Logic as the Science of the Pure ConceptCroce, Benedetto
Philosophy
Logic as the Science of the Pure Concept
Croce, Benedetto
Logic
When the attempt was made to define the judgment as differing both
from the concept and from the definition, what was aimed at was
the individual judgment. But, if this be so, then the definitions
which conceive the judgment either as relation of representations
or as relation of concepts (the subsumption of one concept under
another, etc.), must be termed false, since it is henceforth clear
that, as individual judgment, it must be conceived as a _relation
of representation and concept._ On the other hand, some celebrated
divisions of the judgment find their origin in the distinction made
by us (which, we again repeat, is given at this point provisionally
with the intention of seeking the definite formula further on),
between the judgment of the concept and the judgment of the
representation, between definition and individual judgment. In this
way the _analytic_ judgment, defined as that in which the concept of
predicate was obtained from the subject, reveals itself as nothing
but the definition, the identity of subject and predicate; the
_synthetic_ judgment, which adds to the subject something which was
not there previously, is the individual judgment, logical thinking
of the intuition, at first only intuited and not thought. We shall
examine further on the true meaning and the definite formula of this
distinction also.
[Sidenote: _The individual judgment and intellectual intuition._]
To ignore the form of the individual judgment, and to recognize only
that of the concept and of the definition, is an impossible position,
though occasionally there appears a tendency in that direction.
We perceive it, for instance, in those who seek for definitions
of everything, and limit themselves to syllogizing, when there is
certainly a case for thinking, but also one for looking, or for
thinking while we look, and for looking while we think. This may be
said truly to represent knowledge, that complete knowledge in which
all anterior forms unite, and which is the result of all of them. To
know is to know reality; and knowledge of reality is translated into
representations, penetrated with thought. That famous _intellectual
intuition,_ which has sometimes been described as the faculty to which
man aspires, but does not possess, and sometimes as a prodigious
faculty, superior to knowledge itself, should be declared, with the
full rigour of letter and concept, to be nothing but the individual
judgment; which is, in truth, intellectual intuition or intuited
intellection.
[Sidenote: _Identity of the individual judgment with perception or
perceptive judgment._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account