Lectures on the History of Philosophy 1: Greek Philosophy to Plato PDF
Preview Lectures on the History of Philosophy 1: Greek Philosophy to Plato
Page iii Lectures on the History of Philosophy Greek Philosophy to Plato Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Translated by E. S. Haldane Introduction to the Bison Book Edition by Frederick C. Beiser In three volumes VOLUME 1 Page iv Disclaimer: This netLibrary eBook does not include the ancillary media that was packaged with the original printed version of the book. Introduction to the Bison Book Edition © 1995 by the University of Nebraska Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481984. First Bison Book printing: 1995 Most recent printing indicated by the last digit below: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. [Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie. English] Lectures on the history of philosophy / Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel; translated by E. S. Haldane and Frances H. Simson; introduction to the Bison book edition by Frederick C. Beiser. p. cm. Originally published: Hegel's lectures on the history of philoso phy. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1892–1896. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Contents: v. 1. Greek philosophy to Plato—v. 2. Plato and the platonists—v. 3. Medieval and modern philosophy. ISBN 0803272715 (pbk.: v. 1: alk. paper).—ISBN 080327272 3 (pbk.: v. 2: alk. paper).—ISBN 0803272731 (pbk.: v. 3: alk. paper) 1. Philosophy—History. I. Title. B2936.E5H3 1995 109—dc20 955478 CIP Originally published in 1840 as Geschichte der Philosophie. Reprinted from the original 1892 translation published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., London. The volume subtitle has been added for this Bison Book edition. Page v TRANSLATOR'S NOTE It is perhaps unnecessary to say anything respecting the difficulty of making any adequate translation of Hegel's writings. In the case of the History of Philosophy, that difficulty is possibly enhanced by the fact that the greater part of the book is put together from the notes of different courses of lectures delivered on the subject at various times. Hegel, as we learn from Michelet, in his preface to the first edition of this work, lectured in all nine times on the History of Philosophy: first in Jena in 18051806, then in Heidelberg in 18161817 and 18171818, and the other six times in Berlin between the years 1819 and 1830. He had begun the tenth course on the subject in 1831 when death cut his labours short. It was only for the first course of lectures—that delivered in Jena—that Hegel fully wrote out his lectures; this was evidently done with the intention of future publication in book form. At Heidelberg he composed a short abstract of his subject, giving in a few terse words the main points dealt with in each system of Philosophy. In the later courses of lectures Hegel trusted to extempore speaking, but at the same time made considerable use of the above writings, the margins of which he annotated with subsequent additions. Besides these annotations he left behind him a large number of miscellaneous notes, which have proved of the greatest value. The present translation is taken from the second and amended edition of the "Geschichte der Philosophie," published in 1840. This edition is derived from no one set of lectures in particular, but carefully prepared by Michelet—himself one of Hegel's pupils—from all available sources, including the Page vi notes of students. The Jena volume is, however, made the basis, as representing the main elements of the subject afterwards to be more fully amplified; or, in Michelet's words, as the skeleton which was afterwards to be clothed with flesh. I have endeavoured to make this translation as literal as possible consistently with intelligibility, and have attempted, so far as might be, to give the recognized symbols for the words for which we have in English no satisfactory equivalents. "Begriff," when used in its technical sense, is translated by "Notion," "Idee'' by "Idea," as distinguished from the colloquial "idea"; "Vorstellung" is usually rendered by "popular" or "ordinary conception." Miss Frances H. Simson has rendered very valuable assistance in going carefully over most of the proofs of the first volume, and she is now engaged with me in the translation of the volumes following. E. S. H. Page vii CONTENTS Introduction to the Bison Book Edition xi Inaugural Address xli Prefatory Note xliv Introduction 1 A. Notion of the History of Philosophy 7 1. Common Ideas Regarding the History of Philosophy 10 2. Explanatory Remarks Upon the Definition of the History of 19 Philosophy 3. Results Obtained with Respect to the Notion of the History of 29 Philosophy B. The Relation of Philosophy to Other Departments of Knowledge 49 1. The Historical Side of this Connection 50 2. Separation of Philosophy from Other Allied Departments of 55 Knowledge 3. Commencement of Philosophy and Its History 94 C. Division, Sources, and Method Adopted in Treating of the History of 101 Philosophy 1. Division of the History of Philosophy 101 2. Sources of the History of Philosophy 110 3. Method of Treatment adopted 114 Oriental Philosophy 117 A. Chinese Philosophy 119 1. Confucius 120 2. The Philosophy of the Yking 121 3. The Sect of the TaoSee 124 B. Indian Philosophy 125 1. The Sanc'hya Philosophy of Capila 128 2. The Philosophy of Gotama and Canade 141 Part One Greek Philosophy Introduction 149 The Seven Sages 156 Division of the Subject 163 Page viii Section One Chapter I.