Hegel’s Logic: An Essay in Interpretation. John Grier Hibben 1902
The first aspect under which Hegel treats the category of essence is that of the ground of existence. The conception of the ground of existence implies the idea of something which is fundamental and permanent. We find ourselves in a world of changing phenomena. The elements which form their constituent parts are indefinitely various, and it is a natural impulse to seek for some constant factor that will give determinateness to the great world problem. Hegel’s view is that every phenomenon in the universe is the manifestation of its own underlying ground, and that on this account it preserves always its identity with itself; also that the phenomenal appearance must be regarded merely as a reflection of the underlying essence, and that the fundamental law of identity connects essence and appearance as one and the same. The concept of identity is one of the so-called categories of reflection (die Reflexionsbestimmungen). As illustrations of his conception of identity, Hegel cites that central integrity of being which characterizes the Ego, the logical notion, and God. God is to be regarded as a self-identity, inasmuch as He is the all-embracing constant, the underlying essence, of whose eternal attributes all the glory and splendor of the world are reflections. Man in his conscious life as a personality, as an Ego, also represents a self-identity, inasmuch as his self-consciousness forms a centre to which all the variety of his experiences may be referred, and which forms the one constant factor in the equation of life. Man’s activities are thus a reflection of his inner personality. This self-identity alone serves to differentiate man from the brute which possesses no such underlying ground of continuity, and lives in each present experience with no thought before or after. There is, moreover, in every logical notion, also a constant element, the universal, which maintains its identity in the midst of the indefinite variety of its particular manifestations.
It is this constant element which forms the underlying ground of our thought processes and gives them definiteness and stability, and of which they are essentially the reflection.
The laws of formal logic which refer to the principle of identity, Hegel interprets in a manner quite in accord with his general method.
These laws are commonly enunciated as follows: – The law of identity proper states that everything must be identical with itself, or briefly expressed, A = A. The law of contradiction which is merely the negative expression of the law of identity is that A cannot be at the same time both A and not A.
As thus expressed, Hegel insists, these laws are merely products of the abstract understanding, – that is, a partial and one-sided view of things. As formulated above, these laws allow for no progress of thought whatsoever. They form hard and fast concepts corresponding to a world in which there can be no change, no interrelation of parts, no variety, and above all no life and thought. Instead of an abstract identity, Hegel insists upon a concrete identity, – that is, an identity which exists in the midst of a diversity and whose significance is due to the very diversity with which it is brought into contrast. The formula which expresses the law of identity is not A = A. It should be A = A´, that is, A differs from A´, and yet in spite of the difference is one with it. The former equation, A = A, expresses merely an absolute identity which is wholly stripped of all differences, and as such is without significance and value.
Hegel defines identity, therefore, as an identity which reflects its own self in every changing variety of manifestation, and in such a manner that the reflection of self is different from it, and yet so intimately connected with it as to be the same. It is a paradox, as thus expressed; but with Hegel, truth lies in paradoxes. The idea of identity, if it is to possess any true significance, implies the correlated idea of difference; and in the progress of thought Hegel proceeds to discuss the concept of difference (der Unterachied) as the second category of reflection. The concept of difference appears in its most elemental form as immediate difference, for so Hegel characterizes it. By immediate difference he means mere diversity or variety (die Verachiedenheit). By diversity is meant that the various objects are each individually what they are, and that the only connection between them is an external one. When objects which are thus externally related are compared, they are identified to the extent of affirming their likeness, and failure to identify signifies that their likeness is denied. At this point Hegel’s conception of the relation between identity and difference is brought out most clearly, and considerable emphasis placed upon it. He asserts in his characteristically paradoxical manner that objects which are judged to be alike are such only by virtue of an underlying difference, and that objects which are judged to be unlike are such only by virtue of an underlying identity. The one idea reflects its light upon the other. Thus, if we say that a triangle differs from a tree, the assertion has no point, because the two objects compared have nothing in common by which they may be brought together in thought; their differences are not illuminated by the light of any identity. Or, if we should say a man is a man, the assertion would have no significance, for the identity which is stated is not illuminated by the light of any difference. But in this case suppose that the difference is suggested, as in the lines of Burns, – “A man’s a man for a’ that.” The thought has become significant, for the phrase “for a’ that” introduces an implied difference, and this at once reflects its meaning upon the original assertion, which without this contrast of thought would remain a meaningless repetition. Again, if we compare a beech and an oak, or electrical and steam power, the elements of likeness and unlikeness appear as significant because these objects represent concepts which are fundamentally connected as species of one and the same genus, so that the significance of the one is reflected in the light of the other. The difference in such a case which appears upon a background of an identity underlying all species of the same genus may be appropriately called specific difference, or difference of reflection (Unterachied der Reflexion oder Unterachied an sich selbst, bestimmter Unterachied). These differences occurring within the area of a common ground serve to separate and distinguish one species from all others. Cognate species admit of comparison, and their differences are always significant for this very reason, that however various the species may appear, they all belong to one common genus. Thus, the idea of mere diversity or variety has been found to develop into a difference which is significant only in the sphere of cognate species, – that is, determinate or specific difference.
