the
form in which the monad is a content, something passive, and [the form] in
which it is differentiated unity. The disappearing of the monad within the
dynamic [thdtigen] chain (which at every point spreads out in all directions)
consists in its appearing more in the form of that enveloped,
Metaphysics
of Objectivity 151 undisclosed, passive content, and as something
differentiated in a narrower expanse, in a more restricted sphere, and in
relation to fewer things. Since each is in itself, reflects itself into itself,
and expels itself from others, this expelling is posited with respect to each
as well. It is something absolutely determinate; and the graduated transition
is infinitely divided within itself. As absolutely determined, negative one, it
is a "this." But this singularity goes aground in its own totality.
For at the same time the soul, or the monad in general, receives another
significance in the world-process; in other words, the opposition of freedom
and necessity, which previously displayed itself as moment of one and the same
thing, must itself divide this concatenation of monads in another way. For the
world-process displayed itself in such a way that the same thing was at one
time content, something passive vis-a-vis another; and at another time active
vis-a-vis another that was passive. And this same [thing] returns into itself
from its differentiation, and is thus itself in the form of something that is
connected with itself. What comes back to itself in this way preserves itself
as an in-itself, posited, as reflected, for it becomes totality. But in
totality it becomes also another; as totality of its determinacy it confronts
itself as moments, in which it is just as much a simple negative one as it is
differentiated unity. It does not enter into the antithesis as determinacy in
general, itself already posited as moment; rather, it is moment only for us. It
enters as subject, as a negative one, as one reflected into itself; and in its
determinacy it is itself absolute determinacy, [145] negative unity, which in
its being determined through another posits itself as not determined [and] the
determinacy as sublated in itself—that is, [posits itself] as a
"this": something simple in its infinitely complex determinacy. This
bad infinity is posited immediately as absolute infinity, as one, as a point.
Negatively connected in this way with the opposite, it is what is active.
Vis-a-vis another, what is passive and connected with itself is equally a
"this"; vis-a-vis what is active, however, it is only something that
connects with itself. Reflecting itself into itself from this its determinacy,
what is active sublates itself as a "this," and as a totality [comes
to be] universal. From the definitum it comes to be its definition; and the
process of its self-preservation is much more the demise of its singularity and
the realization of the genus. The monad that is a reflection into itself is so
only as a "this." It is the other moment; but this other is in itself
too. In other words, it is on its own account in the form of the first moment;
so far as it is so, however,
!52
Metaphysics it is passive. It reflects itself into itself as simple, or as
soul, and preserves itself; this reflection in general is that of the soul. It
preserves itself, however, also as a second moment, or as a "this";
and it is an in-itself, active vis-a-vis another. That first self-preservation
is the ideal one, where the other disappears in the monad. This second one is
that of the nullification of the other, not of its relative disappearing. But
this other self-preservation, as the other moment, is just for that reason
immediately the contrary of itself as well. It is the liberation from itself
and the sublating of itself as a "this." In the world the soul comes
to be monad. To that extent there is only an absolute multiplicity of monads
that represent the world to themselves and, indifferently connected with
themselves, remain in this differentiation of representation. Monad it is, but
only monad; in other words, as this connectedness with itself, as a moment, it
is so only vis-a-vis the differentiated moment.18 But this differentiated
moment is the development of the soul itself, which negates itself as its own
ground. As something simple it changes itself into the ground that is outside
its existence. This its existence (or the fact that it changes itself into
ground) is its being absolute determinacy, negative unity, as reflection
connecting itself with itself, or as formal cognition. As absolute reflection,
its freedom within itself is immediately its excluding the other from itself,
and a connection of [things] that absolutely are [absolutseyender]. The former
self-preservation of the soul ends with the freedom that is immediately this
differentiating of freedom, [that is,] of negative unity vis-a-vis itself [146]
in the form of monad— vis-a-vis itself as something negated in freedom, which
vis-a-vis freedom is something passive. Cognition changes itself into an
absolute cognition as one, and the world is thereby posited. The sublating of
this differentiation vis-a-vis something absolutely in itself or passive, which
to us is on its own account, is the sublation of this one itself. And thereby
[it is] the totality as a universal—totality that, however, precisely in that
it is simply this connection in itself, itself appears again as first moment
under the determinacy of equivalence. The world as this process of the genus
sets freedom up as a higher sphere that turns against the world's lower ones.
Previously freedom was in general what is undifferentiated as reflection into
itself; and 18. Trans.: Lasson reads this text as "Monad it is, but only
vis-a-vis the differentiated moment; in other words as this connectedness with
itself, as a moment, it is only so "
Metaphysics
of Objectivity *53 the first moment, or the monad, was in itself just as much
something free as the second moment, and as totality, which is itself what is
simple in the first moment and falls back into the determinacy of this first
moment. But the former reflection, as the formal in-itself or its concept
(which freedom previously was), is now the higher freedom of totality of which
the monad and what is active are themselves moments. This totality, the genus,
is henceforth the in-itself and ranks above its falling back into the form of
the first moment, as remaining self-equivalent in the first moment. Its falling
back is much rather its own stretching out into the two moments of what is
passive (or the monad) and what is active. As the in-itself of the whole, it is
the essence of these moments, which is doubled in them; and as their genus, it
is their universal. And the process—that is, the self-preservative process of
the genus—is like the coming to be of the genus, precisely the self-
preservative process of the singular. Opposite the differentiated in-itself
stands another, in general as something passive. Its preservation is the
annihilation of the in-itself, but at the same time its own annihilation—that
is, its coming to be the genus that, to be sure (as the absolute reflection of
itself), displays this other that stands opposite the differentiated unity. It
displays it as the kind of thing that returns out of absolute totality into the
determinacy of the first moment; that is, [it shows] that this passive [thing]
is in fact genus only in the form of the first moment. Sublating itself in its
self-preservation, what is active becomes in this infinity its own contrary;
and maintaining itself in its contrary, it stands by itself as opposed to
itself. Instead of having negated itself in its contrary, it is, rather,
positive. The other in-itself is not its own negation; but in the other it
cognizes itself. The genus tears itself apart into the differentiation of the
sexes—from cognition into recognition. The singularity that passes away in the
process of the genus is ideal2, but posited as something ideal2; [it is] ideal,
in another.[147] On the other hand, [once] posited, what is ideal2 is on its
own account. Singularity has come to the point where the first moment itself is
a cognizing, [that is,] a self-preserving, a connecting of itself with itself,
and therein a self-sublating, such that its being itself is something other than
itself. The reflection of singularity into itself is the genus that has come to
be; but singularity preserves itself throughout this its sublating, and finds
itself in another. The genus is not only the universal, but also the infinite.
In the totality the singular has changed itself into the
*54
Metaphysics whole process; and in it the whole process comes apart as a
duplicated process. It is only this process of the totality that, in its
totality, comes to be the first moment. The moments of the genus are the
existing singularities. It itself as absolute reflection is only as this cycle
of its moments, precipitating and dissolving into themselves. Since as
determinacy of universal indifference it stands over against them as moments,
it is itself rather their one[ness]; yet it is equally the not-determinately
universal, or the indifferent that is not opposed, and their ideality, or
equally their being. It is the free, which, elevated above the moments of the
cycle, is alone what is self-equivalent. The being of these moments is only now
an existing; all previous being was so merely in a determinacy that was not
complete reflection into itself. Here for the first time is genuine reality
posited, for the genus is absolute reflection into itself, and as such also
changes itself into its moments of reflection insofar as it is something other
whenever this reflection, opposed to these, is a moment.19 Previously it was a
matter of indifference whether we considered the soul as cognition or as ground
(only with the limitation that it be as the determinacy of an opposition). In
existence, however, this indifference is sublated and the two are posited as
connected with one another. The ground is over against cognition and is the
universal as reflecting itself into itself; or [it is] absolute reflection
posited as universal in itself and not opposed. Cognition is the same genus but
is so as a moment of reflecting itself into itself; its reflecting into itself
is its self-preservation, which is directed against nothing but the genus, the
universal. The self-preservation is reflection into itself appearing as simple;
that from which it is differentiated [148] was in general something
self-subsistent that, having been synthesized and determined, disappeared
again. Only its concept was posited; once reflection is realized, then this
other is for it what is strictly passive, nothing other than the genus, the
whole of the moment itself that confronts it as moment and that is something
self-subsistent, something connected with itself. Positing singularity
self-negated within it, this negation sublates itself and thus preserves
itself; with respect to it, it takes its essence up into itself, as it were,
for the first time. The distinctions of reflection within itself thus come to
pass in the ig. Trans : The French translation of Souche-Dagues has
"insofar as it is something other than this [or], opposed to these, is a
moment."
Metaphysics
of Objectivity 155 following way. Cognition and ground are one, but for us. And
so cognition is soul, undifferentiated, on its own account; its differentiation
is an indifferent coming and disappearing of an in-itself visa-vis which fit]
is equally in itself. In the world-process this diverse in-itself becomes
differentiated within itself [gegeneinander] in existence; the self-preserving
singular has passed over into the genus; and the world-process is the process
of the genus, which, remaining a whole in its moments, posits them
differentiated over against each other [gegeneinander] and exists in them. As
its concept, cognition is soul; the latter, as this determinacy of the concept,
is itself a singular that, thus reflecting itself into itself, becomes genus
[Gattung]. Realizing itself, this in turn is bifurcation into genders,
existence of natural things and preservation of the species [Gattung]; as this,
freedom confronts its process. It is the ever self-equivalent content of the
cycle of cognition, or of the process of the genus; and real cognition has
stepped forth from formal cognition. The monads as existing things express only
one and the same universal. Their multiplicity as much as the determinacy of
their movement is what is strictly contingent;20 and what is existing in
connection with singularity [is] in fact what is only possible. In the genus
this 2I is sublated and its self-preservation is rather its sublating.
Singularity exists in that it, without coming to be genus, returns into itself,
since the genus is rather what is in the form of being connected with itself
(or what is passive, against which singularity turns and which it sub- lates)
and is free. Conversely, the genus is that in which singularity sublates
itself; genus is the differentiating unity in which the singularities are
moments that themselves come to be genus. Both freedoms—that of singularity and
that of genus—are [149] opposed to each other and so are both necessities—the
one in which the genus only is a passive, the connection with itself only as
moment, and the other in which conversely the self-preserving singularity comes
to be genus just as the latter falls back into being moment. Because of this
falling back, the genus is not absolute ground, not absolutely undifferentiated
in itself; it is thus indeed completely closed within itself in that its last
is again its first. In this immediate overturning, however, it is itself not
posited as freedom; but its liberation becomes rather only passivity. It is the
cycle that changes itself into the cycle; that is, 20. Trans.: Hegel has no
punctuation here. 21. Trans.. "This" could refer either to
"singularity" or to "multiplicity."
i56
Metaphysics the cycle moves itself as its moments but is not absolutely free.
Indeed, it is only in the form of necessity—that is to say, as throwing itself
over from one side to another through a middle that, to be sure, is the genus
as universal or rather communal. Yet as such [it] does not step forth with the
annihilation of its being moment; rather, it is posited only in the form of
existence; and the genus itself is nothing but fulfilled soul, which would be
self-equivalent reflection, indifferent throughout to the alternation and the
passing over. Cognition as reflection posited in an absolutely simple way, or
simplicity, is not yet posited. The soul was of course this simple, but its content
was the indeterminate. Now there is this content or fulfilment; as the moments
of the cycle, the content is the total reflection itself, but it is also only
the content. In fact, therefore, this content is also only in the form of
opposed terms. It is only the genus as a passive moment that preserves itself
as singularity opposed to the genus qua something alien, devouring the genus
within itself, and thereby springing over to the differentiation of the genus.
