Lecture VII.
Note 35. p. [264]. The Hegelian Philosophy.
The purpose of this note is to supply references to sources for the study of Hegel's philosophy; and also to point out the parallel and contrast in the central thought and tendency of the philosophies of Schelling and Hegel.
The most intelligible account of Hegel's system is given by Morell, History of Philosophy, ii. 161-196; and the best general view of its tendencies, especially in reference to theology, is contained in an instructive article by E. Scherer, in the Rev. des Deux Mondes for Feb. 15, 1861, from which assistance has been derived in this lecture. The student will also find great help in Chalybaüs's Hist. of Spec. Philos. ch. xi-xvii (translated 1854); and A. Véra's Introduction à la Phil. de Hegel, 1855; together with his French translation of Hegel's Logic. (Véra is one of the few Italians who understand Hegel.) The Philosophie der Geschichte, and Geschichte der Philosophie are the two most intelligible of Hegel's works; the former of which is translated into English; but the study of his Logic is indispensable, for seeing the applications of his method, as well as for appreciating his metaphysical ability and real position.
Schelling and Hegel both seek to solve the problems of philosophy, by starting à priori with the idea of the absolute; but in Schelling's case it is perceived by a presentative power (intellectual intuition), and in Hegel's by a representative. The former faculty perceives the absolute object; the latter the absolute relation, if such a term be not a contradiction. In each case the percipient power is supposed to be “above consciousness;” i.e. not trammelled by those limitations of object and subject which are the conditions of ordinary consciousness. In both systems a kind of threefold process is depicted, as the law or movement according to which the absolute manifests itself.[1069] Sir W. Hamilton has shown [pg 433] the inconsistencies of Schelling's system, in criticising that of Cousin, who was his great exponent; see Dissertations, ess. i. (reprinted from the Edinburgh Review, 1829); and Mr. Mansel has extended a similar analysis to Fichte and Hegel. (Bampton Lectures, ii. and iii; and article Metaphysic in Encyclop. Britann. 10th ed. p. 607, &c. See also Rémusat De la Philosophie Allemande, Introduction.) Yet a grand thought, even though, psychologically speaking, it be an unreal one, lies beneath the awkward terminology of the systems of Schelling and Hegel; and their method has influenced many who do not consciously embrace their philosophy. The effect produced by Schelling is the desire to seize the prime idea, the beau idéal of any subject, and trace its manifestations in the field of history; a method which is seen in the French historic and critical literature of the followers of Cousin in the reign of Louis Philippe. (See Note [9], and the references given in Note [44].) The spirit produced by Hegel, is the desire to realise the truth contained in opposite views of the same subject; to view each as a half truth, and error itself as a part of the struggle toward truth. This spirit and method are seen in such a writer as Renan, and is clearly described in the passages quoted from Scherer and others in Note [9].