PREFACE.

to arise, both terms have been translated as ‘Morality.’ In other cases, a stricter rendering has been given, modified by the requirements of the context. The word ‘Moment’ is, as readers of German philosophy are aware, a true crux original: crux; a difficult or central problem to the translator. In Mr. J. R. Morell’s very valuable edition of Johnson’s translation of Tennemann’s ‘Manual of the History of Philosophy’ (Bohn’s Philosophical Library), the following explanation is given:

“This term was borrowed from mechanics by Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831), a major German philosopher whose complex dialectical system influenced much of modern thought. (see his Science of Logic, vol. 3. p. 104. ed. 1841). He employs it to denote the contending forces which are mutually dependent, and whose contradiction forms an equation. Hence his formula, Being original: Esse = Nothing. Here Being and Nothing are moments original: momentums, giving birth to Becoming original: Werden, that is, Existence. Thus the moment contributes to the same unity of operation in contradictory forces that we see in mechanics—amidst contrast and diversity—in weight and distance, as in the case of a balance scale.”

But in several parts of the work before us, this definition is not strictly adhered to, and the translator believes he has done justice to the original by rendering the word as ‘Successive Phase’ or ‘Organic Phase.’ In the chapter on the Crusades, another term occurs which could not be simply rendered into English. The definite, positive, and present embodiment of Essential Being is there spoken of as ‘a this’ original: ein Dieses, ‘the this’ original: das Dieses, and so on. For this repulsive combination, a descriptive phrase has been substituted which is believed to be not only accurate but explanatory. Paraphrastic additions, however, have been—in fairness to the reader—enclosed in brackets [ ]; and the philosophical use of ordinary terms is generally indicated by capitals, for example: ‘Spirit,’ ‘Freedom,’ ‘State,’ ‘Nature,’ etc.