Unlike the first, this genus does not stand opposed to the differentiation as
something alien but as something equivalent to it, something that finds itself
in the other as the latter finds itself in it. But [it does so] in such a way
that they express the genus not per se but only as their undifferentiatedness.
And since they express this, it is itself again that first opposed moment. If
the self-preservation is only this coming and disappearing of something alien
in cognition, then in the process of the genus as well the preservation of the
genus is itself only the coming and disappearing of the singularities positing
themselves as themselves outside themselves. It is not cognition as absolute
reflection into itself, or this as simple. As the universal, however, the genus
must [be] as that which is the same in this form [150] of existence; in other
words, it in its existence and it as the self-equivalent must be equal to each
other. And in fact in this existence of the genus, the genus alone is what is
in itself. What is existing [is] the self-sublating negative; and the genus is
itself this negative unity. The simple, self-equivalent
reflecting-itself-into-itself (which just thereby is something absolutely
reflected) and the negative unity22 in the mode of divided genus, as necessity,
is strictly one\ what appears other than this unity is purely something ideal*,
not subsisting in itself. 22. Trans : Grammatically the pronoun could refer to
"genus."
Metaphysics
of Objectivity 157 Genus is the ground of existing singularities, as also of
their connection; or rather [it is] their connection itself. Yet not only this,
but the connection is in fact the absolute unity; for what is connected, the
singularities, are not in themselves, but strictly self-sublating with respect
to each other. C / THE HIGHEST ESSENCE2* As we have shown, there is in the
process of the genus, as of the existence of the world, totality itself only in
its antitheses and in their unity, the empty middle of going over. There is in
fact never anything but the two sides of the transition; they are posited as
being in themselves, yet indeed characterized by their antithesis—in other
words, moving themselves to disappear into the opposite. The essence of this
movement is necessary. For the way it is posited as process, there is in it only
the appearing of the antithesis between the self-preservation of the
singularity and that of the genus. The passing over, the unity of both, is an
"inner" that does not step forth; that is, it is what is not posited
for this alternation but only what is posited by us, or the "outer."
For the self-preserving individual, however, this is, as cognizing or as unity
of itself and its opposite, its non- being or its disappearing. Thereby there
is for it too this contradiction. And since it finds itself as something other
in the genus, then immediately opposed is this: having its essence only as
connection with another and not in itself, and on the contrary preserving its
reflection into itself as itself. The unity of both is [151] outside the
self-preserving individual because the individual is only the subject of this
contradiction. For this unity of the contradiction (which it is) is its being
per se. It is this unity that, as formal reflection, steps aside, sublates
itself in the self-equivalent positive of the genus, and has this sublating and
this self-equivalent outside itself—or as "inner," as its ground,
from which it is yet distinguished. The connection of the self-preservation
with the genus has the aspect that each singular is strictly contingent for the
other in that, as self-preserving, each is on its own account and indifferent
for the other. They are equally contingent for the genus, since the latter is
in itself; and the determinacy that is in the self-preservation (whereby the
individual [is] something unique [singulares], something absolutely 23. Trans :
Alternate translation: "the Supreme Being "
i58
Metaphysics determinate in both senses—pure point and point of an infinite
aggregate of lines intersecting in it) is not for the genus. Rather for this as
universal what is unique is indeed only with the determinacy of universality,24
or as particular that has gone back into itself, having bent together into the
circle of its reflection that aggregate of lines extending through it into
infinity. Yet this indifference of the singulars for each other and for the
genus sublates itself, for in fact they [are] for each other generally— one is
only with the determinacy of connection with the other and equally as singular
under the genus, since the points of its lines are just such an in-itself. As
point it falls on the line, which is on its own account a higher reflection
into itself—namely, just the genus; the alien, which stands opposed to what is
self-preserving—and it is itself an alien thing of this kind—is in itself
nothing other than the genus itself for what is self-preserving. The singular
is necessary vis-a-vis the singular, [and] equally vis-a-vis the genus. For
this genus is vis-avis itself as first moment, and in this as formal
reflection, as not reflected. In other words, it is itself in its moments not
only particular, but unique. However, this necessity is the bad sort in which
the connection is not as such or in itself, but only with respect to the
opposites. Yet it is altogether in itself, and the opposites are in the
absolute necessity. For their bad necessity is in fact the absolute one. That
bad indifference, like the bad necessity, are nothing in themselves; and the
[152] singular is present only in the absolute indifference and necessity of
the genus, which is its essence, the essence of the essence, not only according
to determinacy in general (metaphysical necessity) but according to its
absolute determinacy as a singular. If [a] the process of self-preservation (as
that in which the absolutely determinate posits itself as self-equivalent,
posits the many determi- nacies as ideal2 within it and remains itself,
undifferentiated in their sublating) we call "thought"; [and] if,
however, [b] the process of the genus in which the singular itself is only
within the universal, indeed something ideals negative, [we call]
"quantum," whose essence is the 24. Trans.: Following Lasson we have
changed the punctuation and inserted "is." This does justice to the
word order. The ms reads " . . the determinacy that is in the
self-preservation (whereby the individual is something unique, something
absoluteh determinate in both senses—pure point and point of an infinite
aggregate of lines intersecting in it—not for the genus but rather for this as
universal) is what is unique, though only with the determinac) of
universality..."
Metaphysics
of Objectivity *59 self-equivalent, the singular only as negation and the
latter as connected with the self-equivalent as delimitation (whereby, however,
the universal in fact, like space, is not delimited by the determinacies
posited in it—that is there is no point where space would not be)—if we [now]
call this universal "being" or "extension" as that in
virtue of which alone something possible is, then, since both [conditions] are
one, thinking, and extension or being are strictly one. Since the genus, or the
universal, is not as some determinate genus or other but as the absolute genus,
which is reflection into itself, moments of which it itself is, it is hence the
highest essence of all, which is not itself a moment and a stepping over into
the determinate existence of something else, but rather absolute existence
itself; not something necessary, but necessity itself; not the empty
universality that is common, but the ideality of that to which it only would
have been common, hence the essence of the genus or its substance. Whatever
superficial connection with the singular is given to what is thus in itself,
the connection is in itself null and void. If this singular is posited as being
in itself, then it has a side of indifference vis-a-vis the highest essence,
and the latter has a reality outside it. Its being as the in-itself is yet
posited in another way, namely, as an extension that would not be one with
being, something determined through an alien [thing] whose determining, not
being inherently ideal,, or sublated, would be negation. Extension or being in
the highest essence is, however, immediately one with singularity—that is,
negation. Since the division in it is only as a sublatedness, this singularity
is strictly simple; and the multiplicity distinguished in the singularity is
the genus, the simplicity of [153] reflection itself. If a being per se is to
be ascribed to the many, it becomes quite simply equal to itself; and its
distinction is its being in the other—that is, its sublating; it is only the
nothing, which is the simplicity of being and indistinguishable from it. Thus
the determinacies of quantity of the pure universal are only this negative; and
the negative is in itself simple and is the universal itself. There can be
posited no external determinacy not equal to the universal; that is, this
[universal] can be posited, not with respect to an extension diverse from
being, which extension would be externally determined. What thus determines
externally is the nothing—completely simple, and hence itself being. This
highest essence has the antithesis of what preserves itself (thinking) and of
being (extension) simply and solely as an attribute, as moment, as something
ideal^ within itself, not as substance [or as]
i6o
Metaphysics what is in itself. On the contrary, it is rather its being in
itself, and the differences belong only to the ideality, to the nothing in
itself. The highest essence, thus equal to itself in that which appears to be
unequal, is the absolute ground of this unequal. For this is in itself nothing
but just the highest essentiality itself; and [that] whereby it is on its own
account, separated from it, is pure negation. To be in itself it can only
strive to sublate this—that is, its being per se—and can surrender its sphere
of self-preservation in which it is set over against something alien—and it
does indeed catch sight of itself in the process of the genus, but only as
something other than itself—a sphere of self-preservation that is only the
negativity of the highest essence. The highest essence is equal to itself thus:
that it is what is strictly reflected into itself; that there is not this
movement or reflecting within it, but rather in its emanation in appearance as
multiplicity it is absolutely the same. It is proven that the highest essence
is the one and only, the in-itself. It is something infinitely extroverted; it
has infinitely created, yet its creation, to the extent that in it the singular
as individual is separated, is in fact only negation. What is thus negated has
only to preserve the contradiction in itself and preserve itself as negation;
yet since it is only negation it is to revert, as self-preserving, into
non-existence and into the highest essence. To this there stands opposed, in
its self-equivalence, simply negation as the evil principle that builds itself
up within itself. In its pure clarity this [154] darkness is not present; for
darkness is the nothing for the light, and the clarity is to the light strictly
as self-equivalent. Yet equally the light is not without darkness, as darkness
is not [without light]. The highest essence has created the world, which for
the essence is of ether-bright transparency and clarity; yet the world on its
own is dark. It is proven that only the highest essence is in itself; yet this
being per se of the world stands strictly opposed to this necessity. Its being
is a non-being; yet this "non-being is" is itself over against that
absolute being. It dissolves away, vanishes within it. Yet that it so vanishes
presupposes that it has been, or it retains its being per se. And this being
per se and the absolute essence remain divided. The proof goes back to the
latter, but it does not proceed from it. Rather, it begins with an
inconceivable point of departure—namely, that of existence— which must freely
sublate itself. But if it only must do so, then it has
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 161 not been; and it has not been; it is not. This itself is
only the result of a proof, which was preceded by the movement of the proof and
the point of departure of the proof but not by its construction. The emanation
of singularity out of the highest essence is an empty thought; for that whereby
it would be filled would be only an inequality, of which the absolute unity of
the genus is not capable. Yet this highest essence is self-equivalent in that
it is itself absolute negation, and this in an absolutely simple way. It has to
do with nothing but displaying just this negation as what is simple. And it
only [is] this simple as an absolutely simple reflection into itself—as
"I" or as intelligence. c / Metaphysics of Subjectivity As we move
from objectivity to subjectivity it is worth noting that what Hegel says in the
Science of Logic about the relation of his new logic to the older metaphysics
applies fairly comprehensively to his own "old metaphysics." It is
"the objective logic" that "takes the place of the metaphysics
of former times."MS What he calls here "the metaphysics of
subjectivity" has some affinities with the higher reaches of the
Subjective Logic of 1816. But most of the topics of that logic have no place in
the Metaphysics of 1804. They are left behind in the finite realm of the
logical relationship of thought. The metaphysics of objectivity arrives at the
concept of the highest essence; and it is in the context of essence that the
metaphysics of subjectivity evolves. (In terms of the Phenomenology of Spirit
we have now reached chapter 8.) God is not a substance but an essence: the
essence of subjectivity. The absolute self is the ultimate ground of reality.
The final phase of the Metaphysics is thus a reinterpretation of Kant and
Fichte, just as the penultimate phase was a reinterpretation of Descartes,
Spinoza, and Leibniz. God is the self who is a community of selves. But this is
just the logical structure of real self as our argument has revealed it. The
single human organism cannot join the end to the beginning. It dies and leaves
a new cycle to unroll. Rational consciousness, by contrast, is true
resurrection. The rational self knows its identity with the community of
selves. It thinks for the genus (that is, for homo sapiens in his world as an
eternal community). It knows its own natural self as an empirical datum among
the rest, but this self is only a sublated moment. The consciousness of
determinacy is only the 25. Gesammelte Woke, xi, 32; Hegel's Scietice of Logic,
trans. Miller, p 63.
162
Metaphysics consciousness of the world as an Anstoss to which the self is
passive. Where now is the objective immortality of this self? In the
objectivity of what it knows and in the general validity of that knowledge.