There is still another aspect of the idea of difference, which is that of opposition (der Gegensatz). Here the kindred elements which enter into the same area of being are arrayed over against each other as positive and negative, and yet in the characteristically Hegelian manner of viewing such opposites, they are to be regarded as constituent elements in one and the same essence. Their opposition is stated only to be resolved in a higher unity according to the logical demands of the dialectic movement. The traditional law of logic known as that of the excluded middle (namely, that, of two opposite predicates, one, and one only, can be assigned to one and the same subject) must be regarded as true merely of the abstract understanding, but not of the reflective reason which regards all things in the concrete, – that is, in the full light of all that they are and of all that they imply. The truth of the idea of essence, according to Hegel, lies in the very opposition of the ideas of positive and negative which finds universal expression in the fact that everything in the universe has its significance only in its connection with that which confronts it as its other. For every positive there is a corresponding other which may be regarded as its negative. The terms positive and negative do not express an absolute difference. The two at the last analysis are found to spring from the same root. The terms positive and negative may, under all circumstances, be transposed, and the meaning of the terms not in any sense altered. If we agree to designate distance east as +, then distance west would be designated as -; but we might as well have called distance west +, and distance east -. The significance of the terms employed lies wholly in their relation one to the other.
In the concept of opposition it must be distinctly understood that the term which is regarded as positive must not be conceived as opposed to any other whatsoever, but only by that which is peculiarly its other by virtue of some common basis underlying them both. According to a crude conception of the world, it would seem to be composed of a multitude of different objects, and each one wholly independent of every other. This is, however, a most erroneous conception. All elements in the great cosmic process must be regarded as parts of a systematized whole, so that each one is related to that which is peculiarly its other in one and the same underlying system. Thus the north pole of the magnet is opposed to and yet connected with its south pole; so also positive and negative electricity are essentially related; every acid, moreover, is related to its corresponding base. The opposite may be defined, therefore, in general, as that which embraces both itself and its corresponding other within one and the same area of determination. If it is asked what this one and self-same area of determination may be, it would be characterized in the Hegelian terminology as the ground (der Grund). This is the third of the categories of reflection, and forms the basis of the other two. Ground is defined by Hegel as the unity of identity and difference.
It is the determining factor which renders objects sufficiently alike so that we can observe their differences, or sufficiently unlike so that we can note their resemblances. Thus, the idea of ground contains the truth of all that attaches to the complementary ideas of identity and difference.
It is the unity underlying diversity; it is the essence underlying specific difference; it is the connecting bond which unites in one every element of being with its corresponding opposite, or other, within the area of a common system.
The logical maxim in reference to the concept of ground is expressed in the fourth law of thought, which is associated with the name of Leibniz and is known as the law of sufficient reason, viz.: “Everything must have its sufficient ground.” This means that the true and essential being of any definite object of thought is not to be conceived merely as a constant underlying element which always preserves its strict identity, nor is it to be conceived solely as the underlying source of variability which produces manifest differences; it is not merely positive, nor is it merely negative; it must be conceived as the synthesis of both these ideas, so that it has its being in its other, which, however, falls within the area of its own essence, and the two opposite thus become one. The relation may be illustrated by the analogy of two circles which lie wholly outside of each other and may therefore be regarded as opposites; but then we can conceive the two circles also as lying wholly within a third, and as such may be regarded as parts of one and the same surrounding area.
