Hegel’s Logic: An Essay in Interpretation. John Grier Hibben 1902
Hegel discusses the doctrine of being (Die Lehre vom Seyn) under its three aspects of quality, quantity, and measure. Before entering upon the exposition of the Hegelian conception of quality, it would be well to examine somewhat more in detail the general doctrine of being. Such an undertaking will serve at the same time as an introduction to his more specific teaching concerning the quality of being.
If we are agreed to regard knowledge as an evolution, then the beginnings of that evolution must represent the minimum of knowledge.
Such a beginning is found in the category of being. In ascribing to an object mere being without any further characterization, we render our assertion as indefinite as it can well be made. The knowledge which ranges upon so low a level is equivalent to no knowledge at all, or as Hegel tersely puts it, “Being is the same as non-being.” The identification of being and non-being when thrust upon us as a bare statement and without commentary upon it, not only startles us but also arouses a very natural feeling of protest, and perhaps of indignation. We say to ourselves “Is Hegel a mere juggler with words? Is it possible that behind this abrupt formula he is secretly laughing at us, and that his whole system is merely a keen satire upon the limitations of the powers of reason?” So it would seem, at least after a rapid and superficial glance at such a proposition. But when we come to analyze the statement that being and non-being are the same, we find that it is only an epigrammatic expression of that which we have always believed most thoroughly; for we are accustomed to say that any statement which is indefinite and non-committal is of no value or significance as knowledge. If it should be put to us in the form of a promise, it would carry with it no weight of assurance that the promise would ever be fulfilled. For us it would amount to nothing. This is expressed in the proverb: “Some time is no time.” We see, then, that Hegel’s identification of being and non-being is equivalent to the statement that whatever is presented to us as wholly indefinite, ranks in reference to its worth as knowledge as though it were not.
If it is put in this way, the Hegelian epigram wins our assent immediately.
The critics of Hegel have sought to entrap him by asking the question, “Do you mean to tell us that a house is the same as no house? that a man is the same as no man? that a God is the same as no God?” Such questions indicate a radical misunderstanding of Hegel’s conception of the relation of being to non-being. For in the examples cited, the house, man, God, we have something more in each case than mere being we have being which has already been rendered definite and explicit, and possesses the whole concrete content which these terms severally connote.
These cases, therefore, fall wholly outside of the sphere of mere being, and hence are irrelevant to the point which has been raised. What Hegel affirms is this: that being, mere being, without any characterization whatsoever, absolutely indefinite and undetermined as regards its essential qualities, – that such being is as nothing.
But while being, from one point of view as abstract being, is the same as non-being, from another point of view, however, it is quite different from non-being. For being in the Hegelian system is regarded as the first term in a series of development. It marks a beginning, therefore, and while it is so far nothing explicitly (für sich), still it must be regarded as something implicitly (an sich), – that is, it must contain the potentiality of something which is to appear later on in the actual development.
In it must be the “promise and potency” of all that is to follow throughout the subsequent stages of its evolution. It would be a correct statement to assert concerning a stone placed upon a parapet at the top of a house: “This stone is at rest. It has no motion.” And yet if it should be pushed away from its support, it would fall to the ground below, because of the gravity potential which it possessed by virtue of its position alone. And so it would be correct to state of it in the first instance that it is both at rest and, nevertheless, potentially at least, possesses motion. The motion is not actual, it is true, but it is potential, and so far forth its motion is real in a very true sense. If being is to be regarded, then, as the initial term in a series of development, we must think of it as embodying a high potential in reference to its latent qualities.
Suppose, therefore, that the being which we have conceived as the starting-point in this evolution begins to develop its potential qualities into actual. We will find that whatever has been indefinite now tends to become more and more definite, and whatever has been undetermined will now grow more and more determined, as the process advances. The very idea of development itself implies that each succeeding stage of the series is a manifestation of something which in the preceding stage had as yet no actual being. It is in this sense that Hegel affirms that becoming (Werden) is the unity of being and non-being, – that is, a transition from that which is not to that which is.
Let us suppose, for instance, that there is an object barely discernible in the twilight. Our knowledge of it is completely exhausted by the bare statement that something is there. What its nature may be more specifically, its characteristics, as to form, color, and the like, – what it is in fact, that is unknown; it is nothing.
