section 15 (first updated 12.23.2020) Quality and Quantity Hegel simply defines quality ins this manner, he says: “What I mean by Quality is simple determinateness.”¹ When something possesses quality, it possesses determination—that is, the quality of quality, or rather what a quality is.² Quality can only be the measure of the one, while the measure …
External and internal relations Alternative Ontologies section 12 (first update 12.21.2020) Atomism and organicism designate alternative views about the ultimate nature of reality. They are competing ontologies concerned with the same fundamental question: What is the nature of Being? The key distinction between them lies in their different conceptions of the relations between the ultimate components of reality—namely, what …
Modern Introspective Section 11 (first updated. 12.27. 2020) Knowledge ‘without’ experience Intuition is the self perceiving itself from a moment other than the present. The term a priori does not mean that “experience need not follow,” or that knowledge is derived without any experience whatsoever. Rather, the notion of “without experience” means that such knowledge is not determined bydirect experience, but rather, determines direct experience. …
Section 1.13.10 (first updated 12.17.2020) Concrete Form Matter, Abstraction, and the Limits of Materialist Ontology Matter is a “general form”, meaning that it does not belong to anything in particular, but rather is shared among all recognizable objects. It is the common substratum that underlies all differentiated forms and conceptions. This means that whenever an observer picks out a group …
Section 9 (first update. 12.15.2020) Higher Metaphysics Modern science today presupposes that abstract “thinking” is subordinate and deficient in a fundamental way, because it requires proof. Something external to internal thought must be provided in order to fulfill the conditions of truth. Thought alone is not sufficient to classify something as true. In other words, every theoretical idea …
Abstraction Section 8 (first update. 12.14.2020) Abstr(act)ion Abstract(act)action Abstract Action Semantically speaking, the term abstraction is a conjunction of the two words—abstract and action—with the word actas the synthesis term, i.e., the “shared” element that denotes meaning in both. It is the common component between abstr(act) and (act)ion, present in both words. Thus, abstraction can be understood as the action of the abstract or abstract action. An action …
Section 7. (first updated. 12.11.2020) Understanding the Understanding When one looks at the world rationally, the world, in turn, exhibits a rational element. The relationship is mutual. Understanding becomes indispensable even in areas where common opinion believes it to be least relevant. In other words, the “truths” that are commonly assumed to be correct are precisely the …
Section 6. (first updated. 12.10.2020) Reason as the Distinction Between the Universal and the Individual Defined in the understanding of the term “particular” is the implication of the Universal fact of it being shared. Hegel writes that Reason is “the [distinction between] the universal […] with that of the individual.”1 In this context, the universal does not merely …
section 5. (first updated 12.08.2020) Three (3) meanings of Objectivity “Objective” and “subjective” are convenient expressions we often employ, but their use can easily give rise to confusion. Our explanation has shown that objectivity has a threefold significance: “In ordinary language, to be objective is to be present outside us and to come to us …
Section 4 (first updated.2022) Law of non-contradiction The law of non-contradiction, first and foremost, does not simply mean “lack of contradiction”—that is, the mere absence of contradictions. The prefix “non-” presupposes that a contradiction exists, in the sense that it is resolvable; it implies the inverse of a contradiction—namely, a resolution. The law of non-contradiction …