第 68 节
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桃桃逃 更新:2022-08-21 16:33 字数:9313
as it were; take possession of his body; so that it may be the instrument of his soul。
§ 209
(3)Purposive action; with its Means; is still directed outwards; because the End is
also not identical with the object; and must consequently first be mediated with it。
The Means in its capacity of object stands; in this second premise; in direct
relation to the other extreme of the syllogism; namely; the material or objectivity
which is presupposed。 This relation is the sphere of chemism and mechanism;
which have now become the servants of the Final Cause; where lies their truth
and free notion。 Thus the Subjective End; which is the power ruling these
processes; in which the objective things wear themselves out on one another;
contrives to keep itself free from them; and to preserve itself in them。 Doing so; it
appears as the Cunning of reason。
§ 209n
Reason is as cunning as it is powerful。 Cunning may be said to lie in the intermediative action
which; while it permits the objects to follow their own bent and act upon one another till they
waste away; and does not itself directly interfere in the process; is nevertheless only working out
its own aims。 With this explanation; Divine Providence may be said to stand to the world and its
process in the capacity of absolute cunning。 God lets men do as they please with their particular
passions and interests; but the result is the accomplishment of…not their plans; but his; and these
differ decidedly from the ends primarily sought by those whom he employs。
§ 210
The Realised End is thus the overt unity of subjective and objective。 It is
however essentially characteristic of this unity; that the subjective and objective
are neutralised and cancelled only in the point of their one…sidedness; while the
objective is subdued and made conformable to the End; as the free notion; and
thereby to the power above it。 The End maintains itself against and in the
objective: for it is no mere one…sided subjective or particular; it is also the
concrete universal; the implicit identity of both。 This universal; as simply reflected
in itself; is the content which remains unchanged through all the three termini of
the syllogism and their movement。
§ 211
In Finite Design; however; even the executed End has the same radical rift or
flaw as had the Means and the initial End。 We have got therefore only a form
extraneously impressed on a pre…existing material: and this form; by reason of the
limited content of the End; is also a contingent characteristic。 The End achieved
consequently is only an object; which again becomes a Means or material for
other Ends; and so on for ever。
§ 212
But what virtually happens in the realising of the End is that the one…sided
subjectivity and the show of objective independence confronting it are both
cancelled。 In laying hold of the means; the notion constitutes itself the very
implicit essence of the object。 In the mechanical and chemical processes; the
independence of the object has been already dissipated implicitly; and in the
course of their movement under the dominion of the End; the show of that
independence; the negative which confronts the Notion; is got rid of。 But in the
fact that the End achieved is characterised only as a Means and a material; this
object; viz。 the teleological; is there and then put as implicitly null; and only
'ideal'。 This being so; the antithesis between form and content has also vanished。
While the End by the removal and absorption of all form…characteristics coalesces
with itself; the form as self…identical is thereby put as the content; so that the
notion; which is the action of form; has only itself for content。 Through this
process; therefore; there is made explicitly manifest what was the notion of
design: viz。 the implicit unity of subjective and objective is now realised。 And this
is the Idea。
§ 212n
This finitude of the End consists in the circumstance; that; in the process of realising it; the material;
which is employed as a means; is only externally subsumed under it and made conformable to it。
But; as a matter of fact; the object is the notion implicitly: and thus when the notion; in the shape of
End; is realised in the object; we have but the manifestation of the inner nature of the object itself。
Objectivity is thus; as it were; only a covering under which the notion lies concealed。 Within the
range of the finite we can never see or experience that the End has been really secured。 The
consummation of the infinite End; therefore; consists merely in removing the illusion which makes it
seem yet unaccomplished。 The Good; the absolutely Good; is eternally accomplishing itself in the
world: and the result is that it need not wait upon us; but is already by implication; as well as in full
actuality; accomplished。 This is the illusion under which we live。 It alone supplies at the same time
the actualising force on which the interest in the world reposes。
In the course of its process the Idea creates that illusion; by setting an antithesis to confront it; and
its action consists in getting rid of the illusion which it has created。 Only out of this error does the
truth arise。 In this fact lies the reconciliation with error and with finitude。 Error or other…being;
when superseded; is still a necessary dynamic element of truth: for truth can only be where it
makes itself its own result。
Third Subdivision of The Logic; The Doctrine of the Notion
C。 THE IDEA
Development of The Idea
'Life' … 'Cognition' … 'Absolute Idea'
§213
The Idea is truth in itself and for itself — the absolute unity of the notion and
objectivity。 Its 'ideal' content is nothing but the notion in its detailed terms: its
'real' content is only the exhibition which the notion gives itself in the form of
external existence; while yet; by enclosing this shape in its ideality; it keeps it in its
power; and so keeps itself in it。
The definition; which declares the Absolute to be the Idea; is itself absolute。 All
former definitions come back to this。 The Idea is the And yet; again; everything
actual; in so far as it is true; is the Idea; and has its truth by and in virtue of the
Idea alone。 Every individual being is some one aspect of the Idea: for which;
therefore; yet other actualities are needed; which in their turn appear to have a
self…subsistence of their own。 It is only in them altogether and in their relation that
the notion is realised。
The individual by itself does not correspond to its notion。 It is this limitation of its
existence which constitutes the finitude and the ruin of the individual。
The Idea itself is not to be taken as an idea of something or other; any more than
the notion is to be taken as merely a specific notion。 The Absolute is the universal
and one idea; which; by an act of 'judgement'; particularises itself to the system
of specific ideas; which after all are constrained by their nature to come back to
the one idea where their truth lies。 As issued out of this 'judgement' the Idea is in
the first place only the one universal substance: but its developed and genuine
actuality is to be as a subject and in that way as mind。
Because it has no existence for starting…point and point d'appui; the Idea is
frequently treated as a mere logical form。 Such a view must be abandoned to
those theories which ascribe so…called reality and genuine actuality to the existent
thing and all the other categories which have not yet penetrated as far as the Idea。
It is no less false to imagine the Idea to be mere abstraction。 It is abstract
certainly; in so far as everything untrue is consumed in it: but in its own self it is
essentially concrete; because it is the free notion giving character to itself; and that
character; reality。 It would be an abstract form; only if the notion; which is its
principle; were taken as an abstract unity; and not as the negative return of it into
self and as the subjectivity which it really is。
§213n
Truth is at first taken to mean that I know how something is。 This is truth; however; only in
reference to consciousness; it is formal truth; bare correctness。 Truth in the deeper sense consists
in the identity between objectivity and the notion。 It is in this deeper sense of truth that we speak
of a true state; or of a true work of art。 These objects are true; if they are as they ought to be; i。e。
if their reality corresponds to their notion。 When thus viewed; to be untrue means much the same
as to be bad。 A bad man is an untrue man; a man who does not behave as his notion or his
vocation requires。 Nothing however can subsist; if it be wholly devoid of identity between the
notion and reality。 Even bad and untrue things have being; in so far as their reality still; somehow;
conforms to their notion。 Whatever is thoroughly b