A History of Philosophy in EpitomeSchwegler, Albert
Philosophy
A History of Philosophy in Epitome
Schwegler, Albert
Philosophy -- History
how one determinate being can be brought into contact with another, for
the real is the absolute unchangeable. We can therefore only explain the
conception of causality on the ground that the different reals which lie
at the basis of the characteristics are conceived, each one for itself,
as cause of the phenomenon, there being just as many causes as there are
phenomena. The problem of change, is intimately connected with the
conception of cause. Since, however, according to Herbart, there is no
inner change, no self-determination, no becoming and no life; since the
monads are, and remain in themselves unchangeable, they do not therefore
_become_ different in respect of quality, but they _are_ originally
different one from another, and each one exhibits its equality without
ever any change. The problem of change can thus only be solved through
the theory of the disturbance and self-preservation of these essences.
But if that which we call not simply an apparent but an actual event, in
the essence of the monads, may be reduced to a “self-preservation,” as
the last gleam of an activity and life, still we have the question ever
remaining, how to explain the appearance of change. For this it is
necessary to bring in two auxiliary conceptions; first, that of
accidental views, and second, that of intellectual spaces. The
accidental views, an expression taken from mathematics, signify, in
reference to the problem before us this much, viz., one and the same
conception may often be considered in very different relations to some
other essence, without the slightest change in its own essence, _e. g._
a straight line may be considered as radius or as tangent, and a tone as
harmonious or discordant. By help of these accidental views, we may now
regard that which actually results in the monad, when other monads,
opposite in quality, come in contact with it, as on the one side an
actual occurrence, though on the other side, no actual change can be
imputed to the original condition of the monads (a gray color, _e. g._
seems comparatively white by the side of black, and comparatively black
by the side of white, without changing at all its quality). A further
auxiliary conception is that of intellectual space, which, arises when
we must consider these essences as at the same time together and not
together. By means of this conception we can eliminate the
contradictions from the conception of movement. Lastly, it can be seen
that the conception of matter and that of the Ego (in psychologically
explaining which, the rest of the metaphysics is occupied) are, like the
preceding ones, no less contradictory in themselves than they are
irreconcilable with the fundamental conception of the real; for neither
can an extended being, like matter, be formed out of spaceless
monads—and with matter, therefore, fall also the ordinary conceptions of
space and time—nor can we admit, without transformation, the conception
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