more from Georg W.F.Hegel

Single Idea 21761

[catalogued under 1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 6. Metaphysics as Conceptual]

Full Idea

Presuppositionless thinking which begins by thinking pure, indeterminate being must therefore come to think being and nothing in terms of one another.

Gist of Idea

If we start with indeterminate being, we arrive at being and nothing as a united pair

Source

report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Science of Logic [1816]) by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 02 'From indeterminate'

Book Reference

Houlgate,Stephen: 'An Introduction to Hegel' [Blackwell 2005], p.34


A Reaction

In Houlgate's account this seems to be the key Hegelian thought. Simply by confronting nothingness he gets the idea that one concept can lead to an alternative, and that the two can then be grasped together, which is his dialectic.

Related Idea

Idea 21760 Thinking of nothing is not the same as simply not thinking [Hegel, by Houlgate]