From another point of view, to use the Hegelian figure, essence as ground is not to be conceived as merely the abstract reflection-in-self (that is, as shining merely in its own light), but as a reflection-in-its-other (that is, as receiving illumination from that which by the very nature of things stands over against it, and yet at the same time is essentially connected with it as its necessary complement). Every truth has its obverse side; and this must always be recognized if we are to attain knowledge in its fulness. The ground and whatever depends upon the ground must be regarded, therefore, as one and the same content, that is, the same matter of fact. The ground is a simple reference to itself; and what is grounded combines a reference to self with a reference to its other as well. Such a reference involves the idea of mediation, or relativity, that is, the process of explaining a given thing by a reference to something else with which it is essentially related.
The law of sufficient reason, therefore, asserts that all phenomena are so related in an all-embracing system that every phenomenon must be referred to some other as its sufficient ground. There is throughout a complete interrelation and interdependence. The essence of anything, from this point of view, cannot be revealed by showing merely what it is in itself, or, as Hegel would put it, in a purely abstract sense; but it must be shown what it is in reference to something else which is related to it as its other. To know a thing, therefore, we must know it in reference to all of the possible relations which it may sustain to all other things by which its own essential being is mediated. The most perfect example of what is meant by ground is found in the third part of the Hegelian system, the doctrine of the notion, or the active and universal reason. In such a conception, the idea of ground attains its complete expression inasmuch as it presents a content which is determined in itself and for itself, and hence may be regarded as self-originating and self-constructive.
Such must be the essential ground of all things, some form of superintending reason which is freely working out its own purposes. This is the interpretation of Leibniz in reference to the meaning of sufficient ground. His conception especially emphasizes the function of final cause in reference to the connection of phenomena with their ground, and it is in the self-activity of the universal reason that the fullest scope is allowed to the play of final causes. But at the present stage in the development of the concept of ground it cannot be regarded as having as yet attained this capacity of determining itself. it is only when we reach the third and final stage of the Hegelian system that the conception of a self-directing and self-determining ground emerges in its complete form. The idea of ground, therefore, at this stage of its development must not be regarded as the equivalent of final cause. It is not as yet consciously active, nor does it produce anything, working purposefully towards some definitely conceived end. Being, therefore, regarded as existence, is said by Hegel to issue or proceed from the ground. Hegel’s conception of the term “existence” (die Existenz) he derives etymologically from the verb existere, the literal meaning of which is, to go forth, or to proceed. It would follow, therefore, that existence is merely that which proceeds from the ground. As such it may be regarded as having left the ground behind, just as the product as determinate being was said to leave behind the process of becoming which preceded it. The difference, however, between determinate being and existence is that the latter represents a far deeper insight and an advanced stage of development. Determinate being is accepted as immediately given, no inquiry being started as to its explanation or justification. Existence, on the other hand, is regarded as mediated, – that is, as referred to its appropriate ground, and thus accounted for and duly explained. But although having issued from the ground, existence nevertheless contains its own ground within itself, so that the ground is not merely a phase in the process of mediation which has been passed through and completely left behind. The ground may properly be characterized as aufgehoben, – that is, suspended, and yet transmuted into the more developed form of existence.
This relation may be illustrated in our modern conception of the conservation of energy, wherein any given energy seems to be destroyed only to reappear in some changed form, and although the ground of the result, nevertheless it preserves its own identity in the result itself. It is a false view of existence which regards it as related to its ground in an external manner, so that the world comes to be regarded as a collection of different objects, having each a separate existence, and related to each other as ground and consequence, wherein everything bears an aspect of relativity, conditioned by and conditioning something else. In such a world there would be nothing fundamental and final. Such a conception must be supplemented by the doctrine of the notion which, as will be seen, supplies an unconditioned basis of rationality and purposiveness for all that is contingent and relative.
