Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Volume 2 (of 3)
Georg Hegel · en
h. The eighth trope arises from the relativity of things, and is thus
the universal trope of relationship. This relativity of everything
existent and thought is a more inward, real determinateness, and all
the tropes already mentioned really aim at it. “According to this
trope,” says Sextus (Pyrrh. Hyp. I. c. 14, §§ 135, 136), “we conclude
that since everything is in relation to something, we must withhold
our judgment as to what it is on its own account and in its nature.
But it must be remarked that we here make use of ‘is’ in the sense
of appearance only. Relationship is used in two respects: first in
relation to the judging subject,” and this difference we saw in the
previous tropes, “and in the second place in relation to the object
which is to be judged, like right and left.” Sextus, in the passage
above (§§ 137, 140), argues as follows: “As regards what is set forth
on its own account and separate from others, is it distinguished from
the mere relative or not? If it were not different from it, it would
itself be a relative. If it is different, it again is a relative.
That is to say, what is different is related to something, for it
is set forth in relation to that from which it is distinguished.”
Relativity, generally, is present in what is absolutely predicated,
for relationship is a relationship in itself and not to another.
Relationship contains opposition: what is in relation to another is
on the one hand independent on its own account, but on the other,
because it is in relationship, it is likewise not independent. For if
anything is only in relation to something else, the other likewise
belongs to it; it is thus not on its own account. But if its other
already belongs to it, its non-being also already belongs to it, and
it is a contradictory as soon as it is not without its other. “But
because we cannot separate the relative from its other, we likewise do
not know what it is on its own account and in its nature, and we must
consequently suspend our judgment.”
i. The ninth trope is the more or less frequent occurrence of things,
which likewise alters one’s judgment upon the things. What happens
seldom is more highly esteemed than what comes to pass frequently; and
custom brings about the fact that one judges in this way and the other
in that way. Custom is thus made a circumstance which also permits us
to say that things appear so and so to us, but not universally and
generally that they are so.[204] When men say of any particular things
that “this is so,” circumstances may be instanced in which the opposite
predicate is applicable to them also. If, for example, we remain at
the abstraction of the man, does it really signify whether or not we
have a prince?—No. States?—No. A republic?—No, and so on, for they are
here and not there.