Single Idea 21767

[catalogued under 2. Reason / C. Styles of Reason / 1. Dialectic]

Full Idea

In the domain of individual ethics, we find the consciousness of dialectic in those universally familiar proverbs 'pride goes before a fall' and 'too much wit outwits itself'. ...Joy relieves itself in tears, and melancholy can be revealed in a smile.

Gist of Idea

Dialectic is seen in popular proverbs like 'pride comes before a fall'

Source

Georg W.F.Hegel (Logic (Encyclopedia I) [1817], §81), quoted by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 02 'The Method'

Book Reference

Houlgate,Stephen: 'An Introduction to Hegel' [Blackwell 2005], p.39


A Reaction

'Too clever by half' is the English version. Hegel's dialectic suggests that each concept somehow implies its opposite, rather than a mere mercurial drift from one extreme to the other. Most pride doesn't lead to a fall.