The existent conceived as having absorbed its ground within itself is in a sense relieved of all dependence upon anything outside of itself; for whatever seems to lie outside of itself, and yet is at the same time related to it, must be regarded as falling within the area of its own being.
In other words, the circle which is drawn about any object which has existence, to mark the bounds of its being, is to be drawn with so generous a sweep as to embrace everything by which the being in question is itself mediated, or to which it is essentially related. Whatever exists in this sense, Hegel calls a thing (das Ding). He very stoutly disclaims, however, any reference in this connection to the Kantian thing-in-itself (das Ding an sich). He considers this phrase an empty and meaningless abstraction; for if we in imagination take away from a thing its specific characteristics and its relations to all other things, absolute emptiness remains. Hegel’s interpretation of the significance of the phrase, the thing-in-itself, is quite characteristic. He maintains that the thing-initself, if it is to have any meaning at all, signifies the thing, whatever it is, in its potential state, – its specific characteristics as yet undeveloped and unrealized. Thus, the child may be considered as the man-in-himself, in the sense that the child is indeed the father of the man. So also the patriarchal state takes rank as the state-in-itself. The germ of the seed is the plant-in-itself. In the developed form the thing is not merely the thing-in-itself, it is also the thing-for-itself (das Ding für sich), – that is, the thing whose specific qualities are no longer implicit, but have become explicit and fully developed.
The thing is variously characterized by Hegel:
(1) As possessing properties.
(2) As composed of material elements.
(3) As a synthesis of matter and of form.
That which we call a thing is said to possess properties (die Bigenechaften). These properties have an internal connection. The various properties do not constitute a diversity among themselves such as that which has already been described, wherein the different terms have no connection with each other except that which is given by a comparison whose basis is external to them. The properties, however, which is here in one and the same thing are brought together by a bond which forms an internal connection and a stable centre of reference.
Again, a thing is composed of material elements (die Materien).
The several properties of a thing may be regarded from one point of view as each inhering in its own material stuff and as therefore possessing a quasi independence of the thing itself. From such a point of view the thing is conceived as only the sum total of these various qualitative stuffs; so that we might describe a given thing as composed of so much color stuff, of so much saccharine stuff, vegetable stuff, etc. This seems to be a sufficiently correct account of certain inorganic things, especially chemical compounds. Common salt may be reduced to its constituent material elements, muriatic acid and soda. Gypsum may be reduced to sulphuric acid and calcium. Sulphuric acid may be reduced to sulphur, hydrogen, and oxygen. Such are the illustrations which Hegel cites in this connection.
But when we come to organic nature and the more complex forms of being, an analysis into the elemental parts falls far short of a true and adequate account of what a living organism essentially consists. All parts may be revealed; but the vital bond is lacking, – that which gives form and specific characteristics to the material substratum, whatever it may be. It is the form as distinct from the matter of being. It would be well in this connection to remark in passing that the term form, as Hegel uses it, signifies not the completed form which might be conceived as imposed upon the thing, but rather the active formative principle which, like the architectonic principle of the plant, operates from within, producing out of its own material its particular form and qualities. To arrive at the true conception of the term thing, we must regard it as the synthesis of matter and of form. The thing is not a meeting-point merely of a number of related material elements, each of an ultimate nature; for the fundamental material elements out of which the various things in the universe are constituted Hegel conceives as reducible at the last analysis to one and the same kind of matter, and he insists that the specific differences of the various kinds of things arise from the variety of the formative principles or agencies at work upon and within this fundamental matter. To go so far, however, as to say that the form, or constructive principle, operates externally upon the matter, or that the matter is independent of the form in any sense, would do violence to the Hegelian conception. Form and matter must not be separated in thought; it is in their unity that the thing has its essential being.
Form, or formative principle, operating therefore within matter, produces many varied results which appear as the essential properties of the thing. The totality of these properties represents the outshining of that which is the essence of the existing thing itself. This out-shining of the characteristic features of a thing constitutes its so-called appearance, or its phenomenal manifestation (die Erecheinung).