more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
Whoever first understood how to count to two, even if he still found it difficult to keep on counting, saw nonetheless the possibility of infinite counting according to the same laws.
Gist of Idea
Whoever first counted to two must have seen the possibility of infinite counting
Source
Novalis (Logological Fragments I [1798], 84)
Book Ref
Novalis: 'Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Stoljar,M.M. [SUNY 1997], p.65
A Reaction
Presumably it is the discerning of the 'law' which triggers this. Is the key concept 'addition' or 'successor' (or are those the same?).
| 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] |