第 19 节
作者:
匆匆 更新:2021-02-27 02:11 字数:9322
accidental; perishable; non…essential; etc。 can equally abstractly be grouped together; and this is
what usually happens as the next step in quite formal thinking。 But the connection of this second
with the first is so evident that one cannot avoid grasping it as also in a unity with the latter; thus
with Spinoza; the attribute is the whole substance; but is apprehended by the intellect which is itself
a limitation or mode; but in this way the mode; the non…substantial generally; which can only be
grasped through an other; constitutes the other extreme to substance; the third generally。 Indian
pantheism; too; in its monstrous fantasies has in an abstract way received this development which
runs like a moderating thread through its extravagances; a point of some interest in the
development is that Brahma; the one of abstract thought; progresses through the shape of Vishnu;
particularly in the form of Krishna; to a third form; that of Siva。 The determination of this third is
the mode; alteration; coming…to…be and ceasing…to…be…the field of externality in general。 This
Indian trinity has misled to a comparison with the Christian and it is true that in them a common
element of the nature of the Notion can be recognised; but it is essential to gain a more precise
consciousness of the difference between them; for not only is this difference infinite; but it is the
true; the genuine infinite which constitutes it。 This third principle is; according to its determination;
the dispersal of the unity of substance into its opposite; not the return of the unity to itself … not
spirit but rather the non…spiritual。 In the true trinity there is not only unity but union; the conclusion
of the syllogism is a unity possessing content and actuality; a unity which in its wholly concrete
determination is spirit。 This principle of the mode and of alteration does not; it is true; altogether
exclude the unity; in Spinozism; for example; it is precisely the mode as such which is untrue;
substance alone is true and to it everything must be brought back。 But this is only to submerge all
content in the void; in a merely formal unity lacking all content。 Thus Siva; too; is again the great
whole; not distinct from Brahma; but Brahma himself。 In other words; the difference and the
determinateness only vanish again but are not preserved; are not sublated; and the unity does not
become a concrete unity; neither is the disunity reconciled。 The supreme goal for man placed in the
sphere of coming…to…be and ceasing…to…be; of modality generally; is submergence in
unconsciousness; unity with Brahma; annihilation; the Buddhist Nirvana; Nibbana etc。; is the same。
Now although the mode as such is abstract externality; indifference to qualitative and quantitative
determinations; and in essence the external and unessential elements are not supposed to count; it
is still; on the other hand; admitted in many cases that everything depends on the kind and manner
of the mode; such an admission means that the mode itself is declared to belong essentially to the
substantial nature of a thing; a very indefinite connection but one which at least implies that this
external element is not so abstractly an externality。
Here the mode has the specific meaning of measure。 Spinoza's mode; like the Indian principle of
change; is the measureless。 The Greek awareness; itself still indeterminate; that everything has a
measure … even Parmenides; after abstract being; introduced necessity as the ancient limit by which
all things are bounded … is the beginning of a much higher conception than that contained in
substance and in the difference of the mode from substance。
Measure in its more developed; more reflected form is necessity; fate; Nemesis; was restricted in
general to the specific nature of measure; namely; that what is presumptuous; what makes itself too
great; too high; is reduced to the other extreme of being brought to nothing; so that the mean of
measure; mediocrity is restored。 'The absolute; God; is the measure of all things' is not more
intensely pantheistic than the definition: 'The absolute; God; is being;' but it is infinitely truer。
Measure; it is true; is an external kind and manner of determinateness; a more or less; but at the
same time it is equally reflected into itself; a determinateness which is not indifferent and external
but intrinsic; it is thus the concrete truth of being。 That is why mankind has revered measure as
something inviolable and sacred。
The Idea of essence; namely; to be self…identical in the immediacy of its determined being; is
already immanent in measure; so that the immediacy is thus reduced by this self…identity to
something mediated; which equally is mediated only through this externality; but is a mediation
with itself … that is; reflection; the determinations of which are; but in this being are nothing more
than moments of their negative unity。 In measure; the qualitative moment is quantitative; the
determinateness or difference is indifferent and so is no difference; is sublated。 This nature of
quantity as a return…into…self in which it is qualitative constitutes that being…in…and…for…itself which is
essence。 But measure is only in itself or in its Notion essence; this Notion of measure is not yet
posited。 Measure; still as such; is itself the immediate 'seiende' unity of quality and quantity; its
moments are determinately present as a quality; and quanta thereof; these moments are at first
inseparable only in principle 'an sich'; but do not yet have the significance of this reflected
determination。 The development of measure contains the differentiation of these moments; but at
the same time their relation; so that the identity which they are in themselves becomes their
relation to each other; i。e。 is posited。 The significance of this development is the realisation of
measure in which it posits itself as in relation with itself; and hence as a moment。 Through this
mediation it is determined as sublated; its immediacy and that of its moments vanishes; they are
reflected。 Measure; ' having thus realised its own Notion; has passed into essence。
At first; measure is only an immediate unity of quality and quantity; so that: (1); we have a
quantum with a qualitative significance; a measure。 The progressive determining of this consists in
explicating what is only implicit in it; namely; the difference of its moments; of its qualitatively and
quantitatively determined being。 These moments further develop themselves into wholes of
measure which as such are self…subsistent。 These are essentially in relationship with each other;
and so measure becomes (2); a ratio of specific quanta having the form of self…subsistent
measures。 But their self…subsistence also rests essentially on quantitative relation and quantitative
difference; and so their self…subsistence becomes a transition of each into the other; with the result
that measure perishes in the measureless。 But this beyond of measure is the negativity of measure
only in principle; this results (3); in the positing of the indifference of the determinations of
measure; and the positing of real measure … real through the negativity contained in the indifference
… as an inverse ratio of measures which; as self…subsistent qualities; are essentially based only on
their quantity and on their negative relation to one another; thereby demonstrating themselves to be
only moments of their truly self…subsistent unity which is their reflection…into…self and the positing
thereof; essence。
The development of measure which has been attempted in the following chapters is extremely
difficult。 Starting from immediate; external measure it should; on the one hand; go on to develop
the abstract determination of the quantitative aspects of natural objects (a mathematics of
nature); and on the other hand; to indicate the connection between this determination of measure
and the qualities of natural objects; at least in general; for the specific proof; derived from the
Notion of the concrete object; of the connection between its qualitative and quantitative aspects;
belongs to the special science of the concrete。 Examples of this kind concerning the law of falling
bodies and free; celestial motion will be found in the Encyclopedia。 of the Phil。 Sciences; 3rd
ed。; Sections 267 and 270; Remark。 In this connection the general observation may be made that
the different forms in which measure is realised belong also to different spheres of natural reality。
The complete; abstract indifference of developed measure; i。e。 the laws of measure; can only be
manifested in the sphere of mechanics in which the concrete bodily factor is itself only abstract
matter; the qualitative differences of such matter are essentially quantitatively determined; space
and time are the purest forms of externality; and the multitude of matters; masses; intensity of
weight; are similarly external determinations which have their characteristic determinateness in the
quantitative element。 On the other hand; such quantitative determinateness of abstract matter is
deranged simply by the plurality of conflicting qualities in the inorganic sphere a rid still more even
i