This rational self has active impulses. It is a will. Here, too, absolute
singularity is infinity. The rational will for the genus is the true infinite
of absolute spirit. As the absolute genus, the absolute essence is what is
self-equivalent in the moments of existence; and existence is the negative. As
negative the essence disappears within being; indeed, it is equivalent to
being; but in order for it to disappear, it is necessary that it be opposed to
being and that in its opposition only this its sublation should itself be what
is self-equivalent. This negative is nothing else than infinity, but here it is
what is fulfilled, or absolutely infinite. The two moments of simple connection
in their [155] realization—unity or being (determined as quantum, for which
negation is something strictly external) and infinity, which [is] just this
sublation into itself—are here posited as fulfilled. Unity was so posited
earlier, as having returned out of the totality of the antithesis; infinity is
so posited now as returning therefrom. The [moments] whose infinity is the I
are themselves infinite, reflections into themselves; they are not simple
circles but such as themselves have circles as their moments, and are the
circles of these circles. Indeed, self-preservation is already something
reflected into itself, absolute singularity that remains self-equivalent in the
unequal, and reverts into itself out of its own determinateness. Vis-a-vis
singularity the alien [moment] is the universal; and singularity, combined with
it, is something synthetic, something particular from which it ascends to the
universal once again. Singularity interlocking with the universal through the
synthetic unity of the particular is itself this movement of ascending, which,
qua universal, is immediately singular once more in that as a universal it has
opposed singularity to particularity as to what is synthetic. It posits them
both ideally,,: the universal as opposed to the substance, and the singular as
opposed to the determinate concept. It is negative unity or singularity, having
thus returned to its starting- point. The universal that stands opposed to the
singular is the singular itself, and vice versa: what is alien in this
reflection is that [universal and singular] have each of them this
determination vis-a-vis the other, while their unity is only for us. In the
world—that is, in the process of the genus—the process sublates itself for what
is itself self-reflexive;
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 163 as this whole cycle the self-reflexive is opposed to itself—two
self- preserving [processes] that are now therefore no longer something in
principle alien for one another, since that primary reflection does not fall
back simply into singularity but in such a way that it fall backs as the
totality that has come to be. In this guise it has its very singularity within
it sublated as the one moment and as something merely ideal,, in itself.
Consequently, while the totality is singularity once more, singularity is also
something sublated; and hence its opposite is not something alien but something
equivalent to it. This oppositeness is only a sublated one for the first
singularity, something transparent, through which it catches sight of its self
and is cognitive. For it does not see therein something reflected but something
reflecting itself, the motion that is its own essence. Both of them are the
absolute self-equivalence of reflection; and the singular, connected with
itself as with an other—though for it the otherness is also merely [156] form—itself
passes over into the genus, or into what is self-equivalent. The return to the
first moment is not for that moment. Inasmuch as it is singular, it is only so
qua self- preserving; it cannot hold out through this passage. It perishes
therein; and this transition is the having-come-into-being of another singular—
of a singular because it is a first moment necessary of itself and is opposed
to the singular that is pushed into a higher sphere. That the singular cannot
descend, cannot turn itself into the first moment, is because even existence is
enclosed in this sphere and the transition into another is the cessation of
existence. Yet the turning back to the first [moment] is only for the absolute
universal of the sphere. For the singular, however, it is its vanishing, and
its having been turned back is the arising of another, a vanishing and arising
that is equally contingent for both of them as such and is only the absolute
necessity of the universal. The universal, as the highest essence, or as the
genus, is the state of self-equivalence along the path of singularity, which
alone is the reflection of existence, or absolute existence. For us,
accordingly, it is what is equivalent in self-preservation, or what is opposed
as genus to the self-preserving singular. For the singular, the alien [moment]
is its still not being something reflected of itself, or its being affected
with an absolute determinacy, since the sublatedness of the deter- minacy
within the totality lies behind it; that is, it exists for an other. But this
singular, having here arrived at the absolute nothingness of determinacy, is no
more; the other emerging from its womb, there-
164
Metaphysics fore, stands forth immediately, born completely free and
indifferent. Since the essence of its indifference, however, is just that it
has come forth from negation, or is its being reflected (for there is no
indifference otherwise than in being reflected), it is in fact connected with
what was negated, even though, qua singular, it is indifferent to it (that is,
it is connected with it as with something absolutely alien, having being in itself).
For the singular it is not that this alien [moment] is an in-itself, simply
what is sublated, or the self-oppositing genus. For us the indifferent
antithesis, which remains in self-preservation, and the antithesis of the genus
(in the sexes) is the same. The first is the second posited as ideal2; the
alien quality in self-preservation is the sublated equality of the sexes, and
vice versa. The highest essence is this equivalent that returns as universal
into the first potency, or into [157] the beginning. However, it does not
return to the beginning qua singularity but only qua universal, since the
singularity posited therein is other than that which has come to be universal.
But just the singularity that has become universality is not only what is self-equivalent
in the moments of existence, but their negative unity. It is absolute
singularity, absolute determinacy, infinity. The singular's having-come-to-be
the universal is the sublatedness of singularity. But this simplicity is not
the nothingness of singularity, so that it would have singularity over against
it. On the contrary, it is immediately one with singularity. For us, the
singular of self-preservation has its coming-to-be in the coming-to-be of the
concept of cognition. At this point, in its first potency, when returning into
its beginning, it does so as an other, not as the first singular but as a
singular that has become universal. This absolute unity of singularity and
universality, the I, consists in the fact that singularity, in that it is this
I, is now as opposite immediately simple, or that the opposite only is for it
as something sublated. In its opposition, and in connection with this, [it is]
something universal and self-equivalent that has annulled all indifference of
determinacy and all half-connection. Self-preservation, returning out of the
simple totality, is not an indifference in which an indifferent alien [moment]
that has only the form of universality enters. Because singularity becomes at
the same time what is differentiated, this [alien element] opposes to itself,
as synthesis of both, the fact that the indifferent is within it; and it
sublates this opposition in such a way that
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 165 both [opposites] become unconnected and indifferent once
more. Instead, the determinate opposite is for the singularity itself only qua
universal; thus in its own determinacy f it is] immediately something sublated.
For the singular, the genus is precisely what is alien in the
self-preservation. 1 / THE THEORETICAL I, OR CONSCIOUSNESS The singularity,
which is not this mere determinacy but is absolute reflection in every
dimension and in all its moments instead, is \'7bqua infinity) [158] simple;
that is, its movement in its moments is just this transparent universal, sublated
in its oppositeness. In the soul the determinate is something alien and
something to be sublated by abstraction from it—that is, through its
disappearing. But in the I, qua self-subsistent or alien, the determinate is
immediately something ideal2; it is something indifferent in itself, in
connection with the I, since formerly it was something differentiated vis-a-vis
the soul, something alien that posits in the I something other than the I. The
monad represents the world to itself; and the boundary of its presentation, the
point where it stops, is its contrary, [or] what is alien to it. The universal
representing is not bounded by this boundary; for of course the boundary is
nothing positive at all but is strictly negative in itself. This negative status,
however, was not for the monad, for which on the contrary the boundary is
something positive, since the essence of the monad is singularity, the negating
of an other, or exclusion. For the I this other is not a nothing by virtue of
abstracting from it, since abstracting only lets something else take its place;
instead, the other in its otherness is immediately something equal to the I—that
is, something sublated as other. It is something recapitulated in itself, or a
many as something self-equivalent, even as the many was sublated right at the
beginning of philosophy. This it is now not for us; rather, the "us"
for whom it is so is now the object of our own consideration. In the monad
there was this reciprocity of both [terms]: through what was posited in it as
alien, the monad was in itself the synthesis of that in which an effect occurs;
and conversely the monad posited once more in the alien [moment] something
alien to it and made it into a synthesis of this kind, sundered itself as thus
synthetic from itself as the indifferent, took itself back into itself, and
thus sublated
i66
Metaphysics what is alien26 in that it disappeared. The I, by contrast, is in
its own self, and is for itself the universal; the indifference or the being
per se of the alien [moment] is nothing other than the form of universality.
But this form belongs to the I; and the alien [moment], so far as it thus
exists on its own account, is itself determined through the I. There is simply
and solely the second synthesis (the determinateness of the alien [moment]
through the I), not the first one (the determinateness of the I through the
alien [moment]); and there is in fact nothing alien posited in the I. The
reflection of the I into itself is no longer that formal or negative one in
which the genus is for the I not genus, not universal, but something else.
Instead, the beginning of the genus is just the genus reflected into itself,
the I as genus; and singularity is this [issuing forth] from itself27 of the
genus into the first and the other moment of the I. This issuing forth [159] is
the absolute concept, or infinity as simple negation that is the contrary of
itself; and this contrary, being the contrary in itself (that is, the contrary
of its own self again, other in itself, or the other of itself), is sublated in
itself as other. [This is] the infinity of the I, as the contrary of infinity,
and equally the contrary of this contrary. And the other is just for that
reason ideal/, it is the contrary of its own self. The antithesis only exists
as one reflected into itself, as sublated, or as the being nullified of
everything alien. The I, being in this way an inwardly reflected genus, or
absolutely universal, in its singularity, has the alien [moment] simply and
solely as a universal vis-a-vis itself. But for this reason this opposite is in
fact only sublated; it is not something opposed. For there to be an antithesis
with respect to it, what is designated as universal (the ideal,,) must at once
be something determinate, or something opposed to the I; and [it must] have a
side from which it is not determined through the I— that is, [that] is not
equal to it. For [it must be] precisely not as I but as something that has come
to be an I, or as a universal that throughout its universality carries being by
virtue of its inherent opposition. In essence the I is nothing but absolutely
universal singularity, in that the singularity has returned out of the world,
only as something reflected. The genus, as singularity, is precisely thereby a
determinate negation of the determinate, and is itself determined. The I as
infinite, which turns into the contrary of itself, becomes so as something
orig- 26. Transr. The German pronoun could be referring to "what is
synthetic." 27. Trans : ce reads "self [making]", Lasson reads
"self [sublating]."
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 167 inally determinate—that is, as an [I] that is a determinate
infinity. Despite reflection and negation, it is a part of the world, a part
posited in negated form, but thereby a determinate negative. Thus the I
confronts nothing alien in its self-preservation—a self-preservation that does
not preserve itself vis-a-vis what is alien—since it would originally have
preserved a determinacy that now it would also have to sublate. Rather, since
it is on its own account and preserves itself, the determinacy is prior to the
opposition that enters in self-preservation; it is a determinacy that
consciousness brings with it, so to speak. The process of this
self-preservation is simpler than the first; there is not in it the doubled,
reciprocal determining. The synthesis is [not] of the kind in which the alien
would at first be the essential, the in- itself, something that would posit
itself in the I as what is passive, and [of the kind in which] in this I an
otherness would thus not arise through the I itself. Rather, the process begins
at once with the fact that in the antithesis the essentiality is not altered
and overturned but immediately is the I, as the infinite, what is essential.
The antithesis itself begins with the inequality of something essential [160]
and something inessential; as the essential, the I has the other only as
something passive, determining it. The determinacy of the I is not, as it were,
engendered before its eyes. Rather, the determinacy cannot be conceived by it,
is unconscious; and the antithesis in the self-preservation is thereby wholly
immanent within the I. In other words, the I is only its infinity, in which is
the antithesis. What is added to this antithesis from that original determinacy
is not something alien to the I; that is, the connection of the determinacy
with the I is not a synthetic but rather an absolute unity, one that gathers
itself together in the totality of the self-realizing genus but one that, although
quite pure unity as totality, is thereby something determinate in that it would
be derived from singularity, or has sublated something singular. The highest
essence, as this which sublates something singular within itself, is itself
singular, and thus steps into existence again; because it [is] absolute
essence, this negative singular must itself sublate itself. As what is equal to
itself in the two processes of self-preservation and genus, the highest essence
is only something formally^ equal; in its totality, [it] has come to be the
real equal in such a way that it is differentiated vis-a-vis the former
inequality (to which it formerly was indifferent) and sublates it. But the
determinacy is thereby itself only synthesis, or what was posited as sublated;
and thus the highest essence turns back into its beginning as the I, is in this
return its own first moment,
i68
Metaphysics or something determinate, and is so in that it is absolutely
determinate—that is, it has taken up the determinacy into its essence.
