HEGEL’S LECTURES ON THE
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
VOLUME ONE
Hegel’s Lectures on
THE HISTORY OF
PHILOSOPHY
_Translated from the German by_
E. S. HALDANE
_In three volumes_
VOLUME ONE
[Illustration]
ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL LTD
Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane
London, E.C.4
_First published in England 1892
by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd
Reprinted 1955
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane
London, E.C.4_
_Reprinted by lithography in Great Britain by
Jarrold and Sons Limited, Norwich_
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE
IT is perhaps unnecessary to say anything respecting the difficulty
of making any adequate translation of Hegel’s writings. In the case
of the History of Philosophy, that difficulty is possibly enhanced
by the fact that the greater part of the book is put together from
the notes of different courses of lectures delivered on the subject
at various times. Hegel, as we learn from Michelet, in his preface
to the first edition of this work, lectured in all nine times on the
History of Philosophy: first in Jena in 1805-1806, then in Heidelberg
in 1816-1817 and 1817-1818, and the other six times in Berlin between
the years 1819 and 1830. He had begun the tenth course on the subject
in 1831 when death cut his labours short. It was only for the first
course of lectures—that delivered in Jena—that Hegel fully wrote out
his lectures; this was evidently done with the intention of future
publication in book form. At Heidelberg he composed a short abstract
of his subject, giving in a few terse words the main points dealt with
in each system of Philosophy. In the later courses of lectures Hegel
trusted to extempore speaking, but at the same time made considerable
use of the above writings, the margins of which he annotated with
subsequent additions. Besides these annotations he left behind him a
large number of miscellaneous notes, which have proved of the greatest
value. The present translation is taken from the second and amended
edition of the “Geschichte der Philosophie,” published in 1840. This
edition is derived from no one set of lectures in particular, but
carefully prepared by Michelet—himself one of Hegel’s pupils—from all
available sources, including the notes of students. The Jena volume
is, however, made the basis, as representing the main elements of the
subject afterwards to be more fully amplified; or, in Michelet’s words,
as the skeleton which was afterwards to be clothed with flesh.
I have endeavoured to make this translation as literal as possible
consistently with intelligibility, and have attempted, so far as
might be, to give the recognized symbols for the words for which we
have in English no satisfactory equivalents. “Begriff,” when used in
its technical sense, is translated by “Notion,” “Idee” by “Idea,” as
distinguished from the colloquial “idea”; “Vorstellung” is usually
rendered by “popular” or “ordinary conception.”
Miss Frances H. Simson has rendered very valuable assistance in going
carefully over most of the proofs of the first volume, and she is now
engaged with me in the translation of the volumes following.
E. S. H.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
A. Notion of the History of Philosophy 7
1. Common Ideas regarding the History of Philosophy 10
2. Explanatory remarks upon the Definition of the
History of Philosophy 19
3. Results obtained with respect to the Notion of the
History of Philosophy 29
B. The Relation of Philosophy to other Departments of
Knowledge 49
1. The Historical side of this Connection 50
2. Separation of Philosophy from other allied departments
of Knowledge 55
3. Commencement of Philosophy and its History 94
C. Division, Sources, and Method adopted in treating of the
History of Philosophy 101
1. Division of the History of Philosophy 101
2. Sources of the History of Philosophy 110
3. Method of Treatment adopted 114
ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY 117
A. Chinese Philosophy 119
1. Confucius 120
2. The Philosophy of the Y-king 121
3. The Sect of the Tao-See 124
B. Indian Philosophy 125
1. The Sanc’hya Philosophy of Capila 128
2. The Philosophy of Gotama and Canade 141
PART ONE
GREEK PHILOSOPHY
Introduction 149
The Seven Sages 156
Division of the Subject 163
SECTION ONE
CHAPTER I.—FIRST PERIOD, FIRST DIVISION 166
A. The Ionic Philosophy 171
1. Thales 171
2. Anaximander 185
3. Anaximenes 189
B. Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans 194
1. The System of Numbers 208
2. Application of the System to the Universe 224
3. Practical Philosophy 235
C. The Eleatic School 239
1. Xenophanes 241
2. Parmenides 249
3. Melissus 257
4. Zeno 261
D. Heraclitus 278
1. The Logical Principle 282
2. Natural Philosophy 285
3. Relation of the Principle to Consciousness 293
E. Empedocles, Leucippus and Democritus 298
1. Leucippus and Democritus 299
_a._ The Logical Principle 302
_b._ The Constitution of the World 304
_c._ The Soul 310
2. Empedocles 310
F. Philosophy of Anaxagoras 319
1. The Universal Principle 329
2. The Homœomeriæ 333
3. The Relation of the Two 339