李榮添 : 歷史之理性 -- 黑格爾歷史哲學導論述析 ( Hoffmeister, Nisbet)

李榮添 : 歷史之理性 -- 黑格爾歷史哲學導論述析 ( Hoffmeister, Nisbet)
excerpted from Lectures on the Philosophy of World History : Introduction : Reason in History. tr. by Nisbet.
( Nisbet, page 38-42 )

1. Intuition and emotion, however, are both unreflecting forms of consciousness, and we must insist in reply to such arguments that man is a thinking being, for it is thought which distinguishes him from the animals. He behaves as a thinking being even when he is himself unaware of it.

p. 39

2. God is the eternal being in and for himself; and the universal in and for itself is an object of thought, not of feeling.

p.40

3. If I reply only on my emotions, which hare indeterminate, and have no knowledge of God and his nature, I have nothing to guide me except random inclinations; the finite alone has validity and is the dominant power.

And if I know nothing whatsoever of God, there can be no serious talk about the limits of such knowledge either.

p.40

4. The truth is inherently universal, essential, and substantial; and as such, it exists solely in thought and for thought.

... the ultimate end of the world...

p.41

5. Its end is the ultimate and absolutely universal end which exists in and for itself.

6. We can therefore conclude that, even in the absolute sense, the time has come in which this conviction and inner certainty need no longer remain a mere representation, but can also be thought, developed, and recognised as a definite piece of knowledge

p.42

7. To know means to have something as an object of one's consciousness and to be certain of it; and it is exactly the same with faith.

For the spiritual is not by nature abstract, but a living thing, a universal individual, a subjective, self-determining, decision-making being.