Therefore this determinacy appears for consciousness as an original one; for it
is not only in the antithesis or in the determinacy to which the I is opposed,
but it is ground, what is common to both. Hence it appears at first as an
infinite impact, which is basically in the inner absolute essence of the I
itself; and its very reflection is for the I not a sublating of that
determinacy, but the determinacy that is in this cycle. In other words, for the
I itself, the determinacy is a formal one. The self-preservation of the I is
only something directed against it, or against its consciousness. For that
first circle of self-preservation, posited in the I as in the soul, still has
for it only the one side of what is synthetic, that of the determinateness of
something alien through the I, or the fact that it is in itself something
sublated. And its reflection into itself is not the sublating of this synthetic
[combination] and letting it fall apart, but the sublating of the illusion that
in what is [161] thus synthetic, there is in fact an alien component. This
reflection is only the sublating of the illusion that the I is something
synthetic, and brings the I forth as something simple, as original determinacy
in its essence. Thus what is opposed is for the I just the formal reflection;
or its return is its [coming] to consciousness—[that is,] that what is opposed
is its own self. The opposite is only an illusion—that is, a nothing within
itself; or it is formal reflection—that is, the cycle that in fact contains
nothing alien within itself, and only appears itself as something alien. For
the I it is just the self-preservation of the soul that is the object; for it
is the reflection in which what is alien is only transitory. As object of the
I, what is alien is the reflection turned back into itself, the entire formal
circle outside which is the determinacy—in other words, the reflection that
does not just come forth in the circle but remains what is internal, one with
the essence of the I. The self-preservation of the I is precisely this removing
of what is alien from that circle, so that [the circle] remains only the
universal [and] only the universality pertains to the object of the I as such.
In this way the I indicates to itself what is thus alien, and does not allow it
to disappear from itself; it posits itself as something sublated, but posits
this alien as one with its essence; and it posits its own essence as this
determinacy. Thus the object is what is self-equivalent in the genus itself;
and its in-itself is not the negation of the I within it but rather just this
self-equivalent, or the circle of reflection. The sublating of what is alien is
not a
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 169 pushing out but a taking back into itself; and the
antithesis and its taking back is something wholly contained in the I. The I as
determining, or the I for which the alien comes forth only as what is
determined by it (as something in itself universal, not [as] something singular
or determining), is in the self-preservation of the I the moment of
differentiation, the moment of reflection, of self- equivalence come to itself.
It is the taking of the determinacy back into the essence of the I, the
recognizing (as its own determinacy) and the alien (as just something
equivalent to itself). But these two, as sides of the I, now go asunder in this
way: its being united with the self- equivalence of the alien, and its being
united with its determinacy; the former, free I and the latter, originally
determined I are the two moments of the antithesis. They are so for us as the
self-equivalent genus, and as determinacy of the existence out of which it
raises itself. But for the I itself they are, only in that the I, as infinite,
splits itself into the unequal self-preservation [162] and the self-equivalence
of the I, and has equated the former as pure reflection to itself, just as [it
has equated it to itself] as determinacy. But in so doing it has undertaken a
further division of another sort. The turning from the first to the second division
is the same turning of the process that, when first coming to be genus, splits
itself this way: the transition of the self-preserving singular into the genus,
and the transition into the absolute genus. [It is] the process of the self-
realizing concept, which thus emerging out of itself is only in bad reality,
collects itself out of this into the concept, and becomes absolute reality. The
sublated first division, or the becoming self-conscious, is this: the I appears
originally determined and just as originally divided; it recognizes the
determinacy that is in the division as its own, sublates it, and indeed posits
at first the formal2 division or the infinite reflection as itself, as freedom;
it posits the determinacy also as its own. The I can no longer pass over into
the formal^ sublating, into the negative in general; [it] cannot allow the
opposite to disappear. For it is real2; it is something universal; but it is at
the same time [throughout*8 only something synthetically, not purely,
universal. For the I has determined itself only as universal, for us as what is
self- equivalent in existence, [and] not as that which is this equivalence on
its own account. 28. Trans.: The ms: aus\ ce emends to auch ("also").
We follow Lasson in reading [durch]aus ("throughout").
170
Metaphysics Through the reflection of this potency into itself, the I has come
to itself in the opposite as a universal, but not yet as a particular. Of
course the determinacy falls in the particular—it is this very particular; but
the former reflection, its absolute self-discovered freedom, is only through
separation. It is not as a whole reflected within itself. It takes the formal
[moment] of separation to be its own infinity, but it posits the determinacy
only in a simple unreflected manner as one with it. In the opposition the
determinacy has not become the other of itself, but as original determinacy has
remained self-equivalent. To the universal self-discovering I, which has
severed its infinity from its particularity, stands opposed this particular as
the I itself; the process of self-preservation as formal passes through itself
over into that of reality. The I is simple, universal reflection, which has
severed the reflection from itself and has posited it as one with itself; simple
reflection, reflected into itself.2q The I, as something deter- minately
reflected into itself, [163] immediately confronts this simple reflection
connecting only with itself. The I itself is what is reflected into itself; it
is just this reality, but in such a way that the reality is essentially
determined as singularity. Since the former simple reflection is at the same
time the universal side of this I as something singular, it has immediately
turned against this its conflict, and is differentially active against it. II /
THE PRACTICAL I If the theoretical I has found itself to be formal reflection,
though reflection that is absolute, reflected into itself, then as practical
the I must find itself as absolutely fulfilled reflection. Formal, absolute reflection,
which has found itself and has become something simple, equivalent, finds
itself facing itself as singularity, as determinacy, which is its very essence.
The I must sublate this determinacy, this antithesis. On the side of
determinacy as well it must turn into something self-equivalent and simple and
take back into itself the whole system of conditions—in other words, the ideal
origin of itself. For this determinacy, here under consideration, is already in
itself the negatively posited of the species itself, or of absolute essence as
something existing. This determinacy, considered to be nothing, is qua
determinacy not 29. Trans : Following ms. ce inserts [sind] ("are").
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 171 to be sublated; for its sublating would always be a
determining of determinacy by the I, and the product would be strictly nothing
but a synthesis, which in itself would have essentially the nature (determined
ever anew) of something alien. And in the manner of the monad, if the
determining of the I is directed only against something alien, it is nothing if
there is not something alien. And its negating is equally well only an
abstraction, as an other must step into its place. The I is not a determinacy
in general but rather a determinacy that is equivalent to its essence, or the
absolute determinacy, [that is] the genus's existence posited as sublated. It
is the absolute determinacy, the whole of the absolute universale othering of
itself. Determinacy has elevated itself to absolute determinacy by being the
universal determinacy, even as singularity. [164] The determinate I is so,
simply qua theoretical. To the extent that it opposes itself as determinate to
its absolute reflection, it has not ceased to be something theoretical— that
is, to posit determinacy not as its own or original; rather, determinacy is
still for the 1 not yet the I itself. Taking determinacy back into itself,
[re]cognizing it as original, means nothing other than positing it as sublated
in and of itself. In singularity, determinacy has elevated itself altogether to
absolute determinacy. The genus, as what is negatively posited in antithesis or
existence, is itself infinity; to posit here, still as negative, this which has
been negatively posited means nothing but [re]cognizing that negatively posited
singularity is no determinacy—that is, that the absolute singularity is
infinity, which is the same simple that the universal is. A singular I belongs
wholly to the hypothesis of the world-process, in which many singular Is (or
equally a plurality of Is that are in themselves, reflected into themselves,
alternately passive and active) make their entrance. In the realized genus this
existence sublates itself; and at that stage the I (which would posit the
determinacy as deriving from the genus, as being indifferently separated in
this way) would fall back under itself. In being separate vis-a-vis the
universal I, determinacy is simply a differentiated one, since the I has, as it
were, taken all being-in-itself back into itself. The I is the circle of its
own circle and of the other's— that is, of the in-itself of the opposite; and
for this in-itself there remains nothing left over. This determinacy that falls
back into the I is infinity itself, or precisely the inherently sublated
relation of what exists in the genus. Hence this infinity is immediately just
the unity of both reflections: that which the I finds, and that which the I
itself is—in other words, that which just finds itself, and just is only in
that
172
Metaphysics it finds itself. That the I is, only as a finding of itself—not
separately, somehow prior to its having found itself, but rather that the I
[is] this finding of itself—this is its absolute infinity. And the antithesis
of the practical I lies solely in its being for itself what had not yet found
itself. The determinacy embedded in the I is nothing other than the infinite
itself, posited as something equivalent to itself, connecting only with itself.
In its singularity, I is simply a universal; its original determinacy is its
absolute singularity, or its infinity—a determinacy sublated with respect to
it, [165] which merely as determinate I is the semblance that the practical I
sublates. Just as the theoretical I is the cognition that what is opposed to it
is a universal, so the practical I [is the cognition] that in the deed'*0 this
opposite is the universal proper, and the determinacy is absolute determinacy.
The I, qua theoretical, is spirit in general; qua realized, practical I—for
which determinacy is itself absolute determinacy or infinity—it is absolute
spirit. Ill / ABSOLUTE SPIRIT The doctrine of absolute spirit is what gives a
novel—though hardly unexpected—turn to the interpretation of Kant and Fichte.
Just as Hegel used the dogmatic rationalism of the older tradition to found the
speculative realism of his philosophy of nature, so he uses the postulational
moralism of Kant and Fichte as the scaffold for his objective idealism. Logic
ended with a formal review. Metaphysics ends with the real application of that
review. The subject that thinks and wills rationally is neither a postulated
Ego nor a bad infinite progress towards an ideal community. It is the community
that is the real self of the rational consciousness here and now, the self of
the ethical substance, the " T that is 'We', and 'We' that is T ":*'
"the longing for immortality is a reversion of the spirit into a baser
sphere." Absolute spirit comes to be for itself (or really) only at the
climax of the Philosophy of Spirit (and of the system itself) in art, religion,
and philosophy. At this stage it has come to be for us as thinkers, or for
itself as pure thought. This formal reality is the concept of the ether. The
ether is the energy that is absolutely conserved, the continuum at the basis of
all experience. Hegel conceives pure thinking as the self-comprehension of the
ether because in this way he can close the circle of experience. Spirit and
nature are the subjective and objective aspects of the ether, which is their
logical ground- 30. Trans.: In der That could be translated "in
fact." 31. See Phenomenology, trans. Miller, para. 177, p 110.
