The Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences
(abbreviated as EPS or simply Encyclopaedia;
German: Enzyklopädie der philosophischen
Wissenschaften im Grundrisse, EPW, translated
as Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences
in Basic Outline) by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Hegel (first published in 1817, second edition
1827, third edition 1830), is a work that
presents an abbreviated version of Hegel's
systematic philosophy in its entirety, and
is the only form in which Hegel ever published
his entire mature philosophical system. The
fact that the account is exhaustive, that
the grounding structures of reality are ideal,
and that the system is closed makes the Encyclopedia
a statement par excellence of absolute idealism.
Intended as a pedagogical aid for attendees
of his lectures, Hegel revised and extended
the Encyclopedia over more than a decade,
but stressed its role as a "textbook" in need
of elucidation through oral commentary. The
1830 text is widely available in various English
translations with copious additions (Zusätze)
added posthumously by Hegel's students, deriving
from their lecture notes. These additions
expand on the text with examples and illustrations,
and while scholars do not take the Zusätze
to be verbatim transcription of Hegel's lectures,
their more informal and non-technical style
make them good stand-ins for the "necessary
oral commentary".
Part I of the work is sometimes referred to
as the Lesser Logic (or Shorter Logic) to
distinguish it from the Greater Logic, the
moniker given to Hegel's Science of Logic.
== Structure ==
The Encyclopedia has three main parts, each
of which is further subdivided, which together
purport to cover all the fundamental aspects
of reality, and form a closed systematic unity.
Science of Logic
Being
Essence
Concept (Begriff, or notion)
Science of Nature
Mechanics
Physics
Organics
Science of Geist
Subjective
Objective
Absolute SpiritHegel is careful to methodically
derive each category of reality ('thought-determination')
from its predecessor notion, with the completed
system bringing the circle to a close, demonstrating
its unity.
== Overview ==
The work describes the pattern of the Idea
as manifesting itself in dialectical reasoning.
While some believe that the philosophy of
nature and mind are applications of the logic,
this is a misunderstanding. The purpose of
the Encyclopedia is descriptive: to describe
how Geist (Spirit or Mind) develops itself
and not to apply the dialectical method to
all areas of human knowledge, but Spirit is
in process of growing, like a seed growing
into a mature tree: it passes through stages.
The first stage of Spirit's development is
described in the Logic. Thus the Logic presents
the categories of thought as they are in themselves;
they are the minimal conditions for thinking
anything at all, the conceptions that run
in the background of all our thinking. These
logical categories turn out to be none other
than Geist itself. In order to get at what
a thing is, we must think about it. No amount
of observing will bring us to the essence
of things. Thinking and being are equivalent,
and so logic and metaphysics are equivalent
as well. The underlying element of it all
is Geist; thus the activity of thinking is
no less than Geist articulating itself. (This
is how Hegel could say that logic is the thought
of the mind of God before creation.)
As Geist works itself out more fully, it reaches
the point where it simply cannot remain as
it is; it is incomplete, and therefore it
"others" itself; this is where the philosophy
of nature emerges. When this stage of its
development is completed, Geist "returns"
to itself, which is the emergence of the philosophy
of mind.
Hegel coined the term "diamond net" in the
book. He said, “the entire range of the
universal determinations of thought… into
which everything is brought and thereby first
made intelligible.” In other words, the
diamond net of which Hegel speaks are the
logical categories according to which we understand
our experience, thus making our empirical
observations intelligible.
== English translations ==
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Encyclopedia
of the Philosophical Sciences in Basic Outline,
translated by Klaus Brinkmann, Dandaniel O.
Dahlstrom (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
Template:ISBN-10:0521829143English translations
of all three parts are available from Oxford
University Press, with each part bound as
a separate book.
== Notes ==
== Bibliography ==
The Encyclopaedia Logic: Part 1 of the Encyclopaedia
of Philosophical Sciences, trans. T. F. Geraets,
W. A. Suchting, and H. S. Harris (Indianapolis:
Hackett, 1991).
Philosophy of Nature (Part Two of the Encyclopaedia
of Philosophical Sciences), trans. Michael
John Petry, 3 vols., (London: George Allen
and Unwin, 1970).
Hegel's Philosophy of Mind: Being Part Three
of the Encyclopaedia of Philosophical Sciences,
trans. William Wallace (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1971).
== External links ==
Quotations related to Encyclopedia of the
Philosophical Sciences at Wikiquote
E-text of Enzyklopädie der philosophischen
Wissenschaften im Grundrisse
E-text of the Wallace Translation of Part
Three of the Encyclopaedia
Hegel's Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical
Sciences in Outline
