Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Volume 2 (of 3) — Georg Hegel — John Shaqi
Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Volume 2 (of 3)
Georg Hegel · en
is thus a natural history of finite thought. Because it is a knowledge
and consciousness of the abstract activity of pure understanding, it is
not a knowledge of this and that concrete fact, being pure form. This
knowledge is in fact marvellous, and even more marvellous is the manner
in which it is constituted: this logic is hence a work which does the
greatest honour to the deep thought of its discoverer and to the power
of his abstraction. For the greatest cohesive power in thought is found
in separating it from what is material and thus securing it; and the
strength shows itself almost more, if thus secured when it, amalgamated
with matter, turns about in manifold ways and is seen to be capable
of numberless alterations and applications. Aristotle also considers,
in fact, not only the movement of thought, but likewise of thought
in ordinary conception. The Logic of Aristotle is contained in five
books, which are collected together under the name Ὀργανον.
_a._ The Categories (κατηγορίαι), of which the first work treats, are
the universal determinations, that which is predicated of existent
things (κατηγορεῖται): as well that which we call conceptions of the
understanding, as the simple realities of things. This may be called
an ontology, as pertaining to metaphysics; hence these determinations
also appear in Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Aristotle (Categor. I.) now
says: “Things are termed homonyms (ὁμώνυμα) of which the name alone is
common, but which have a different substantial definition (λόγος τῆς
οὐσίας); thus a horse and the picture of a horse are both called an
animal.”