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity !73 concept or absolute identity. Here he calls the ether
"absolute matter," but in the Philosophy of Nature we learn that it
is also "the Idea of God." Absolute spirit is here said to be
"the Idea of the highest essence"; and it closes not just the
Metaphysics but the Logic and Metaphysics into a speculative circle because it
is "once more its own first moment, simple connection in general" (ce
176, lines 24-26). Thus Hegel was implicitly bound to absorb his critical logic
into one unified speculative science in the end. Here the progression that has
been going on comes to a halt: the progression by which the concept in its
reality turns into an other, and thereby, as totality itself, or as something
reflected within itself, passes over into another sphere. Totality is [now]
absolute totality; for all determinacy has been sublated, or is absolute
universality proper. Qua being-in-itself (in that it is what is enclosed within
itself) cognition is realized in absolute spirit. The idea of cognition is the
following: the side of the definition (which expresses singularity, existence,
and in which there is the many as something indifferent, each [one of the many]
abstracting from its contrary) is one with the other side, which is
universality and has within it in the form of a simple determinacy that
developed singularity. Cognition is formal because its reflection into itself
is complete only to the extent that singularity in general is also the contrary
of itself, [that is,] universality. But this singularity is a determinate
singularity that excludes a determinate other from itself. As pure singularity
it is point, simple, yet for that reason opposed to its multiplicity of
determinacies, which are, in that they exclude their opposite qualities. This
singularity is the unity of these qualities. Yet although it is the singularity
of negative one, it is so only in connection with the excluded other, not in
connection with the determinacies connected with singularity. It is not the
negative unity of the determinacies, but it is rather only a whole, an
indifferent universality that does not affect the determinacies negatively,
since it [166] could be this only through its opposites, which are however
excluded. Singularity is therefore negative only in a quantitative manner; in
other words, it is externally restricted. And the positive negating of its
restriction is not singularity itself, but something else; at the same time
this negating is equally a new positing in singularity of restrictions that are
in it and for it equally indifferent. This singularity—posited in its
determinacies as a simple one, in such a way that they are all gathered up into
it as the universale particularity—is nonetheless only a determinate, not an
absolute, particularity. The universal indeed
174
Metaphysics contains within itself, as self-dividing, the whole totality of
particularities, though these are at the same time indifferent to each other.
Proof is this dividing up of the universal, its constructing; the universal
divides, not as definition does, into pure determinacies to which the
universality (qua point) is opposed, but rather into parts that themselves have
in them the nature of the whole [das Ganzen]. In the proof, this their being
per se is completed [erganzt] through their connection with one another, so
that the universal displays itself as much qua their universal, as qua their
negative, unity, and is as much a singular as a universal, being now singular,
however, in the genuine sense of negative one in connection with the opposed
determinacies contained in it. This concept of cognition is the formal
returning into itself. The universal is divided within itself—the determination
is not an external one—the universal is not a quantum; rather, quanta are
contained in it. But this indifference of determinacies vis-a-vis one another—as
having the nature of the whole within themselves, as determined and on their
own account—at the same time sublates itself. The movement of proof shows that
they are in fact differentiated with respect to one another, are only in the
connection, and are thus idealz; and [it shows] that the first division is not
an arbitrary, external one, but determined exclusively through negative unity;
in other words, it has in itself nothing but the connection with one another of
what appear indifferent. The result is that the singularization of the whole is
in fact absolute singularity, and the determinacy that appears in it is
absolute determinacy, since the determinacies all fall into that whole, which
is thus their unity, the one in which they are equally sublated. Qua first
moment, the whole appears passive, connected only with itself, equivalent to
itself, and its separation appears to be something to which it is indifferent,
as absolutely contingent, and which, as something alien, it simply does not
affect. The meaning of the division is here something wholly concealed,
unexpressed. The hidden connection that the parts have to one another as they
emerge sublates [167] their indifference to one another; and they show
themselves to be simply and solely a relation, or to be moments that as unity
are related to plurality in such a way that the two are simply equivalent. What
before was an indifferent relation becomes a genuine relation; and what before
was outside the universal, something alien to it, now becomes a relation to
itself. What were the parts relate [now] to the parts as a whole; and because
they are parts of one whole, parts that relate to the parts as a whole, they
are sublated in their determinacy, this being their con-
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 175 trary (in that the part is the whole quite ideally2 and the
others sundered from the whole are themselves equivalent to it); and the whole
is absolute singularity. Their negation is singularity itself, and is with
respect to itself without [any] excluding connection with something alien; and
the being per se of what appear as parts, [namely,] existence, so far as their
being is itself only the differentiating connection, coincides completely with
their ideality. That existence of the whole, as a whole opposed to its
division, is a relation to itself. // is the unity of this antithesis as moments—of
the universal and of the particular, which are equivalent to each other: the
universal expresses the whole as a moment of the whole; the particular
expresses that same whole as a division, which is equally a moment of the
whole. The result: this division has returned completely into itself; for it is
merely'^2 not a plurality of self-subsisting beings but a plurality of moments.
These being differentiated, they are only their connection; and this connection
is the whole. The turning point of this reflection lies in the fact that what
is divided, simply and solely qua differentiated division, shows itself to be
differentiated connection and passes over into relation—that is, into the being
of the parts qua moments. That first division is itself therefore only through
this second relation; in other words, the relation is nothing contingent but
rather what appears in the proof as necessity. The necessary content is the
determination of the construction, with the result that it only constructs
itself so far as it is differentiated unity, the way the unity appears first of
all in the proof. This cognition is rounded out in itself; the singular is
enclosed with the universal. However, even the whole, which thus moves within
itself, is still a determinate content vis-a-vis cognition. It is only this
movement of cognition that is absolute in itself; but the moments of its
movement are not in the same way this cognition itself. Cognition is thus
formal; and singularity in cognition is at once an absolute singularity and
something turned outward; it has a side from which it is a quantitative
determinacy. The indifferent dividing becomes one that is not [168]
indifferent; but what is self-equivalent in the division is not that which
determines the division. In other words, it has not yet begun from the insight
that the indifferent dividing in fact is nothing but a dividing into an
indifferent dividing and into a differentiated dividing. These two moments of
the process of cognition are 32. Trans.: We follow ms. CE: "it is not
merely a plurality."
176
Metaphysics themselves not yet posited as unity, as what is first, or as the
absolute content. Only if this takes place is the initial dividing directly
through the whole itself. In other words, cognition itself is not just what is
so divided as content that cognition, qua self-dividing, would be immediately
the necessity of the content's being able to be broken up into no other
commensurable names than these. Only in the proof does the necessity of the
construction show itself. The construction must in itself be the division of
the proof; thus results cognition as a whole, posited as the in-itself. This
idea of the in-itself is realized in metaphysics, since cognition becomes its
own content: or the circle of reflection, as this movement, as the in-itself,
is now what goes through its circle. Formal cognition, as the circle that is
distinct from what constitutes the cycle, is on its own account shut up in
itself [and] indifferent towards the determinacy of its content. It is a monad
or even an idea that is not affected by its determinacy but is determinate in
that there are many of them. And there are many of them because, connecting
only with themselves as [being] in themselves, they are passive. They possess
determinacy as something external; determinacy did not stand over against them
as something absolute. For since negative unity and the universal as moments
(so to speak) are only at the one time in the idea, the coming apart is a
dividing, since it is not the unity of both moments—in other words, the whole
circle that still stands opposed to itself. Otherwise there would be nothing
remaining on the other side; there would in fact be no crossing over. Cognition
is the idea of the in-itself, or the idea in general. This monad is the
determinacy of what is undifferentiated; for this reason it is so directed
towards itself that it negates what is external—it abstracts from it. Outwardly
its determinacy has only this negative side. It is thus the relation of
substantiality, complete in itself; and its realization is in keeping with it,
except that in the former entirely ideal2 relations what stands in connection
is essentially only how they are when connected, whereas here what in the
realization emerges into an external connection is not [169] essentially how it
emerges when connected, but essentially the self-enclosed circle of cognition.
Just as the relation of being is realized in the universal, so the monad is
realized in the highest essence, in an absolute self-equivalency in which
cognition, as opposed, doubled cognition, has remained for its part an absolute
simple unity. The highest essence, as what is absolutely universal (that is,
[whose] sublated [moments] within it are the wholes of the in-itself,
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 177 of reflection), is their being self-equivalent, their
sublatedwm. It is the one moment of absolute essence to be absolute unity and
simplicity. Since the being per se of the monads or ideas is an indifferent
multiplicity, it can do nothing but sublate itself in their movement vis-avis
one another. For to the extent that the monads are exclusive, their determinacy
takes on the character that they are essentially on their own account, and that
for them their essence is being per se—that is, that they only have the
consciousness of the relation. In themselves and with respect to us they come
later. However, at first the relation is what is posited ideally2 in the monad;
that is, the monad is the positive and negative unity of the relation: the
monad is in it and is at the same time indifferent to it. This, then, is what
sublates itself in the world-process, in the process of the genus: that for the
monad the being per se of the monad, as of something determined—this
determinacy that accompanies formal cognition—disappears. For the monad there
is in this disappearing through its realization only the negativity of what is
essential to it, its being per se (the self-equivalent universality). For us
[there is] this universal as idea, as negative unity of a relation of existing
ideas—the real, abiding genus. [It is] an infinity for which the determinacy of
the monad is not one turned outwards, as it is for the monad in its
self-preservation or in its idea, but one turned [against the] monad, against cognition
itself. And in the indifference of both, the determinacy of both perishes. The
self-preservation of the monad is its negating of another; this other is
cognition, even as it is; and in this other cognition, its negating becomes
something sublated as well. The self-preservation of the monad [sub]lates
itself for the monad to the extent that its negating of another sublates
itself. "Negating of another sublates itself means that the other becomes
for the monad the monad itself. The negative is not the negating of another,
but the negating of the monad as something essentially singular. The negative
is for the monad a beyond of absolute universality. [170] The moment of the
process of self-preservation is the sublating of the externality of determinacy
and the [monad's] coming to be genus. The other moment is the sublating of the
merely negative of sublated externality and is the being of determinacy (as of
something equivalent to the monad) and a being for the monad. [It is] at the
same time, however, a sublating for the monad of the essentiality of
determinacy in general—that is, the coming to be of absolute being per se. At
first determinacy becomes something not other than the monad; deter-
178
Metaphysics minacy itself becomes cognition; and so'" for the monad it
comes about that determinacy [is] equivalent to the monad, and by that very
fact the essentiality of the monad too [is] sublated for it. At first the
determinacy becomes equivalent to the monad for us, then for itself. Thus the
monad, as a negative one that is excluding only as determinacy, qua something
external, is sublated for the determinacy itself; and for the monad there is
only the essential being as something external, as an absolute beyond. For us,
in fact, this external [thing] is something internal to the monad. In other
words, the monad coincides with its determinacy as something original to it.
For the monad, its beyond is the highest essence, and the monad is sublated as
singularity. But in fact the highest essence is the genus, in which, however,
the singularity is just a sublated one, one that is not annihilated but has
gone through the null-point of infinity. Yet for the monad [the singularity is]
one that is annihilated. Its self-preservation is only a longing that sets out
to save singularity by way of that null [and] by the stripping off of
determinacy, to preserve singularity as immortal, as absolute singularity.
Since the monad views what is opposed [to it] as itself, singularity is in fact
sublated as external or quantitative determinacy, and is absolute or pure
singularity, something simple, self-equivalent. But it [is] not yet so with
respect to the monad; for the monad, singularity only annihilates itself.
Since, however, singularity is not in fact annihilated, this annihilating is
only an "ought." Singularity, as absolute [and] simple, is the I. For
the I the determinacy is posited not as an external one, having being in
itself, but only as one that is to annihilate itself. Moreover, on its own
account the I is only the idea. Qua idea the monad has confronted itself in
this determinacy; or it is for the determinacy34 as something that is ideal2 in
itself [but] is not yet so for the I. The monad has indeed penetrated to the
idea of the in- itself, just as qua monad it has penetrated to relation. [171]
Thus the I has completely excluded the in-itself of determinacy; the monad is
simply and solely in connection with the I; that is, it is its original
determinacy. The monad is a universal, something sublated in itself as determinacy;
but once again only something that is to have been annihilated, no longer the
synthesis of an in-itself and of a determinateness by means of the I but of
something determined solely 33. Trans.: We follow Lasson, reading alsdanrv, ms.
alsdenn. 34. Trans.: Following ms. ce: "it is on its own account."
