The positive outcome of philosophyDietzgen, Joseph
Philosophy
The positive outcome of philosophy
Dietzgen, Joseph
Knowledge, Theory of; Logic; Philosophy
"All things have their causes." What are all things? They are
attributes, qualities of the universe. It is innate in the intellect to
know that the world is _one_ thing, that all things belong, not to any
different thing, but to one and the same subject. The intellect is by
nature the absolute feeling of unity. It knows of itself that everything
is interrelated and that the consciousness of causality is nothing else
but the consciousness of cosmic interrelation. And I maintain that the
innateness of the consciousness of cosmic interrelation in our brain is
explained when we realize that it is an actual thing like all others, a
phenomenon which has the same general nature as every other
phenomenon.[7]
The fact is undeniable that a certain knowledge is innate in our
consciousness. The only difficulty has been to explain this fact. At
this point I call your attention to the exaggerated notion entertained
in regard to explaining, and understanding, things. By explanations, a
thing is not dissolved, but only classified.
The hatching of an egg is explained when you perceive that this process
is part and parcel of a whole class of similar processes. If you modify
the exalted idea of the effect of explanations in this sense, you must
realize that the innate consciousness of the general interrelation of
things is natural and intelligible and requires no other explanation
than the humidity of the water, the gravity of bodies, or the color of
black horses.
Even after it has been explained and understood, the intellect with its
logic remains a wonderful thing. Just as clay is by its nature
untransparent and pliable, or glass transparent and brittle, so
consciousness has its peculiar innate qualities. In this way knowledge
comes to the intellect not only by experience, but it is also a sort of
receptacle full of wisdom. Still this receptacle would no more contain
wisdom without experience than the eye would have impressions without
light.
In order to straighten out the intricate windings of our subject, I
recapitulate them. We wish to learn the proper use of our intellect, the
conscious application of consciousness. To this end we analyze its
hitherto hidden mystical nature. So long as we exalt this nature
transcendentally to the clouds, we do not acquire its proper use.
Therefore the first paragraph of our lesson reads: The intellect belongs
in the same category with all things of the universe. And the second
paragraph says: If we distinguish two classes of thought radiated by the
human intellect, viz., innate thoughts, such as causality, and on the
other hand thoughts which come through experience, we must remember that
such a distinction is correct only when we realize that in spite of this
classification in two kinds they really belong to the same kind. Innate
and acquired wisdom, though served on two different plates, still are
taken from the same general world dish.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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