But while it is so indefinite as far as our knowledge of its true nature is concerned that we correctly designate it as nothing, nevertheless, it contains at the same time the potentiality of something which under proper circumstances may be revealed. And so we may imagine that the light gradually grows brighter, penetrating the darkness which surrounds it; and with the growing illumination the object becomes clearer, and all that a moment before was indefinite and unknown becomes definite and known. Such a process is one of becoming, and it consists of a transition from the unknown to the known, a revelation of all hidden qualities; and this process may be appropriately characterized as the unity or the uniting of that which is not to that which is, or as Hegel puts it, the unity of non-being and being.
Hegel maintains that his system of thought-evolution brings together in one all the different phases of philosophical speculation which in turn have emphasized exclusively some one stage of the total process of development, and which have overlooked the relation of each partial point of view to the whole. In a similar manner, for instance, several persons might describe a plant, one by referring to the kind of seed from which it sprang, another by drawing attention to its blossom, or another, to its fruit, and still another, to its possible use for medicinal purposes. Each would represent a stage in the complete process of its growth. Each is partial, and all should be brought together in order to form one complete description. Thus, in the system of Parmenides the idea of being was regarded apart from its relation to non-being and becoming. The consequence was that his system represented the world as consisting of rigidly unalterable elements, mere products ready made and unchanging, from which the idea of any process whatsoever was completely excluded.
Heraclitus, on the other hand, held that the truth of being consisted of a perpetual becoming, he said, – all things flow. Thus the category of becoming in his system excludes all others. Heraclitus, however, marks an advance upon Parmenides, inasmuch as his idea of becoming carries with it also the implication of being, so that while he destroys the being of Parmenides with one hand, he restores it with the other, regarding it as an essential factor in the process of becoming. It is of interest to note that this historical difference of opinion has followed, as it were, the lines of a dialectic movement, inasmuch as the seemingly contradictory positions from one point of view are brought together in a higher unity, and from a more comprehensive point of view, as the being of Parmenides is absorbed in the becoming of Heraclitus. Hegel’s dialectic, as he himself claims, is only a following of the lines of development which philosophical thought, as a whole, has described in its path of progress.
The process of becoming, moreover, in any concrete instance, must result in some definite product. The process of becoming Hegel likens to a fire which is constantly consuming its material, and yet, nevertheless, does not leave an empty nothing as a result. That which is destroyed in one form is conserved in another. The result which is attained by the process of becoming Hegel calls Daseyn, – that is, being which has been rendered definite through the manifestation of its characteristic qualities.
The term Daseyn has the force of the phrase “definite being,” and may be so translated.
That which renders being definite is its quality (die Qualität). It is that which constitutes it what it is. Modify its quality, and being itself is likewise modified. It is Hegel’s plan to discuss the bare idea of quality in general and not to enter upon the discussion of the nature of any specific qualities in particular. The question which he puts is this, “What do we understand by the idea of the quality of a thing in respect to its most general aspects?” He, at the outset, draws a distinction between the categories of quality and of quantity (die Quantität). Quality may be defined as the internal determining factor of being; and quantity as the external determining factor. Any variation in that which makes being what it is will, of course, affect the nature of being itself; but a variation may occur in that which determines how much or how little of the being in question may be taken, and yet this need not necessarily affect the nature of that being itself. A drop in the ocean does not differ in quality from the entire body of which it is but an infinitesimal portion. It is obvious that being and its quality are identical, when we seek illustrations in the sphere of nature.
It is not so obvious when we seek them in the sphere of mind. The various mental functions, for instance, cannot be so accurately described as consisting of certain definite and invariable qualities. The very complexity of the phenomena of mind render their simplification by means of definite qualities a more difficult if not an impossible task. There is, for example, no specific memory or volitional quality attaching to consciousness as such.
The category of quality is to be regarded as having a positive and a negative aspect. Positively, the quality of a definitely determined being constitutes its reality, – it makes it what it is. Negatively, the quality of being is determined by a certain natural limit beyond which, if we proceed in thought, there is immediately a marked change in quality and consequently in the very nature of being itself. There are, however, two kinds of limit (die Gränze), – a qualitative and a quantitative limit. Of course the reference in this connection is to the qualitative limit; the qualitative is essentially a limit as to kind, and its bounds mark a definite change of kind. The quantitative, on the other hand, is naturally a limit as to magnitude, and marks a purely quantitative change. In the purely qualitative limit we have a form of negative determination, in the sense that if its bound is transcended, the being in question suffers a radical change in its nature. Such a limit is, therefore, the determining point of being. To understand the nature of the being which we have in any particular instance, we must know, not only in a general way what kind of being it is, but we must know definitely at just what point a variation in its quality will subject it to a complete transformation into some other kind of being altogether. Hegel wishes to emphasize especially the thought that the very idea of a limit signifies that it marks a line of boundary between two kinds of being. It is impossible to conceive of a limit which would be the boundary of only one thing, for while it bounds one, it separates at the same time from something else.