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity *79 by means of the I. However, the I is itself this determined
[thing]; it is both the synthesis of universality and determinacy as well as
what is opposed to the I. The other is equivalent to the I; but both are in
themselves the non-equivalent. Singularity has disappeared in the universal
only in the sense that it would be no longer an external one. Yet it is still
the same chain or line—but only as a diverse one, sublated by the monad. The
monad is itself determinate monad. However, the monad that severs itself from
itself in this way becomes free. Insofar as determinacy is cognized as the
absolute determinacy of the idea itself, it is nothing other than infinity, and
the practical monad cognizes itself essentially to be infinite. As a result the
in-itself is this: that the monad qua singular confronts itself qua universal,
and posits its singularity as absolute. The theoretical I discovers itself to
be the highest essence, as that into which its realization had [already] gone
over for us—that is, as that which the I had posited as its absolute beyond. It
discovers itself to be the absolutely self-equivalent, which has emerged out of
the disappearing of all determinacy. It discovers its opposite within itself to
be for that reason itself, to be the in-itself; that is, as the closed circle
of reflection it discovers the closed circle of reflection. It finds itself; it
is spirit, or rational. The longing for immortality and the beyond of the
highest essence is a reversion of the spirit into a baser sphere, since the
spirit with respect to itself is immortal and the highest essence. This spirit,
however, is itself formal spirit—highest essence, but not absolute essence or
absolute spirit. For there is for spirit only the one side of the its-self
opposed to it; and the very discovery of itself is only by way of separation.
The highest essence does not find itself as something existing; on the
contrary, it finds existence as something negating, or finds itself in its
freedom confined within inconceivable limitations. Now it finds what is
unequal, determinacy, to be the beyond, just as before it found
self-equivalency to be so. This determinacy, however, is for us nothing else but
infinity, or the determinacy that is directed in genus no longer against
something external but against itself. Qua original, the determinacy is for the
I— that is, as a determinacy that would lie beyond the freedom of the I, that
would be one with the I as with something simple, self-identical and
self-connecting. Since it is self-connected, however, this [172] determinacy,
as the determinacy of the process of genus, is itself nothing but that
absolutely simple of reflection, which the I has discovered itself to be.
i8o
Metaphysics The I as simple reflection that has found itself is opposed to, and
turned against, determinacy as its determinacy in order to sublate it. It is
turned against itself, not in the determinacy of being against an individual or
something singular, but as an original, universal determinacy, determinacy in
itself, or in fact it is turned against the universal itself. The
self-preservation of the I is the preservation of itself qua reflection that
has discovered itself, or of itself qua negated singularity, and [that] is
genus for itself. What is opposed to formal spirit is the same singularity that
is in genus: infinity. And the practical I that is self-preserving is no longer
connected with itself qua singular [singulares], but with itself qua genus. It
preserves itself as what has found itself—the universal. What it negates in
order to preserve itself is its-self qua singular. The singularity of the
practical I has disappeared within universality. To turn itself against
determinacy is only a deception arising from its wanting to be practical; for
what it is turned against is its-self and, as it has discovered itself to be,
its-self is simple infinity. What it turns itself against is simpleness itself—that
is, the nothing, the self-connected, the passive. The I that has found itself,
or spirit, is the unity of both reflections, which connects with itself: the
first reflection is what preserves itself but has become universal; the other
is that of genus, or the universal reflection that has within itself absolute
singularity. This spirit is complete in itself; and this is what makes it still
practical for us—and for itself. [Spirit is practical] for itself because, as
the unity of both these reflections having come to itself, it has its self-alienation
outside itself and wants to preserve itself against it. [Spirit is practical]
for us because it has, to be sure, cognized itself as self-equivalent. However,
neither the non-equivalent as itself, nor yet infinity as such has cognized
what infinity is. Spirit is infinite for us, but not yet for itself. For itself
spirit is only self-equivalent. It intuits itself, but not infinity; it does
not intuit itself as the other. Formal spirit is on its own account formal in
that it opposes to itself as something simple the infinity of reflection,
infinity in itself, or its pure concept. For its reality is not the relation or
the process of the genus, for the formal spirit posits as equal to itself what
is real in this, or the self-equivalent. But spirit [173] opposes to itself
infinity outside itself; for infinity is this: that spirit has sublated itself
as existing, as a fixed point. It is what is thus sublated that is spirit's
object, but strictly as something sublated; that spirit has found itself consists
in the fact that it has sublated itself. There is for it something purely
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 181 negative, against which it is practical; this is its
nothingness. It is directed not against its existence but against the
nothingness of existence. Its existence is to have discovered itself as spirit,
and what it fights against as spirit is nothingness. Because it is spirit, its
self- preservation is its absolute connecting with itself as something
discovered, or an its-self that spirit [re]cognizes itself to be. Its negating
is directed against its not having found itself, its being not-spirit, its
being something alien to itself. But that which is to itself something alien is
the contrary of itself, is what sublates itself in itself. It is nothingness;
in other words, it is the absolute contrary of itself; and as this contrary of
itself it is the contrary again, absolute unrest. It is the absolute concept,
infinity. Spirit, thus preserving itself as something that has found itself, is
directed against nothingness, or infinity; its self-equivalence [is directed]
against this absolute non-equivalence. But nothingness, infinity, or absolute
non-equivalence is just the absolutely simple, what is absolutely returned into
itself, simply and solely self-connecting and it is the same as spirit is.
Spirit discovers the other as such, as absolutely other, as self-sublating, as
itself. In other words, it does not only intuit itself as itself, but [it] also
[intuits] the other-as-such as itself. It is equal to itself and equal to the
other; the other is that which sublates itself and is equal to itself. This
unity is the absolute spirit. It cannot be asked how the infinite would come to
be finite or emerge from it, and what meaningless expressions of this sort
amount to. For the self-equivalent [re]cognizes the infinite as an equal (and
it itself as something self-equivalent, as infinite, or as something coming out
of the other to itself), as being only in that it, the other, comes to itself;
and this other is just as much its-self as its-self is the other. Since spirit
thus [re]cognizes infinity, it thereby comprehends itself, for its
comprehending consists in this: that it posits itself as connected with
another. It comprehends itself, for it posits itself connected with the other—that
is, it itself as the other of itself, as infinite, and thus equivalent to
itself. Thus the absolute cycle of absolute spirit. What has discovered itself
to be self-equivalent intuits itself as the kind of thing that is non- equivalent
to itself, is the other to itself; [174] it is infinite. And this infinity is
its-self for the other is the contrary of itself; it is the self- equivalent.
This is spirit, which thus intuits itself in the non-equivalent. In absolute
spirit construction and proof are absolutely one. The dividing within
construction is just what displays itself as one in the proof; in the proof,
however, it is the self-equivalent unity and the
l82
Metaphysics infinity that posits itself as one, and these two are moreover the
only parts of the construction. The construction itself is as such necessary;
for it is one with the proof. In other words, spirit in itself is this: that it
discovers itself as spirit; and that in which it discovers itself, or rather
that which it finds itself to be, is infinity. Spirit is only as this
self-discovering; and this latter is the necessity of its division into itself
and into the other of itself, which is the self-subsistent absolute other— that
is, the other with respect to spirit, or the infinite. Absolute spirit is
simple infinity, or infinity connecting with itself. As infinite, this simple
essence is immediately the other, or the contrary of itself; as simple, as
connected with itself, it is determinate; it is the passive; and the
self-equivalent confronts this its other. "The self-equivalent is
something other" means that it posits itself as something connected with
an other; and qua that first it is this other as self-equivalent. But this
other, or passive, is infinite, the contrary of itself; it is what is in the
other. Similarly, the active is the contrary itself; it is what is in the
self-equivalent. Hence the otherness, the connection of self-equivalent spirit
as preserving itself and negating the other—namely, what connects with itself—is
immediately the other of itself, or what has come back to itself.*"' Its
negating the other is immediately the being of the other; for the negating of
the other is a connecting with itself, and the other is precisely this
connecting with itself. Absolute spirit is the self-equivalent that connects
only with itself; for spirit as such, just this connection with itself, is the
passive, since the spiritual is this: that it finds itself in the other of
itself. But the self-equivalent is not what finds itself as the other of
itself. That is why self-equivalent spirit is precisely this very other that
spirit finds as itself. The connection of spirit with itself, as this other, is
however immediately [175] the contrary of itself as well, or that which spirit
finds as itself. This connection of spirit with itself, which with respect to
itself is at the same time the other of itself, is the infinite. It is nothing
other than what was called the first part of logic, or the logic of
understanding. Unity or self-equivalence becomes for itself the absolutely
other; unity comes to be the many, and the whole as the self-equivalent,
indifferent unity of unity and multiplicity comes to be infinity. This infinity
[is] the unity of something that, as infinity 35. Trans.: The ms:
zarukgekommen. ce emends by adding -seyn; we have simply added an -e.
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity 183 strictly in its being per se (and it is posited on its own
account as the other of the unity, at the same time only in connection with its
opposite), is itself as such a unity or as relation, is just something other
and herewith doubled, because the relation is equally marked with the character
of otherness in general. The division of the infinite, as well as the being of
its parts, is just for this reason nothing indifferent either, but is what
sublates itself in itself; and only thereby does it [come] to pass that what is
posited is in itself the absolutely other than that as which it [is] posited.
This its otherness is its passing over into a being otherwise; and the posited
infinity connecting with itself is at the same time with respect to itself the
movement within itself of becoming an other; and the uninhibited connecting
with itself is in the contrary, infinite within itself. The infinite, as the
system of simple connection that becomes the contrary of the connection, or
infinity, and divides itself into the two opposed infinites or relations, has
within this its constructing passed over to the self-equivalent, to the circle
of the return into itself. The whole inner movement of this system emerges as
what is in itself; what is moved, however, is the ideala, or is posited only as
sublated. Cognition is the in-itself of infinity, the absolutely equivalent in
absolute non-equivalence, the unity of simple connection and infinity, which
fell apart in infinity and are indeed its two absolute arms or moments. As a
result, the second as the non-equivalent is infinity once more, just as the
simple connection is only the first moment. Cognition as the in-itself is
spirit connecting with the other or with infinity. Viewed from the side of
infinity, spirit [is present] in the way that it, as self-connected, is an
other to itself; or from its side, in the way that it comes to itself out of
its otherness, out of infinity. Again only the infinity and cognition
constitute the antithesis—that is, the antithesis with respect to itself or
[176] [the one that] is posited. Infinity, or otherness, is on its own account
only at this point; cognition itself and its content fall apart even for
cognition, whereas previously infinity divided itself only for us, while for
itself it fell apart indifferently. The infinite is essentially connected in
its moments—for the infinite it was not thus connected; essentiality was
internal to it, or unposited. Only cognition is both: it is the essential
connection of moments, posited infinity; and for it the infinite, as the
holding apart of the moments, is an indifferent content. Up to now this
indifference was for us; that is, we were the indifferent unity, the contiguity
or succession, as well as their movement. In its becoming, the infinite became
184
Metaphysics our object; its becoming-other was for us also something other than
the movement of cognition.*6 Thus the movement of cognition, the positing as
different, as moment, is here posited as connected with an indifferent content.
