第 4 节
作者:匆匆      更新:2021-02-27 02:11      字数:9317
  and hidden。 In the silent regions of thought which has come to itself and communes only with itself;
  the interests which move the lives of races and individuals are hushed。
  'In so many respects'; says Aristotle in the same context; 'the nature of man is in bondage; but this
  science; which is not studied for its utility; is the only absolutely free science and seems therefore
  to be a more than human possessions Philosophical thinking in general is still concerned with
  concrete objects…God; nature; spirit; but logic is concerned only and solely with these thoughts as
  thoughts; in their complete abstraction。 For this reason it is customary; to include logic in the
  curriculum of youth; for youth is not yet involved in the practical affairs of life; living at leisure
  so far as they are concerned; and it is only for its own subjective ends that it has to busy itself with
  acquiring the means to enable it to become actively engaged with the objects of those practical
  interests…and still theoretically even with these。 Contrary to Aristotle's view just mentioned; the
  science of logic is included in these means; the study of logic is a preliminary labour to be carried
  out in school and it is not until later that the serious business of life and the pursuit of substantial
  ends begins。
  In life; the categories are used; from the honour of being contemplated for their own sakes they
  are degraded to the position where they serve in the creation and exchange of ideas involved in
  intellectual exercise on a living content。 First they serve as abbreviations through their universality
  (for what a host of particulars of outer existence and actions is embraced by a conception —
  battle; war; nation; ocean or animal; for example — and in the conception of God or of love there
  is epitomised in the simplicity of such ideating an infinite host of ideas; actions; states; etc。!)。
  Secondly; the categories serve for the more exact determination and discovery of objective
  relations; but in this process the import and purpose; the correctness and truth of the thought
  involved; are made to depend entirely on the subject matter itself and the thought determinations
  are not themselves credited with any active part in determining the content。 Such a use of
  categories; which above was called natural logic; is unconscious; and when in philosophical
  reflection the categories are assigned the role of serving as means; then thinking as such is treated
  as something subordinate to the other activities of mind。 We do not indeed say of our feelings;
  impulses or interests that they serve us; rather do they count as independent forces and powers; so
  that to have this particular feeling; to desire this; is what we are。? But probably we are more
  conscious of obeying our feelings; impulses; passions; interests; not to mention habits; than of
  having them in our possession; still less; in view of our intimate union with them; of their being at
  our disposal。 Such determinations of feeling and mind soon show themselves as particular in
  contrast to the universality which we are conscious ourselves of being and in which we have our
  freedom; and we are disposed to regard ourselves as caught up in these particular states and
  dominated by them。
  Consequently it is much more difficult to believe that the forms of thought which permeate all our
  ideas — whether these are purely theoretical or contain a matter belonging to feeling; impulse; will
  — are means for us; rather than that we serve them; that in fact they have us in their possession;
  what is there more in us as against them; how shall we; how shall I; set myself up as more
  universal than they; which are universal as such?
  When we give ourselves up to a sensation; a purpose; an interest; and in it feel ourselves confined
  and unfree; the place into which we can withdraw ourselves back into freedom is this region of
  self…certainty; of pure abstraction; of thought。 Or again; to speak of things; we call the nature or
  the essence of things their notion; and this is only for thought; but still less shall we say of the
  notions of things that we dominate them; or that the determinations of thought of which they are the
  complex are at our service; on the contrary; it is our thinking that must accommodate itself to them
  and our caprice or freedom ought not to want to mould them to suit itself。
  Since; therefore; subjective thought is our very own; innermost; act; and the objective notion of
  things constitutes their essential import; we cannot go outside this our act; we cannot stand above
  it; and just as little can we go beyond the nature of things。 We can however disregard the latter
  determination; in so far as it coincides with the first it would yield a relation of our thoughts to the
  object; but this would be a valueless result because it would imply that the thing; the object; would
  be set up as a criterion for our notions and yet for us the object can be nothing else but our notions
  of it。 The way in which the critical philosophy understands the relationship of these three terms is
  that we place our thoughts as a medium instead of connecting us with the objects rather cuts us off
  from them。 But this view can be countered by the simple observation that these very things which
  are supposed to stand beyond us; and at the other extreme; beyond the thoughts referring to them;
  are themselves figments of subjective thought; and as wholly indeterminate they are only a single
  thought…thing — the so…called thing…in…itself of empty abstraction。?
  Still; sufficient has been said of the point of view which no longer takes the determinations of
  thought to be only an instrument and a means; more important is the further point connected with
  it; namely that it is usual to regard them as an external form。 The activity of thought which is at
  work in all our ideas; purposes; interests and actions is; as we have said; unconsciously busy
  (natural logic); what we consciously attend to is the contents; the objects of our ideas; that in
  which we are interested; on this basis; the determinations of thought have the significance of forms
  which are only attached to the content; but are not the content itself。 But if the truth of the matter is
  what we have already stated and also is generally admitted; namely that the nature; the peculiar
  essence; that which is genuinely permanent and substantial in the complexity and contingency of
  appearance and fleeting manifestation; is the notion of the thing; the immanent universal; and
  that each human being though infinitely unique is so primarily because he is a man; and each
  individual animal is such individual primarily because it is an animal: if this is true; then it would be
  impossible to say what such an individual could still be if this
  foundation were removed; no matter how richly endowed the individual might be with other
  predicates; if; that is; this foundation can equally be called a predicate like the others。 The
  indispensable foundation; the notion; the universal which is the thought itself; in so far as one can
  make abstraction from the general idea expressed by the word 'thought'; cannot be regarded as
  only an indifferent form attached to a content。 But these thoughts of everything natural and
  spiritual; even the substantial content ; still contain a variety of determinatenesses and are still
  charged with the difference of a soul and a body; of the notion and a relative reality; the
  profounder basis is the soul itself; the pure Notion which is the very heart of things; their simple
  life…pulse; even of subjective thinking of them。
  To focus attention on this logical nature which animates mind; moves and works in it; this is the
  task。 The broad distinction between the instinctive act and the intelligent and free act is that the
  latter is performed with an awareness of what is being done; when the content of the interest in
  which one is absorbed is drawn out of its immediate unity with oneself and becomes an
  independent object of one's thinking; then it is that spirit begins to be free; whereas when thinking
  is an instinctive activity; spirit is enmeshed in the bonds of its categories and is broken up into an
  infinitely varied material。
  Here and there in this mesh there are firm knots which give stability and direction to the life and
  consciousness of spirit; these knots or nodes owe their fixity and power to the simple fact that
  having been brought before consciousness; they are independent; self…existent Notions of its
  essential nature。 The most important point for the nature of spirit is not only the relation of what it
  is in itself to what it is actually; but the relation of what it knows itself to be to what it actually is;
  because spirit is essentially consciousness; this self…knowing is a fundamental determination of its
  actuality。
  As impulses the categories are only instinctively active。 At first they enter consciousness separately
  and so are variable and mutually confusing; consequently they afford to mind only a fragmentary
  and uncertain actuality; the loftier business of logic therefore is to clarify these categories and in
  them to raise mind to freedom and truth。
  What we indicated as the b