Thought and Reality in Hegel's System

Preface.Perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to say that there is no system ofthought more intimately bound up with one fundamental principle thanis the system of Hegel. Even a cursory reading of his works is sufficientto convince one that the doctrine of the Notion, whatever it may be, isbasic to the system; and a more detailed study only forces the convictionhome. In the Phenomenology, in the Encyclopaedia, in the History ofPhilosophy, in the Philosophy of Religion, everywhere it is this doctrineof the Notion upon which emphasis is laid. Indeed, if one were to saythat the entire system is just the explication of this doctrine, its elaborationby definition and application, one would be well within the boundsof justification. A correct interpretation of the system, consequently,depends upon a thorough comprehension of the doctrine of the Notion;if this doctrine is neglected, the system must remain a sealed book. Theaim of the present monograph is to set forth this doctrine of the Notion,to emphasize its importance for a theory of knowledge, and, in the lightof it, to give some insight into Hegel’s conception of ultimate reality.The first chapter of this study was read in part before the meeting ofthe American Philosophical Association at Cornell University in December,1907. Subsequently it was published in an expanded form inThe Philosophical Review (Vol. XVII, pp. 619–642), under the title“The Significance of the Hegelian Conception of Absolute Knowledge.”My thanks are due to the editor of the Review for his permission toreprint it here substantially as it appeared there.My very great indebtedness to various books and authors is sufficientlytestified to by the footnotes. The references to the larger Logicare to the edition of 1841, published by Duncker and Humblot. Thetranslations of Hegel’s works, to which I have referred for assistance