This antithesis, existing for the first time in cognition, is the moment of
infinity, as connection with itself (which becomes an other for itself, in the
differentiation),37 or in connection with spirit (which in itself comes to
itself out of the infinite, as out of other [ness], but which as coming to
itself out of the other has this other as its antithesis). Metaphysics is the
moment of spirit that has found itself, is in itself, and finds itself in its
other. What is opposite to cognition becomes itself cognition; the content of
spirit becomes itself spirit; and thus has spirit in its other[ness] found
itself for itself. The infinite, which for us was in itself in its essence, is
so for spirit itself; and spirit, which has thus found itself as itself in its
other [ness], is therein only connected with itself, not with an other. In
other words, spirit is again its first moment, the simple connection in
general, or connection in its reality, infinity. This [infinite] is the idea of
the absolute essence; it is only as absolute spirit. It is this: that out of
its connection with itself it becomes another for itself. The connection with
itself is the infinite for spirit—that is, for this very connection; for us—that
is, for cognition, or for spirit coming to itself—the infinite is the other
[ness]; and spirit, which in this way is spirit and finds itself in the
infinite, is connected only with itself, or it is equivalent to itself. It is
again its first moment and has returned completely into itself. But this return
too is still an othering of itself; this whole [177] idea of spirit is only
idea, or the idea is first moment to itself. For spirit as this movement of
return into itself has found itself in the in-itself, in the content of
cognition, and is only spirit as this unity in its other[ness]; thus it is only
absolute spirit. But it is itself not absolute spirit, or has not [re]cognized
itself as absolute spirit. It is this for us, not for itself; metaphysics is
its coming to be, and is spirit as idea. Spirit is absolute spirit, positing
the other as itself, infinity returning into itself. But this return is again
simple connection or infinity itself; at its highest peak it thus falls back
again into its first, into its beginning, which again is only this beginning—is
the infinity that splits itself into simple 36. Trans : Possible alternate
reading: "its becoming other, as the movement of cognition, was. ..."
37. Trans.: Following ms. ce inserts [ubergeht]: "which goes over into
differentiation."
Metaphysics
of Subjectivity i85 connection and infinity as something opposed, not infinity
as it has now come to be, as an infinity [re]cognized by spirit as itself, but
again only as otherfness]. But this other[ness] [re]cognized by spirit is
hereby of this sort: the other[ness] is itself spirit's self-discovery forged
together out of its infinity, a unity that can be dissolved. This return that
is exhibited as spirit is all by itself the other[ness], the finding itself, as
well as itself in the other[ness]. The cycle that is spirit is the self that
runs through this cycle; and it does so in the shape of spirit that in its
moments never forgets itself and would not be in them as absolute spirit on its
own account. Spirit, as it has been exhibited, is therefore only idea, because
it is only a simple cycle, because it is not in all moments of the cycle (not
in infinity only as other[ness] nor in the reflection of cognition as
connecting with itself)'*8 [but because it is] only spirit that is itself
coming to be spirit. [It is so] when spirit that has found itself is again on
its own account, not when this spirit, having found itself, is another to
itself, not when it comes to itself and has found itself as one that spirit has
confronting itself even qua spirit (which returns to itself from this fall of
infinity as victor over a spirit, and is just as eternally returned). This
totality of the return is for the first time in itself, and no longer goes over
into the other. Spirit is the absolute; and the absolute as its idea is
realized absolutely, only in that the moments of spirit itself are this spirit;
but then there is no more going beyond it. The idea of spirit, or spirit that
intuits itself in other[ness] as itself, is immediately again spirit connecting
with itself as absolute spirit. In other words, it is absolute spirit as
infinity and, for its self-cognizing (or the becoming itself out of its
other[ness]), the other of itself. It is nature; [178] the simple absolute
spirit connecting with itself is ether, absolute matter. Spirit, having found
itself in its other, is self-enclosed and living nature. As spirit that is at
the same time connecting with itself, nature is other[ness], spirit as
infinite, and the coming to be of absolute spirit. Nature is the first moment
of self-realizing spirit. A Note on the System of 1804 The Metaphysics—and with
it our translation—ends on the first or second page of the fifty-fifth sheet.
Hegel's manuscript continues without a break under 38. Trans.: The French
translation of Souche-Dagues reads, "(not in infinity only as other[ness]
or as connecting with itself) in the reflection of cognition it is only spirit.
. . ."
i86
Metaphysics the new heading Naturphilosophie. This is broken off only at sheet
102 (which is less than half full and comes to a halt near the top of a page
when the argument has just reached the concept of "organism"—das
Organische). In the Philosophy of Nature Hegel traces the evolution of the
"ether" (which he calls "the Idea of God" but says is not
"the living God") from its primary positing as light and darkness,
through the dynamic space-time equilibrium of the solar system, to the physical
equilibrium of the earth-process, which sets the stage for organic life. He
takes motion to be as primitive as rest, and like Heraclitus he interprets all
physical stability as a tension of opposites or as a more complex cycle of
tensions. The perpetual-motion machine in the heavens Hegel regards as the open
display of the true nature of body. But he no longer uses the language of
"intuition" and "concept" that he employed in the System of
Ethical Life in 1802. Instead, when he reaches the earth-process—which is the
frame of all natural consciousness—he calls it "absolute cognition."
He makes it quite clear that this cognition does not exist "for the
earth." It is mankind as a rational genus that is the conscious subject of
this absolute cognition. From his "metaphysics of objectivity" we can
see how the theory of the living organism was projected in Hegel's mind as the
movement from absolute cognition to self-cognition. But he abandoned his
phenomenology of the absolute spirit at this stage, so we have to turn to the
manuscripts of 1803- 4 to fill the material gap. In fact the Philosophy of
Nature is in rather a disorderly state in these earlier drafts because Hegel
has not yet managed to articulate it properly as the realization of cognition.
But enough survives from the fragmentary Philosophy of Spirit^' to show how the
natural human consciousness becomes the quest for absolute knowledge, from
which logic starts. Unfortunately, we have no developed account of the theory
of absolute spirit in Hegel's own words. We have to depend on the reports of
Rosenkranz4" (in which the manuscripts of different years are often
mingled together). But the general conception of the absolute triad of art,
religion, and philosophy is clear; and the concept of systematic philosophy as
a circle that closes upon its own beginning is a constant in Hegel's
theoretical program from 1802 to the very end of his life.4' 39. See Harris and
Knox, trans and eds., System of Ethical Life and First Philosophy of Spirit. 40
The relevant reports are translated in the appendixes to ibid. 41 For a fuller
discussion of the s\stem that this Logic and Metaphysics is designed to
introduce, see Harris, Xight Thoughts, chaps. 5 to 7; for the theorv of
absolute spirit see also chap. 4.
Glossary
das Andere das Anders Andersseyn Anderswerden an ihr (ihm) selbst an sich dans
An sich An sich seyn an und fiir sich aufheben aiissern Bedeutung begreifen das
Besondere bestehen Bestimmtheit Bestimmtseyn Bestimmung bewirken beziehen
Beziehung darstellen different Differenz the other the other[ness] otherness
becoming other, othering with respect to it, in it in itself, inherently the
in-itself being-in-itself in and of itself sublate utter, express significance,
meaning comprehend, conceive the particular subsist determinacy determinateness
determination effect (verb) connect connection set forth, display
differentiated differentiation
i88
Ein, Eine Einheit Eins Einsseyn Einswerden Einzelne entgegensetzen entzweien
sich erhalten erkennen Erkennen filr sich fur sich seyend filr sich seyn
Gedankending Gegensatz Gegentheil gleich Glied Idee indifferent Indifferent in
sich reflektiert Menge Sache schlecht theilen trennen Ubergang ubergehen
Ubergehen Unterschied Glossary as noun: one; as adjective with capital: one
unity one, one[ness] oneness becoming one, unification singular oppose split
preserve itself [re]cognize, cognize cognition on its own account
self-subsistent being per se ens rationis antithesis contrary equal, equivalent
term, member idea indifferent, undifferentiated indifference, neutrality
reflected into itself, self-reflexive aggregate Thing bad divide separate
transition pass over, go over passing over, transition distinction, difference
Glossary
189 verbinden Verbindung Verhdltnis verhalten verschieden Verschiedenheit
Vertheilung Vorstellung Wahrhaft Wirken wirkend bind up, bond bonding,
combination relation, ratio, relationship relate diverse diversity dividing up
presentation true acting effective zusammenschliessen interlock
Works
Cited Cerf, W., and Harris, H. S., trans, and eds. G. W. F. Hegel, Faith and
Knowledge. Albany: suny Press, 1977. Chiereghin, F., et al., trans, and eds.
Logica e metafisica dijena. Trento: Qua- derni di verifiche, 1982. Di Giovanni,
G., and Harris, H. S., trans. Between Kant and Hegel. Texts in the Development
of Post-Kantian Idealism. Albany: suny Press, 1985. Fichte, J. G. Grundlage der
gesammten Wissenschaftslehre. Leipzig: Gabler, 1794. - Sdmtliche Werke. Ed. R.
Lauth and H. Gliwitzky. Stuttgart-Bad Canstatt: Fromann, 1964—. Harris, H. S.
Hegel's Development 1: Toward the Sunlight (ijjo-1801). Oxford: Clarendon,
1972. - Hegel's Development 11: Night Thoughts (Jena 1801-1806). Oxford:
Clarendon, *983- Harris, H. S., and Cerf, W., trans, and eds. G. W. F. Hegel,
The Difference between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy. Albany:
suny Press, 1977. Harris, H. S., and Knox, T. M., trans, and eds. G. W. F.
Hegel, System of Ethical Life and First Philosophy of Spirit. Albany: suny
Press, 1979. Hartkopf, W. Kontinuitat und Diskontinuitat in Hegels Jenaer
Anfangen. Konig- stein: Forum Academicum, 1979. Heath, P., trans. F. W.J.
Schelling, System of Transcendental Idealism. Charlottesville: University of
Virginia Press, 1978. Heath, P., and Lachs, J., trans./. G. Fichte, Science of
Knowledge. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1970. Hegel, G. W. F. Briefe von
und an Hegel. Ed. J. Hoffmeister and R. Flechsig. 4 vols. Hamburg: Meiner,
1961. - Dokumente zu Hegels Entwicklung. Ed. J. Hoffmeister. Stuttgart:
Fromann, 1936-
192
Works Cited - Gesammelte Werke. Ed. Rheinisch-Westfalischen Akademie der
Wissenschaf- ten. Hamburg: Meiner, 1968- (ce). - Hegels erstes System. Ed, H.
Ehrenberg and H. Link. Heidelberg, 1915. - HegeVs Science of Logic. Trans. A.
V. Miller. London: Allen and Unwin, 1969; New York: Humanities, 1969. -
Jenenser Logik, Metaphysik und Naturphilosophie. Ed. G. Lasson. Leipzig, 1923.
- Lectures on the History of Philosophy. Trans. E. S. Haldane and F. H.
Simpson. 3 vols. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1892. - Logic. Trans. W.
Wallace from Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences. 2nd edn. Oxford:
Clarendon, 1892. - Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. A. V. Miller. Oxford:
Clarendon, 1977. - Werke. Ed. E. Moldenhauer and K. M. Michel. 20 vols.
Frankfurt: Suhr- kamp, 1970—71 (Theorie Werkausgabe). Hegel-Studien. Ed. F.
Nicolin and O. Poggeler. Bonn: Bouvier, 1961-. Heinrichs, J. Die Logik der
"Phanomenologie des Geistes." Bonn: Bouvier, 1974. Kant, I. Critik
der reinen Vernunft. Riga, 1788. - Critique of Pure Reason. Trans. N. Kemp
Smith. London: Macmillan, 1933. Kimmerle, H. "Dokumente zu Hegels Jenaer
Dozententatigkeit." Hegel- Studien 4 (1967): 21-100. - "Zur
Chronologie von Hegels Jenaer Schriften." Hegel-Studien 4 (1967): 125-76.
Knox, T. M., trans., and Acton, H. B., eds. G. W. F. Hegel, Natural Law.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975. Nicolin, G., ed. Hegel in
Berichten seiner Zeitgenossen. Hamburg: Meiner, 1970. Rosen, Michael. Hegel's
Dialectic and Its Criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Rosenkranz, K. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegels Leben. Berlin, 1844. Schelling,
F. W J. Sdmmtliche Werke. Ed. K. F. A. Schelling. 14 vols. Stuttgart and
Augsburg: Cotta, 1856-61. Souche-Dagues, D., trans. G. W. F. Hegel, Logique et
Metaphysique (IMa 1804- iSoj). Paris: Gailimard, 1980. Stirling, J. H. The
Secret of Hegel. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1865. Trede, J. H. "Hegels
fruhe Logik (1801-1803/4). Versuch einer systema- tischen Rekonstruktion."
