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第54节

phenomenology of mind-第54节

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Matter; on the contrary; is not a thing that exists; it is being in the sense of universal being; or being
in the way the concept is being。 Reason; still instinctive; correctly draws this distinction without
being conscious that it (reason); by the very fact of its testing the law in every sense…particular;
cancels the merely sensuous existence of the law; and; when it construes the moments of the law
as forms of matter; their essential nature is taken to be something universal; and specifically
expressed as a non…sensuous element of sense; an incorporeal and yet objective existence。 

We have now to see what turn its result takes; and what new shape this activity of observation
will; in consequence; assume。 As the outcome and truth of this experimentation we find pure law;
which is freed from sensuous elements; we see it as a concept; which; while present in sense;
operates there independently and unrestrained; while enveloped in sense; is detached from it and is
a concept bare and simple。 This; which is in truth result and essence; now comes before this
consciousness itself; but as an object; moreover; since the object is not exactly a result for it and is
unrelated to the preceding process; the object is a specific kind of object; and the relation of
consciousness to it takes the form of another kind of observation。 

                                 a (2)
          Observation of Organic Nature

Such an object which sustains the procedure in the simple activity of the notion is an organism。 

Organic existence is this absolutely fluid condition wherein determinateness; which would only put
it in relation to an other; is dissolved。 Inorganic things involve determinateness in their very
essence; and on that account a thing realizes the completeness of the moments of the notion only
along with another thing; and hence gets lost when it enters the dialectic movement。 In the case of
an organic being; on the other hand; all determinate characteristics; by means of 〃which it is
palpable to another; are held under the control of the simple organic unity; none of them comes
forward as essential and capable of detaching itself from the rest and relating itself to an other
being。 What is organic; therefore; preserves itself in its very relation。 

The aspects of law on which the instinct of reason directs its observation here are; as we see from
the above; in the first instance organic nature and inorganic nature in their relation to one another。
The latter means for organic nature just the free play…a freedom opposed to the simple notion of
organic natureloosely connected characteristics in which individuated nature is at once dissolved;
and out of the continuity of which the individuated unit of nature at the same time breaks away and
exists separately。 Air; water; earth; zones and climate are universal elements of this sort; which
make up the indeterminate simple being of natural individualities; and in which these are at the
same time reflected into themselves。 Neither the individuality nor the natural element is absolutely
self…contained。 On the contrary: in the independent detachment; which observation finds these
assuming towards one another; they stand at the same time in essential relation to one another; but
in such a way that their independence and mutual indifference form the predominating feature; and
only in part become abstractions。 Here; then; law appears as the relation of an element to the
formative process of the organic being; which at one moment has the element over against itself; at
another exhibits it within its own self…determining organic structure。 But laws like these: animals
belonging to the air are of the nature of birds; those belonging to water have the constitution of
fish; animals in northerly latitudes have thick coats of hair; and so on…such laws exhibit a degree of
poverty which does not do justice to the manifold variety of organic nature。 Besides the fact that
the free activity of organic nature can readily divest its forms of determinate characters like theses
and everywhere presents of necessity exceptions to such laws or rules; as we might call them; the
characterization of those very animals to which they do apply is so very superficial that even the
necessity of the 〃laws〃 can be nothing else but superficial too; and does not carry us further than
what is implied in speaking of the 〃great influence〃 of environment on the organism。 And this does
not tell us what properly is due to that influence and what is not。 Such like relations of organic
beings to the elements they live in cannot therefore be strictly called laws at all。 For; on the one
hand; such a relation; when we look at its content; does not exhaust; as we saw; the range of the
organic beings considered; and on the other; the terms of the relation itself stand indifferently apart
from one another and express no necessity。 In the concept of an acid lies the notion of a base; just
as the notion of positive electricity implies that of negative; but even though we do find as a fact a
thick coat of hair associated with northerly latitudes; the structure of a fish with water; or that of
birds with air; there is nothing in the notion of the north implying the notion of a thick covering of
hair; the notion of the structure of fish does not lie in the notion of the sea; nor that of birds in that
of the air。 Because of this free detachment of the two notions from one another there are; as a fact
also land animals with the essential characters of a bird; of fish; and so on。 The necessity; just
because it cannot be conceived to be an inner necessity of the object; ceases also to have a
foothold in sense; and can be no longer observed in actual reality; but has quitted the sphere of
reality。 Finding thus no place in the real object itself; it becomes what is called a 〃teleological
relation〃; a relation which is external to what is related; and consequently the very reverse of a
law of its constitution。 It is an idea entirely detached from the necessity of nature; a thought which
leaves this necessity of nature behind and floats above it all by itself。 (4) 

If the relation; above alluded to; of organic existence to the elemental conditions of nature does not
express its true being; the notion of Purpose; on the other hand; does contain it。 The observing
attitude does not indeed take the to be the genuine essence of organic existence; this notion seems
to it to fall outside the real nature of the organism; and is then merely that external teleological
relation above mentioned。 Yet looking at how the organic being was previously characterized; the
organic is in point of fact just realized concrete purpose。 For since itself maintains itself in relation
to another; it is just that kind of natural existence in which nature reflects itself into the notion; and
the moments of necessity separated out 'by Understanding'…a cause and an effect; an active and a
passive…are here brought together and combined into a single unity。 In this way we have here not
only something appearing as a result of necessity; but; because it has returned to itself; the last or
the result is just as much the first which starts the process; and is to itself the purpose which it
realizes。 What is organic does not produce something; it merely conserves itself; or what is
produced is as much there already as produced。 

We must elucidate this principle more fully; both as it is in itself and as it is for the instinct of
reason; in order to see how reason finds itself there; but does not know itself in what it finds。 The
concept of purpose; then; which rational observation has reached; is; while reason has
apprehended it in consciousness; given to reason as something actually real as well; it is not merely
an external relation of the actual; but its inner being。 This actual; which is itself a purpose; is related
purposively to an other; i。e。 its relation is a contingent one with respect to what both are
immediately; prima facie they are both self…subsistent and indifferent to one another。 The real
nature of their relation; however; is something different from what they thus appear to be; and its
effect has another meaning than sense…perception directly finds。 The necessity inherent in the
process is concealed; and comes out at the end; but in such a way that this very end shows it to
have been also the first。 The end; however; shows this priority of itself by the fact that nothing
comes out of the alteration the act produced; but what was there already。 Or; again; if we start
from what is first; this; in coming to the end or the result of its act; merely returns to itself; and; just
by so doing; it demonstrates itself to be that which has itself as its end; that is to say; qua first it
has already returned to itself; or is self…contained; is in and for itself。 What; then; it arrives at by the
process of its action is itself; and its arriving merely at itself means feeling itself; is its self…feeling。
Thus we have here; no doubt; the distinction between what it is and what it seeks; but this is
merely the semblance of a distinction; and consequently it is a notion in its very nature。 

This 

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