18. It will be shown in the sequel that the Spiritual is antecedent to nature. Physio-philosophy must, therefore, commence from the spirit.
19. It will also be shown in the sequel that the whole Animal Kingdom, e. g. is, none other than the representation of the several activities or organs of Man; naught else than Man disintegrated. In like manner nature is none other than the representation of the individual activities of the spirit. As, therefore, Zoology can be termed the Science of the Conversion of Man into the Animal Kingdom, so may Physio-philosophy be called the Science of the Conversion of Spirit into Nature.
20. Physio-philosophy is divisible, therefore, into three parts. The first of these treats of spirit and its activities; the second, of the individual phenomena, or things of the world; the third, of the continuous operation of spirit in the individual things.
The first division is the doctrine of the Whole (de Toto)—Mathesis.
The second, that of Singulars (de Entibus)—Ontology.
The third, that of the Whole in the Singulars (de Toto in Entibus)—Biology.
21. The Science of the Whole must divide into two doctrines; into that of immaterial totalities—Pneumatogeny; and into that of material totalities—Hylogeny.
Ontology teaches us the phenomenon of matter. The first phenomenon of this are the heavenly bodies comprehended by Cosmogony; these develop themselves further, and divide into the elements—Stochiogeny.
From these elements the Earth element develops itself still further, and divides into minerals—Mineralogy; these minerals unite into one collective body, and this is Geogeny.
The Whole in Singulars is the living or Organic, which again divides into plants and animals.