Hegel-Studien 7 (1972): 123-68.
Index
Italic numbers refer to H. S. Harris's commentary. absolute, the/absolute
being, 37, 67, 103, 110-11, 114, 129, 134, 160, 185; as in-itself, 18, 139,
149, 152. See also contradiction; determinacy; concept; cognition; antithesis;
essence; infinity; opposition actuality, 43, 48, 58, 67, 73, 76 allness, 9, 13,
87, 106 antithesis: qualitative, 18; absolute, 35- 36; pure, 57; developed by
reflection, 117, 129; between essential and inessential, 167; between infinity
and cognition, 183; and passim Boehme,J., 145 categories (of understanding),
xvi-xvii, 53-54 causality, 45-46, 47, 49, 65-66, 67, 71, 75, 81,90 Chiereghin,
F., et al., viii, xi, 4, $g, 110, 116 circle/circular movement, xix, 116-17,
122, 147, 186; of concept, 100, 110, 119; of reflection, 125, 158, 168, 176,
179; of cognition, 125, 128, 129, 133, 141, 176; of circles, 162, 171
cognition, xviii, 4-5, 27, 103, 118-85 passim\ absolute, 152; as deduction,
124-28; of the absolute, 37; infinite, 63, 72, 130; idea of, 173; nature of,
121; object of logic and metaphysics, 130, 133; as reflection, 123, 125, 129,
131, 133, 141, 142, 154, 156; formal, 123, 128, 132, 141, 142, 152, 155, 173,
174, 175, 176, 177. See also circle/ circular movement; in-itself; ground; soul
concept, 8, 10, 11, 31-32, 40, 49, 50, 76, 77-78, 85, 96, 99, 110, 114, 124-25,
153, 155, 169; real, 10, 119; determinate, 80-83, 84, 145; absolute, 117, 140,
166, 181. See also circle/circular movement; and passim connection, 39, 53-54,
61, 64-65, 85, 110, 174; simple, 3-38, 30-31, 132, 162, 183; and passim
consciousness, xii, xvii, xviii, xxii, 14-15, 19^20,30,41,45, 116, 165, 168
construction, 116, 118-27 passim, 161, 175, 176, 181-82 contradiction, 30,
32-33, 44, 61, 79, 81, 106, 136, 137, 157; absolute, 29, 33, 37' J4« deduction,
124-28 passim definition, 107, no—28 passim, 151, 173- 74 degree, 15, 26
determinac), 10, 17-19, 23, 32, 35, 42- 43' 52, 59-60, 72, 79-80, 81, 103, 107,
122, 134, 140-41, 167-68, 170- 71, 173, 179; absolute, 25, 69, 151, 163; and
passim dialectic/dialectical, xvi, xx, 44, 48, 60,
194
Index 79, 81, 112, 115, 117, 118, 123, 133, 137.143 division, 113-24 passim,
128, 134, 174- 76,182 essence, 18, 27, 31, 36, 44, 56, 59, 68, 87, 104, 106,
111, 114-15, 134, 148, 154; absolute, 18, 162, 167, 170; highest: 157-61, 163,
164, 167, 176- 79; essence of, 158; and passim ether, 160, 172-73, 185, 186
Euclid, 2i\'7d 116, 121 evil, 160 explanation, 52, 61-64 Fichte, J. G., xii,
xvii, 3-5 finite, xviii, 35 force, 4, 5, 15, 27, 28, 46, 47, 49-50, 54~65
formal/formal,, 57, 60, 73, 93, 113, 124, 167, 169, 170. See also reflection;
cognition; opposition; sublate, freedom freedom, 34, 46, 81, 84, 144, 147, 149-
56, 164, 169, 170, 179; and necessity, 149-51, 155; formal/formal*, 149 God,
67, 145, 161, 173, 186 Goethe, J. W., xiii ground, 118, 121, 127, 140-45, 147,
!5°> 154. 155. J57> i6o> 168 Harris, H. S., Night Thoughts, xi, xv,
xvii, xix, xxii, 4, 186 Hartkopf, W., xvii Hegel, G. W. F.: The Difference
between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy, xv, xvi-xvii, 78, 99,
iog~ 1 o; Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences, xiv, xvi; Faith and
Knowledge, 78; Phenomenology of Spirit, xviii, xx, xxi, xxii, 46, 116-17, J37»
*45> 172'^ Science of Logic, 16 r, System of Ethical Life and First
Philosophy of Spirit, xi, xv, 41, 186 Heinrichs, J., xxii Hume, D., 53
"I," 161, 162, 164, 165-72, 178, 179, 180 idea, xv, xvii, 5, 55, 72,
133, 176, 177, 178, 184, 185 ideal/real, 49, 57, 110-11, 112, 114-15, 121, 152,
155, 177 ideala/real2, 5, 12, 27, 28, 35, 49, 57, 73, 77, 78, 79, 85, 90-91,
95, 96, 104, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114-15, 116, 118, 119, 125, 132, 133, 136,
138, 143, 145' J47> i5°> *53. 156. *58. l62> 163, 164, 165, 169, 174,
175, 177, 178 Idealism, xv, 5, g, 133 ideality, 3, 4, 33, 37, 44, 47. 49. 5°,
58, 71, 73, 76, 78, 80, 86, 100, 102, 113, 114-15, 143, 149, 154, 159-60;
ideality,, (ideellseyn), 80 induction, 108 infinity/infinite, xviii, xx, 14,
17, 22, 23, *9» 29~3l> 39~4°> 44-45. 4°, 47. 52, 56-57, 60, 65-73, 78,
116, 117, 127, 130, 132, 140, 153, 162, 166, 171-72, 179-85 passim; true or
genuine, 33- 38; paralysed, 72-73, 79; bad, 32-35, 6g, 73, 77, 100, 103, 151;
absolute, 151, 172; is logic of understanding, 182. See also contradiction;
absolute in-itself, the, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 139, 140, 141, 143, 148, 149,
150, 151, 153, 158, 160, 164, 167, 168, 171, 173, 176, 178, 179, 184; thing-in-
itself, xvi, 53 judgment, 83-97 passim, l37> universal, 86-87; particular,
87-88; singular, 88; hypothetical, 88-91, 95, 96, 97, 102, 103, 107; negative,
91-92; infinite, 92-93. 95'. disjunctive, 93-95. 96. 97. 104, 108 Kant, I ,
xii, xvi, xviii, 3, lg, 38, 53 Lagrange, J., 20 Leibniz, G., xii, 45, 67, 78
limit, 4, 5, 6-8, 16-17, 29, 32, 70 logic, xv-xvi, xix-xx, 4, g8, 116, 130-31,
133, 134, 161, 182; of understanding, 5, 182; neutral, xii, xvi, 30;
unreflective, 143 magnitude, 15, 16, 19-20, 26-27, 29 mathematics, 14, 20-21,
23, 123 matter, 6, 15, 27, 59, 66, 185 metaphysics, 130, 132, 133, 158, 161,
176, 184. See also logic monad, 144, 150-53, 165, 171, 176-79
Index
195 nature, xviii, 50, 63, 72-73, 155, 185 necessity, 44, 53, 58, 66, 75,
96-97, 99, 103-5, 158, 159, 163. See also freedom negation/negating/negated, 4,
7, g, 48, 71, 75, 132, 139, 146, 153, 158-68 passim, 171, 173, 177, 182;
double, 36 negative unity, 9, 13, 43, 44, 80—116 passim, 118, 119, 120, 123,
125, 126, 127, 132, 133, 134, 141, 145, 146, 152, 156, 164, 173, 174 Newton,
I., 23 numerical one, 10-12, 16, 17, 32, 43, 48, 77, 88, 89, 100, 103, 104, 105
opposites: unity of, 18, 21, 55, 72, 77, 106, 107, 112; oneness of, 79; and
passim opposition, 5-6, 23, 37, 50, 57, 61, 68, 75, 102, 137-38; absolute, 11,
70; formal, 75; and passim otherness/other of itself/becoming other, 10, 12,
19, 35-37, 49? 56> 68> 72- 84- 86, 89, 100, 106, 111, 114, 132, 136, 139,
144, 165-66, 181-85; and passim particular, 78-116 passim, 122, 125, 158, 170
philosophy, 139, 165 Plato, xii, 4, yg, log, 116-17 possibility, 42, 58, 66
proof, 119, 120, 121, 124, 160—61, 174, 176,181-82 Pythagoras, 121, 124
quality, 7-8, 10, 22, 24-25, 33, 42, 72, U5. !73 quantity, 8-g, 18, 24-25, 28,
33, 43, 69, 72, 159, 173 quantum, 16-17, 23> 67, 158, 162, 174 reality, 7,
73, 83, 103, 107, 109, 110-12, 125, 127, 154, 159, 170, 180, 184, bad, 33, 84,
95-96, 119, 125, 169; true, 95-96, 119; absolute, 112, 169. See also
ideal/real, ideals/real, recognition, 142, 153, 169, 184-85
reflection/reflected, xx, xxii, 81, 116; absolute, 37, 125, 128, 129, 145, 146,
152, 156, 170, 171; "our," 8, 29, 79, 82, 101, 111, 117; describes itself,
118; negative, 132-33, 166; formal, 148, 157, 158, 166, 168, 170; and passim.
See also cognition; circle/ circular movement relation/relationship/ratio,
20-25, 3$- 109 passim, 117-18, 130, 131, 135, »43. i74> 177. J78 Rosen, M.,
xii Rosenkranz, K., xx-xxi, 78, gg, 145 Schelling, F. W. J., xiii, xvi, xvii,
141 semblance, 51, 62, 93, 119, 137, 149, 172 singular/singularity, 58, 82,
88-89, 102> 111, 112, 116, 121, 123, 125, 129, 151- 153' i55» !59> 162,
164, 170, 173 soul, 142, 144—45, !45_49' 15°~56 passim, 165, 168 Spinoza, B.,
xii, 45, 78 spirit, xviii, 63, 72; formal, 179-80; absolute, 172, 173, 179-85
passim subject, 111, 120, 134, 136, 147, 157; and predicate, 84-109 passim
subjective, 53-54 sublate/sublated/sublation, 6, 12, 13, 27, 32, 44, 51, 60,
65, 66, 70, 77, 83, 85, 86, 104-5, 112-13, 128, 134, 138, 142, 177, 180;
formal, 81; truh, 5; simpl), 18; and passim substance(s), xii, 37, 41-45, 46,
49-50, 55-57, 59' 65, 68, 73, 77, 84, 100- 101, 105, 114, 116, 147, 159
syllogism, 5, 79, g7~g8, 99-109; hypothetical, 103, 108; disjunctive, 105;
simple, 105 Thing, 19, 23, 24-25, 28, 56 thinking/thought, xii, xx, 78, 100,
109, 112, 118, 121, 134, 158, 159, 161 totality, g, 10, 39, 86, 94-96, 103,
119, 122, 123, 124, 127, 129, 130, 142, 143, 144, 145, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153'
154' 157' i63> i67' »73» l85 transition, 74, 76, 101, 117, 121, 123, 125,
126, 128, 136, 157, 163, 169 Trede, J. H., viii, xix universal/universalit),
78-116 passim, 118, 119, 121, 122, 124, 127, 129, 133, 143, 154, 158, 159, 162,
164 Wolff, C, 20 world, 149-57, 160, 162, 166