Therefore, every determinate being necessarily implies that something lies beyond its limit; this something Hegel calls its other. This conception of an other (ein Anderes), the obverse face, as it were, of every definite being, plays a very conspicuous and significant role in the Hegelian system. The other which stands over against every definite being is not any other thing whatsoever which happens to lie outside the sphere of the definite being in question; but it must be that particular other which is, as it were, its next of kin. It would be incorrect to regard a triangle and a horse as an example of a certain definite being and its other. The other is that which not only lies outside of the sphere of some definite being, but at the same time it must lie within the boundaries of some common system to which both may be referred. For instance, a true example of an other in the Hegelian sense, would be that of the ellipse, which is naturally related to the circle as its other. The cultivated fruit which grows on a branch grafted upon a wild stock would be regarded as the other in reference to the main tree.
As Hegel puts it, every definite being in the process of development has a certain meaning an sich, – that is, considered merely within its own sphere; but this meaning is always partial because undeveloped, and for its completion necessitates a consideration of the nature of the limit, and this in turn can be known only as we pass over into the adjacent sphere of its other. The full meaning, therefore, of any definite being can be grasped only when we consider it not merely an sich but also für Anderes as well, – that is, in reference to its corresponding other.
This conception lies at the basis of the idea of evolution, which is a continuous change in such a manner that every advancing stage is the necessary other of that which immediately precedes it. As the great cosmic system is one of evolution, every determinate being in it must show inherently this tendency to a continuous alteration (die Veränderlichkeit) a passing over into its other. But when we pass from any definite being to its other, this other, itself possessing definite being, must also have its other to complete its meaning, and so on without limit. We thus find ourselves launched upon an infinite series that can never be satisfactory, because never complete. It is an endless progression, and can only bring weariness unutterable to the mind which attempts to follow it. Such an idea of an infinite series, Hegel styles a false or negative infinity (die schleckte oder negative Unendlickeit). It represents merely a tedious multiplication of finite terms in a never ending process. The finite, according to Hegel, may be defined as that which contains within itself its own contradiction. Its very incompleteness is the cause of its breaking down of its own weight. As Hegel characteristically describes it, it negatives itself. It needs always to be referred to some other being as its cause and explanation, its necessary other. But such a process is without limit, as we have seen. Hegel’s idea of the true infinite is that, in spite of this indefinitely continued process of referring on and on always to some other beyond, there is at each stage of such a process an intimation that the underlying ground not only of the particular stage of the process in question, but of the entire evolution itself of which it is but a very small phase, rests upon some absolute basis. Therefore, every crosssection, as it were, of the continuous process of development is to be regarded as a manifestation of the eternal reason, of the Absolute, of God. This is in full accord with Hegel’s fundamental principle of absolute idealism. In every change, therefore, from any imperfectly determined being to some other there is nevertheless a something which remains unalterable, which when it passes over into its other is still itself.
This Hegel calls Fürsichseyn, or being for itself, – that is, a conception of being as possessing a certain constant core of self-identity in the midst of all variation, and which preserves its own integrity as definite being in spite of all modifying forces to which it may be subjected. This essentially permanent element in being partakes, according to Hegel, of the nature of the Absolute, and encloses within its finite appearance a spark of divinity. It is the true infinity (die wahrhafte Unendlichkeit).
Inasmuch, therefore, as the quality of any definite being is determined by a process of negation which assigns to it a definite limit, when we conceive of being in its developed form of being-for-self, we must regard this limit as in a certain sense obliterated, because the being thus conceived and its other fall together within one and the same sphere of common reference. This obliteration of a limit or boundary line is a process of negation; but the fixing of the limit in the former process is also a negation. The obliteration of the limit is therefore to be regarded as the negation of a negation, or, as Hegel calls it, an absolute negation, and has, therefore, the force of an affirmation. Thus the seed develops the first shoots which appear above the ground, these change into the stalk and twigs, these put forth leaves, blossoms, and finally bear fruit.
