more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
It is only to the extent that we can say that something is not, that we can say what it actually is.
Gist of Idea
To grasp an existence, we must consider its non-existence
Source
report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Science of Logic [1816]) by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 02 'From indeterminate'
Book Ref
Houlgate,Stephen: 'An Introduction to Hegel' [Blackwell 2005], p.35
A Reaction
A key idea for Hegel, but it leaves me flat. Thinking about the non-being of something throws no light at all for me on the inexpressible actuality of its existence.
| 445 | The realm of necessary non-existence cannot be explored, because it is unknowable [Parmenides] |
| 1503 | There is no such thing as nothing [Parmenides] |
| 18933 | Not-Being obviously doesn't exist, and the five modes of Being are all impossible [Gorgias, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 20902 | Being does not exist more than non-being [Democritus, by Aristotle] |
| 20904 | The non-existent exists as much as the existent, because it has causal powers [Democritus] |
| 11278 | What does 'that which is not' refer to? [Plato] |
| 24029 | Among the simples are the graspable negations, such as rest and instants [Descartes] |
| 21762 | To grasp an existence, we must consider its non-existence [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 21977 | Nothing exists, as thinkable and expressible [Hegel] |
| 22919 | A thing which makes no difference seems unlikely to exist [Le Poidevin] |
| 14393 | The totality state is the most plausible truthmaker for negative existential truths [Merricks] |
| 23538 | Nothingness only exists in consciousness [Berardi] |
| 12408 | Sartre to Waitress: Coffee with no cream, please... [Sommers,W] |