Hegel’s Critique of Aristotle’s Philosophy of Mind

86 Pages·1969·3.91 MB·English

by  Frederick Gustav Weiss (auth.)

Hegel's Critique
of Aristotle's
Philosophy of Mind
by
FREDERICK GUSTAV WEISS
Foreword by
G.R.G. MURE
MARTINUS NI1HOFF I THE HAGUE
MARTINUS NIJHOFF - PUBLISHER - THE HAGUE
Passing references to the relation of the thought of Aristotle and Hegel
are common in the literature of philosophy. Yet with the exception
of G.R.G. Mure's An Introduction to Hesel, little or nothing is to be found
which attempts to establish in systematic fashion the nature of this re
lationship. The alleged kinship must be particularly baffling to the many
students of philosophy who are led to regard Aristotle as "the father
and chief of empiricism", and Hegel as the proponent of a radically non
empirical absolute idealism. The purpose of the present study is to provide
an exposition and critical analysis of a central aspect of this relationship,
in an effort to tie Hegel and Aristotle together, neither as empiricists
nor idealists, but as philosophers of the concrete (Wirklichkeit).
The primary basis for the treatise is Hegel's detailed critique of the
De Anima in his Lectures on the History of Philosophy, as rich a source of inSight
into Hegel's own mind as into that of Aristotle. Although the question
of their conceptions of Life and Mind in general is considered, special
attention is given to Hegel's account of Aristotle's theory of sense
perception, an area in which the former is little understood, and the
latter often grossly misinterpreted. The author hopes that "on first
looking into Hegel'S Aristotle", we might catch a glimpse, not only
of an unseen or not clearly seen aspect of Hegel, but also of the real
Aristotle.
An attempt has been made to direct the study to English-speaking
philosophers. All references are to readily available translations of the
Greek and German texts, and Hegelian and Aristotelian jargon is either
avoided or carefully explicated. The whole work, however, should be
regarded as only a first step in the study of Hegel as an interpreter,
and in illuminating his relation to the most influential of his predecessors •
.About the author: Born November 30, 1939 at White Plains, N.Y.; educated at Iona
College and the University of Virginia; assistant professor of philosophy at Purdue
University (1965-69), and Florida State University (1969-). He has also taught
phUosophy at the John Herron School of Art of Indiana University. He is the
recipient of a Purdue Research Foundati.9n grant, and is Editor of The Owl uf Minerva,
the newsletter of the Hegel Society of America. He is currently editing a volume of
new essays in Hegel's Erken"tnistheorie titled Hegel: The QuesIiotJ uf KIIDW/edge.
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HEGEL'S CRITIQUE OF
ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY
OF MIND
HEGEL'S CRITIQUE OF
ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY
OF MIND
by
FREDERICK GUSTAV WEISS
Purdue University
m
~
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE /1969
ISBN 978-94-015-0174-3 ISBN 978-94-015-0670-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-0670-0
©1969 by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
To the memory of my Mother
If you want to describe life and gather its meaning,
To drive out its spirit must be your beginning,
Then though fast in your hand lie the parts one by one
The spirit that linked them, alas! is gone.
And "Nature's Laboratory" is only a name
That the chemist bestows on't to hide his own shame.
Goethe
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The preparation of this study was aided in part by an XL grant from
the Purdue Research Foundation. I am indebted to my former teachers
at the University of Virginia, particularly Professors Peter Heath and
Lewis Hammond. lowe much to Professor J. N. Findlay at Yale, who
not only read the manuscript, but discussed it with me at length during
two of his recent visits to Purdue. I also received much helpful criticism
from Sir Malcolm Knox in Scotland and Professor Jacob Loewenberg
at Berkeley. Without the inspiration of one of my early mentors, Pro
fessor Henry Paolucci, who first introduced me to the thought of Hegel
in The Philosophy of History, this study might never have been written.
I am very grateful to Mr. G. R. G. Mure in London, my immense debt
to him being manifest from first page to last of this book. My associ
ation with these teachers and scholars is an experience I will value the
rest of my life. Finally, my thanks are due to my secretary, Miss Jean
Baldwin, for typing the manuscript.
F. G. Weiss