Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Volume 3 (of 3)Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Volume 3 (of 3)
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Philosophy -- History
In the _Aurora_, the “Root or Mother of Philosophy, Astrology and
Theology,” he gives a method of division in which he places these
sciences in proximity, and yet appears merely to pass from one to the
other without any clear definition or determination. “(1) In Philosophy
divine power is treated of, what God is, and how in the Being of God
nature, stars and _Elementa_ are constituted; whence all things have
their origin, what is the nature of heaven and earth, as also of angels,
men and devils, heaven and hell and all that is creaturely, likewise what
the two qualities in nature are, and this is dealt with out of a right
ground in the knowledge of spirit, by the impulse and motion of God. (2)
In astrology the powers of nature, of the stars and elements, are treated
of, and how all creatures proceed from them, how evil and good are
through them effected in men and animals. (3) In theology the kingdom of
Christ is dealt with, as also its nature, and how it is set in opposition
to hell, and how in nature it wars with the kingdom of darkness.”[126]
1. What comes first is God the Father; this first is at once divided
in itself and the unity of both its parts. “God is all,” he says, “He
is the Darkness and the Light, Love and Anger, Fire and Light, but He
calls Himself God only as to the light of His love. There is an eternal
_Contrarium_ between darkness and light; neither comprehends the other
and neither is the other, and yet there is but one essence or substance,
though separated by pain; it is likewise so with the will, and yet
there is no separable essence. One single principle is divided in this
way, that one is in the other as a nothing which yet exists; but it is
not manifest in the property of that thing in which it is.”[127] By
anguish is expressed that which we know as the absolute negativity—that
is the self-conscious, self-experienced, the self-relating negativity
which is therefore absolute affirmation. All Boehme’s efforts were
directed towards this point; the principle of the Notion is living in
him, only he cannot express it in the form of thought. That is to say,
all depends on thinking of the negative as simple, since it is at
the same time an opposite; thus anguish [Qual] is the inward tearing
asunder and yet likewise the simple. From this Boehme derives sources or
springs [Quellen], a good play on the words. For pain [die Qual], this
negativity, passes into life, activity, and thus he likewise connects it
with quality [Qualität], which he makes into Quallity.[128] The absolute
identity of difference is all through present to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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