Each stage of the growth changes into its other, but they are all embraced in one; for the various limits which mark the stages of transition disappear completely in our thought of the plant as a whole, which perdures in its integrity throughout the whole process, even in the seed itself. The best illustration of the Hegelian significance of being-for-self is, however, not found in the sphere of plant life. It is found in the higher sphere of consciousness, in the nature of personality, of the Ego. The personality of selfhood remains unchanged amidst the innumerable alterations of its manifold activities, and so far forth partakes of the nature of that absolute permanency which is an essential attribute of the infinite. The idea of the Ego, of consciousness apart from its concrete manifestation in any particular individual (the Kantian Bewusstseyn überkaupt) may be regarded as the most comprehensive type of the Absolute. And every individual Ego must therefore partake of the nature of the Absolute whose image it bears, and in whom “it lives and moves and has its being.” We find, moreover, in the category of being-for-self an intimation of ideality. Ideality, according to Hegel, is that elemental principle in all being which is dynamic and constructive, working out its ends from within. It is the immanent reason within all being. It is the architectonic principle which is self-directing and self-manifesting. As we have seen, determinate being is to be referred to the category of reality; but we are constrained to regard being-for-self under the category of ideality. The two are not contradictory, however, for the category of ideality represents merely a deeper insight and implies the category of reality as its necessary correlate. Hegel draws attention to the fact that the term “reality” is one which is used in two senses. In one sense, as has already been pointed out, reality is conceived as identical with the positive side of determinate being, – that is, the manifestation of some definite quality which renders being what it is. Thus we speak of the reality of a plan or of a purpose, when it remains no longer merely an inner and subjective thought, but has been realized in some definite form of actual being.
The second sense in which the term reality is used, is to signify that anything is in a state completely conformable to its essential nature, or, as Hegel would put it, when it conforms completely to its notion or essential idea. For instance, when we say, “That is a real man,” we mean by such a characterization that he is one who has perfectly realized the ideal of manhood. It is in this sense that Hegel insists that reality and ideality are to be regarded as inseparable correlates. The real, therefore, is the ideal, and the ideal is the real.
Inasmuch as being-for-self and being-for-its-other are brought together by our thought through the underlying unity which embraces them both in one and the same system, – it may be, for instance, in one and the same organism, – we consequently may regard these two phases of being as constituting a closed sphere. While the unit thus formed is complex, it is nevertheless to be regarded as one by itself, and separate from all others. To be for self, signifies to be some one individual thing or person. This marks the final stage in the development of the category of quality, and at the same time it suggests a natural transition to the category of quantity. For the very idea of anything which we can designate as one and individual implies that there must be others of the same kind. The idea of one necessitates the complementary idea of the many.
The idea of one would be meaningless were it not for the suggested contrast between the one and the many.
As now we can conceive of many ones grouped together, each one may be regarded as excluding every other one from itself, and a relation such as this is one of reciprocal repulsion. But at the same time it must not be overlooked that though in a sense reciprocally repelling, the many ones nevertheless are all of the same kind and consequently fall together in a single system. There must be consequently some bond of attraction which thus holds them together in an underlying unity.
If, now, in this complex unity we emphasize the idea of the separate individuality of each of its elements, we bring to the fore the concept of repulsion (die Repulsion). If, however, we emphasize ‘the fact that each one is grouped with many others of the same kind, then we give prominence to the concept of attraction (die Attraktion) which constitutes their common being.
The concept of the reciprocal repulsion of the many is found in the ancient atomic philosophy. But there the common bond was regarded as that of chance. The falling into the same group of a number of atoms was considered to be wholly fortuitous. In the Hegelian system, on the contrary, the common bond which gives unity to each and every system of being, and also unites all systems ultimately into one, is that incarnate reason, the universal creator and organizer.
If the one in any particular system of being is regarded as one merely of many where all are of the same kind, then the idea of quality becomes irrelevant, and may be regarded as suspended altogether. It is thus that the transition is made to the pure idea of quantity, in which the idea of the quality of a number of objects is wholly eliminated because reduced in every case to a dead level of identity.
Hegel’s development of being may be briefly summarized as consisting of three stages, and three corresponding processes. The three stages are: –
1. Indeterminate being (Seyn).
2. Determinate being (Daseyn).
3. Being-for-self (Fürsichseyn).
The three corresponding processes are: –
1. Becoming (Werden).
2. Alteration (Veränderung).
3. Attraction and repulsion (Attraktion und Repulsion).