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Single Idea 19577
[filed under theme 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 2. Abstracta by Selection
]
Full Idea
Before abstraction everything is one - but one as chaos is - after abstraction everything is again unified - but in a free alliance of independent, self-determined beings. A crowd has become a society - a chaos is transformed into a manifold world.
Gist of Idea
Everything is a chaotic unity, then we abstract, then we reunify the world into a free alliance
Source
Novalis (Miscellaneous Observations [1798], 094)
Book Ref
Novalis: 'Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Stoljar,M.M. [SUNY 1997], p.40
A Reaction
Personally I take (unfashionably) psychological abstraction to one of the key foundations of human thought, so I love this idea, which gives a huge picture of how the abstracting mind relates to reality.
Related Idea
Idea 6118
Philosophy is logical analysis, followed by synthesis [Russell]
The
32 ideas
from Novalis
19591
|
Desire for perfection is an illness, if it turns against what is imperfect
[Novalis]
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22026
|
Philosophy is homesickness - the urge to be at home everywhere
[Novalis]
|
19592
|
The basic relations of nature are musical
[Novalis]
|
19593
|
Persons are shaped by a life history; splendid persons are shaped by world history
[Novalis]
|
19594
|
General statements about nature are not valid
[Novalis]
|
19595
|
Nature is a whole, and its individual parts cannot be wholly understood
[Novalis]
|
19596
|
The whole body is involved in the formation of thoughts
[Novalis]
|
22025
|
Novalis thought self-consciousness cannot disclose 'being', because we are temporal creatures
[Novalis, by Pinkard]
|
19579
|
The history of philosophy is just experiments in how to do philosophy
[Novalis]
|
19580
|
If the pupil really yearns for the truth, they only need a hint
[Novalis]
|
19581
|
A problem is a solid mass, which the mind must break up
[Novalis]
|
19582
|
Morality and philosophy are mutually dependent
[Novalis]
|
19583
|
Philosophy only begins when it studies itself
[Novalis]
|
19584
|
Whoever first counted to two must have seen the possibility of infinite counting
[Novalis]
|
19585
|
Every person has his own language
[Novalis]
|
22027
|
Life isn't given to us like a novel - we write the novel
[Novalis]
|
22067
|
Poetry is true idealism, and the self-consciousness of the universe
[Novalis]
|
19586
|
Philosophers feed on problems, hoping they are digestible, and spiced with paradox
[Novalis]
|
19587
|
Philosophy aims to produce a priori an absolute and artistic world system
[Novalis]
|
19588
|
The highest aim of philosophy is to combine all philosophies into a unity
[Novalis]
|
19597
|
Logic (the theory of relations) should be applied to mathematics
[Novalis]
|
19598
|
Philosophy relies on our whole system of learning, and can thus never be complete
[Novalis]
|
19571
|
Delusion and truth differ in their life functions
[Novalis]
|
19572
|
Experiences tests reason, and reason tests experience
[Novalis]
|
19573
|
The seat of the soul is where our inner and outer worlds interpenetrate
[Novalis]
|
19574
|
If man sacrifices truth he sacrifices himself, by acting against his own convictions
[Novalis]
|
19575
|
Refinement of senses increasingly distinguishes individuals
[Novalis]
|
19576
|
Religion needs an intermediary, because none of us can connect directly to a godhead
[Novalis]
|
19577
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Everything is a chaotic unity, then we abstract, then we reunify the world into a free alliance
[Novalis]
|
19578
|
Only self-illuminated perfect individuals are beautiful
[Novalis]
|
19590
|
Empiricists are passive thinkers, given their philosophy by the external world and fate
[Novalis]
|
19589
|
The whole point of a monarch is that we accept them as a higher-born, ideal person
[Novalis]
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