“ Thus, for example, in Nature what are styled the elementary bodies, oxygen, nitrogen, &c., should be regarded as existing qualities. But in the sphere of mind, Quality appears in a subordinate way only, and not as if its qualitativeness could exhaust any specific aspect of mind. ”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Science of Logic (1816). copy citation
| Author | Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel |
|---|---|
| Source | Science of Logic |
| Topic | style quality |
| Date | 1816 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by William Wallace |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/55108/55108-h/55108-h.htm |
Context
“A Something is what it is in virtue of its quality, and losing its quality it ceases to be what it is. Quality, moreover, is completely a category only of the finite, and for that reason too it has its proper place in Nature, not in the world of Mind. Thus, for example, in Nature what are styled the elementary bodies, oxygen, nitrogen, &c., should be regarded as existing qualities. But in the sphere of mind, Quality appears in a subordinate way only, and not as if its qualitativeness could exhaust any specific aspect of mind. If, for example, we consider the subjective mind, which forms the object of psychology, we may describe what is called (moral and mental) character, as in logical language identical with Quality. This however does not mean that character is a mode of being which pervades the soul and is immediately identical with it, as is the case in the natural world with the elementary bodies before mentioned.”
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