ABSTRACT
To Hegel all that is is Process, which means-development by union of opposites, which again means not a mere addition of the one to the other but a blending of them in a third, as two necessary sides of the same, so that, equally false when apart, they are equally true when together. We see this on a great scale if we consider the two opposite notions without which the world would be nonsense to us-thought and nature. Thought (says Hegel), viewed abstractly or away from nature, gives us the Logic of abstract notions; and externality viewed by itself gives us the Philosophy of Nature. The truth is, however, that when we attempt to view them by themselves we are driven from the one to the other, and we reach the Philosophy of Spirit in which thought makes itself its own object, and thought and externality are concretely combined. The truth lies always in the concrete view; all else is abstract and half truth. But the progress of thinking begins with the half truth; it passes, from a notion that is relatively abstract, rst of all to its equally abstract opposite, and thence to a notion that is relatively concrete, uniting the two abstractions. This reconciling Third is then found, itself to be abstract, and thought is driven to its opposite, thence, reaching a new concrete.1
