第 62 节
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桃桃逃 更新:2022-08-21 16:33 字数:9316
or receive another content than its own。 It is itself the absolute form; and so is all
specific character; but as that character is in its truth。 Although it be abstract
therefore; it is the concrete; concrete altogether; the subject as such。 The
absolutely concrete is the mind (see end of § 159) … the notion when it exists as
notion distinguishing itself from its objectivity; which notwithstanding the
distinction still continues to be its own。 Everything else which is concrete;
however rich it be; is not so intensely identical with itself and therefore not so
concrete on its own part … least of all what is commonly supposed to be concrete;
but is only a congeries held together by external influence。 What are called
notions; and in fact specific notions; such as man; house; animal; etc。; are simply
denotations and abstract representations。 These abstractions retain out of all the
functions of the notion only that of universality; they leave particularity and
individuality out of account and have no development in these directions。 By so
doing they just miss the notion。
§ 165
It is the element of Individuality which first explicitly differentiates the elements
of the notion。 Individuality is the negative reflection of the notion into itself; and it
is in that way at first the free differentiating of it as the first negation; by which
the specific character of the notion is realised; but under the form of particularity。
That is to say; the different elements are in the first place only qualified as the
several elements of the notion; and; secondly; their identity is no less explicitly
stated; the one being said to be the other。 This realised particularity of the notion
is the Judgment。
The ordinary classification of notions; as clear; distinct; and adequate; is no part
of the notion; it belongs to psychology。 Notions; in fact; are here synonymous
with mental representations; a clear notion is an abstract simple representation: a
distinct notion is one where; in addition to the simplicity; there is one 'mark' or
character emphasised as a sign for subjective cognition。 There is no more striking
mark of the formalism and decay of Logic than the favourite category of the
'mark'。 The adequate notion comes nearer the notion proper; or even the Idea:
but after all it expresses only the formal circumstance that a notion or
representation agrees with its object; that is; with an external thing。 The division
into what are called subordinate and coordinate notions implies a mechanical
distinction of universal from particular which allows only a mere correlation of
them in external comparison。 Again; an enumeration of such kinds as contrary
and contradictory; affirmative and negative notions; etc。; is only a chance…directed
gleaning of logical forms which properly belong to the sphere of Being or Essence
(where they have been already examined) and which have nothing to do with the
specific notional character as such。 The true distinctions in the notion; universal;
particular; and individual; may be said also to constitute species of it; but only
when they are kept severed from each other by external reflection。 The immanent
differentiating and specifying of the notion come to sight in the judgment: for to
judge is to specify the notion。
(b) The Judgment
§ 166
The Judgment is the notion in its particularity; as a connection which is also a
distinguishing of its functions; which are put as independent and yet as identical
with themselves not with one another。
One's first impression about the Judgment is the independence of the two
extremes; the subject and the predicate。 The former we take to be a thing or term
per se; and the predicate a general term outside the said subject and somewhere
in our heads。 The next point is for us to bring the latter into combination with the
former; and in this way frame a Judgment。 The copula 'is'; however; enunciates
the predicate of the subject; and so that external subjective e subsumption is again
put in abeyance; and the Judgment taken as a determination of the object itself。
The etymological meaning of the Judgment ( Urtheil) in German goes deeper; as
it were declaring the unity of the notion to be primary; and its distinction to be the
original partition。 And that is what the Judgment really is。
In its abstract terms a Judgment is expressible in the proposition: 'The individual is
the universal。' These are the terms under which the subject and the predicate first
confront each other; when the functions of the notion are taken in their immediate
character or first abstraction。 (Propositions such as; 'The particular is the
universal'; and 'The individual is the particular'; belong to the further
specialisation of the judgment。) It shows a strange want of observation in the
logic…books; that in none of them is the fact stated; that in every judgment there is
still a statement made; as; the individual is the universal; or still more definitely;
The subject is the predicate (e。g。 God is absolute spirit)。 No doubt there is also a
distinction between terms like individual and universal; subject and predicate: but
it is none the less the universal fact; that every judgment states them to be
identical。
The copula 'is' springs from the nature of the notion; to be self…identical even in
parting with its own。 The individual and universal are its constituents; and
therefore characters which cannot be isolated。 The earlier categories (of
reflection) in their correlations also refer to one another: but their interconnection
is only 'having' anal not 'being'; i。e。 it is not the identity which is realised as
identity or universality。 In the judgment; therefore; for the first time there is seen
the genuine particularity of the notion: for it is the speciality or distinguishing of
the latter; without thereby losing universality。
§ 166n
Judgments are generally looked upon as combinations of notions; and; be it added; of
heterogeneous notions。 This theory of judgment is correct; so far as it implies that it is the notion
which forms the presupposition of the judgment; and which in the judgment comes up under the
form of difference。 But on the other hand; it is false to speak of notions differing in kind。 The
notion; although concrete; is still as a notion essentially one; and the functions which it contains are
not different kinds of it。 It is equally false to speak of a combination of the two sides in the
judgment; if we understand the term 'combination' to imply the independent existence of the
combining members apart from the combination。 The same external view of their nature is more
forcibly apparent when judge moments are described as produced by the ascription of a predicate
to the subject。
Language like this looks upon the subject as self…subsistent outside; and the predicate as found
somewhere in our head。 Such a conception of the relation between subject and predicate however
is at once contradicted by the copula 'is'。 By saying 'This rose is red'; or 'This picture is beautiful';
we declare; that it is not we who from outside attach beauty to the picture or redness to the rose;
but that these are the characteristics proper to these objects。 An additional fault in the way in
which Formal Logic conceives the judgment is; that it makes the judgment look as if it were
something merely contingent; and does not offer any proof for the advance from notion on to
judgment。 For the notion does not; as understanding supposes; stand still in its own immobility。 It
is rather an infinite form; of boundless activity; as it were the punctum sapiens of all vitality; and
thereby self…differentiating。
This disruption of the notion into the difference of its constituent functions … a disruption imposed
by the native act of the notion … is the judgment。 A judgment therefore means the particularising of
the notion。 No doubt the notion is implicitly the particular。 But in the notion as notion the particular
is not yet explicit; and still remains in transparent unity with the universal。
Thus; for example; as we remarked before (§ 160n); the germ of a plant contains its particular;
such as root; branches; leaves; etc。: but these details are at first present only potentially; and are
not realised till the germ uncloses。 This unclosing is; as it were; the judgment of the plant。 The
illustration may also serve to show how neither the notion nor the judgment are merely found in our
head; or merely framed by us。 The notion is the very heart of things; and makes them what they
are。 To form a notion of an object means therefore to become aware of its notion: and when we
proceed to a criticism or judgment of the object; we are not performing a subjective act; and
merely ascribing this or that predicate to the object。 We are; on the contrary; observing the object
in the specific character imposed by its notion。
§ 167
The Judgment is usually taken in a subjective sense as an operation and a form;
occurring merely in self…con