—First Period, First Division 166 A. The Ionic Philosophy 171 1. Thales 171 2. Anaximander 185 3. Anaximenes 189 B. Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans 194 1. The System of Numbers 208 2. Application of the System to the Universe 224 3. Practical Philosophy 235 C. The Eleatic School 239 1. Xenophanes 241 2. Parmenides 249 3. Melissus 257 4. Zeno 261 D. Heraclitus 278 1. The Logical Principle 282 2. Natural Philosophy 285 3. Relation of the Principle to Consciousness 293 E. Empedocles, Leucippus and Democritus 298 1. Leucippus and Democritus 299 a. The Logical Principle 302 b. The Constitution of the World 304 c. The Soul 310 2. Empedocles 310 F. Philosophy of Anaxagoras 319 1. The Universal Principle 329 2. The Homoeomeriæ * 333 3. The Relation of the Two 339 Chapter II.—First Period, Second Division 350 A. The Sophists 352 1. Protagoras 372 2. Gorgias 378 B. Socrates 384 1. The Socratic Method 397 2. The Principle of the Good 406 3. The Fate of Socrates 425 Page ix C. The Philosophy of the Socratics 448 1. The Megarics 454 a. Euclides 455 b. Eubulides 456 c. Stilpo 464 2. The Gyrenaic School 469 a. Aristippus 470 b. Theodorus 475 c. Hegesias 477 d. Anniceris 478 3. The Cynic School 479 a. Antisthenes 481 b. Diogenes 484 c. Later Cynics 486 Page xi INTRODUCTION TO THE BISON BOOK EDITION 1— The Historicist Context Hegel's Geschichte der Philosophie was one of the grand products of the renaissance in historical learning that took place in early nineteenthcentury Germany. Toward the close of the eighteenth century many historians, such as Justus Möser, J. G. Herder, Gustave Hugo, A. L. Schlözer, L. T. Spittler, and Johannes Müller, became deeply dissatisfied with current historiography. All too often in the eighteenth century historical works had been little more than a collection of facts, whose main purpose was to provide morals for statesmen, sermons for theologians, or precedents for jurists. The past was frequently judged according to the values of the present, the age of the Enlightenment, which was seen as the apex of civilization. There was little attempt to examine the past in its own terms, to see events in their wider context, or to explain the causes behind actions. The aim of Möser, Herder, Hugo, Schlözer, Spittler, and Müller was to rectify this sorry state of affairs. They wanted to examine the past for its own sake, to see events in context, and to fathom the deeper motives for actions. Their ultimate hope was to make history a science in its own right by banishing all metaphysics, morals, and theology and by sticking to the facts alone. Eventually, they believed, they could reveal the laws governing the historical world just as Newton's physics had once discovered the laws of the natural world. Page xii Such ambitions came to fruition in the early nineteenth century in works like Friedrich Schlegel's Geschichte der alten und neuen Literatur (1814), Friedrich Savigny's Geschichte der römische Recht im Mittelalter (1815–30), and, last but not least, Hegel's Geschichte der Philosophie (1833). This historical renaissance eventually led to a common outlook, a general viewpoint, about the significance and methodology of history, which has been called "historicism." 1 The historicist had a guiding vision: that all human activities and creations—law, language, religion, morality, art, and philosophy—are the product of history, the creation of a specific society at a specific time. They are all therefore subject to change. Hence there are no principles, laws, values, or forms of behavior that are somehow natural, eternal, or innate; if they sometimes seem so, that is only because we forget their genesis and generalize beyond our own age. To remain true to this vision, and to avoid the abuses of past historiography, the historicist believed that it was necessary to follow several methodological precepts: (1) place all human activities and creations in their cultural context and explain them as a necessary part of it; (2) treat each culture as an organic whole, since its laws, language, religion, art, and customs form an indivisible unity; (3) study a culture, like any organism, according to the inherent laws of its development because it too has a birth, growth, maturity, and death; and (4) understand actions, creations, and cultures from within, according to their own purposes and standards and not according to those of the present. Hegel's Philosophie der Weltgeschichte (1832)—the basis for his Geschichte der Philosophie—should be placed firmly within the historicist tradition. It was both a creator and creation, a producer and product, of historicism. Starting from the foundation laid by the late eighteenthcentury historicists, Hegel brought many of their doctrines to clear selfconsciousness and systematic unity. We certainly find in Hegel, firmly and clearly expressed, many of the articles of the historicist credo. He insists that art, religion, and philosophy are the selfawareness of their age; he stresses how all the aspects of a culture form a single whole or spirit; he
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