Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2015 Omnis Determinatio est Negatio: A Genealogy and Defense of the Hegelian Conception of Negation Russell Newstadt Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Newstadt, Russell, "Omnis Determinatio est Negatio: A Genealogy and Defense of the Hegelian Conception of Negation" (2015). Dissertations. 1481. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1481 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2015 Russell Newstadt ! ! LOYOLA!UNIVERSITY!CHICAGO! ! OMNIS!DETERMINATIO!EST!NEGATIO:!A!GENEALOGY!AND!DEFENSE!OF!THE!HEGELIAN! CONCEPTION!OF!NEGATION! ! ! A!DISSERTATION!SUBMITTED!TO! ! THE!FACULTY!OF!THE!GRADUATE!SCHOOL! ! IN!CANDIDACY!FOR!THE!DEGREE!OF! ! DOCTOR!OF!PHILOSOPHY! ! PROGRAM!IN!PHILOSOPHY! ! ! BY! RUSSELL!NEWSTADT! CHICAGO,!IL! MAY!2015! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Copyright!by!Russell!Newstadt,!2015! All!Rights!Reserved! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS" " I"have"been"thinking"about"the"subject"of"this"dissertation"for"some"time,"and"so"I" have"incurred"quite"a"few"debts"on"the"way"to"arranging"my"thoughts"into"a"dissertation," beginning"with"the"debt"I"owe"my"first"philosophical"hero"as"an"undergraduate"at" Berkeley,"Donald"Davidson,"who"regrettably"will"have"to"be"thanked"in"absentia."I"owe" much"more"immediate"thanks"to"the"members"of"my"dissertation"committee,"each"of" whom"has"taught"me"something"essential"about"philosophy."Adriaan"Peperzak"showed" me"that"philosophy"was"still"the"sort"of"vital"project"Plato"took"it"to"be."Through"the" course"of"my"time"at"Loyola,"Blake"Dutton"instilled"in"me"a"passion"for"careful"reading" and"argumentation,"even"if"these"are"not"always"exhibited"in"the"more"speculative" moments"of"my"work."As"for"Andrew"Cutrofello,"the"imagination,"intelligence"and" generosity"he"has"shown"as"the"director"of"my"dissertation,"and"as"a"philosophical" mentor"and"interlocutor,"will"require"the"remainder"of"my"life"to"account"for." " The"love"and"encouragement"of"my"mother,"brother"and"sister"have"made"it" possible"for"me"to"persist"with"something"I"seemed,"at"times,"destined"to"abandon."A" number"of"friends"and"relatives"have"also"pushed"me"affectionately,"when"necessary." Finally,"to"my"lovely"wife"Larisa"and"my"adorable"daughter"Aurelia,"I"owe"thanks"for" compelling"me"to"see"my"devotion"to"philosophy"in"the"proper"context"of"loving"and" devoting"myself"to"them." iii" ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Die$Leistung$der$Urteilsfunktion$wird$aber$erst$dadurch$ermöglicht,$dass$die$ Schöpfung$des$Verneinungssymbols$der$Denken$einen$ersten$Grad$von$Unabhängigkeit$ von$der$Erfolgen$der$Verdrängung$und$somit$auch$vom$Zwang$des$Lustprincips$ gestattet$hat.! –!Sigmund!Freud! " Jedes$“Nicht”$in$jedem$NIchtIsagen,$ob$sprachlich$ausdrücklich$oder$nicht,$hat$als$ Sprechen$von…den$Charakter$des$Aufzeigens.! –!Martin!Heidegger! TABLE"OF"CONTENTS" " ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""iii" " ABSTRACT"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""vi" " INTRODUCTION:"THE"DISCOURSE"OF"NEGATION"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""1" " CHAPTER"1:"PLATO:"NEGATION"AND"THE"DISCURSIVE"INTERVAL"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""46" " CHAPTER"2:"BOETHIUS:"CONTRADICTION,"DIVISION"AND"THE"(DIS)UNITY"OF" """THOUGHT"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""139" " CHAPTER"3:"HEGEL:"NEGATION"AND"THE"LOGIC"OF"THE"CONCEPT"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""193" " CONCLUSION:"NEGATION,"PHILOSOPHY"AND"THE"LIMITS"OF"EXPERIENCE""""""""""""""""""""""281" " BIBLIOGRAPHY"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""302" " VITA""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""316" V" ! ABSTRACT! ! My!dissertation!explores!the!Platonic!and!medieval!roots!of!a!philosophical! conception!of!negation!that!finds!its!full!expression!in!Hegel’s!dialectic.!I!set!out!the! Basic!features!of!this!conception!and!defend!it!against!the!prevailing!Fregean!treatment! of!negation!as,!in!effect,!a!semantic!switch,!i.e.,!one!that!converts!true!to!false,!and!false! to!true.!According!to!the!Hegelian!conception,!negation!is!Both!what!opens!up!the! predicative*interval,!the!logical!space!Between!suBject!and!predicate,!and!what!guides! the!determination!of!concepts!through!the!judgments!in!which!they!are!employed.!As! such,!negation!is!the!fundamental!engine!of!discursive!thought!and!expression.! I!argue!that!this!conception!originates!with!Plato,!who!rescues!negation!from!the! extensional!semantics!of!names!and!the!corresponding!Bivalent!metaphysics!of!Being! and!nonGbeing.!With!Boethius!the!vital!role!of!negation!is!denied,!and!indeed!forgotten,! although!he!retains!a!formal!sense!of!its!original,!propositional!setting.!It!is!Hegel,! however,!who!recognizes!in!negation!the!ground!of!concepts,!inference!and!truth.! Plato’s!recasting!of!negation!as!difference!also!underpins!the!traditional!Aristotelian!and! scholastic!treatment!of!differentiae!and!is!tied!to!a!view!of!concepts!(and!Kinds)!as! hierarchically!determined,!and!to!a!method!for!mapping!out!this!hierarchy,!i.e.,!the! method*or!science*of*division.!This!method!is!introduced!By!Plato,!developed!By!Aristotle,! institutionalized!By!Boethius,!and!reconceived!in!Hegel’s!Logic.! vi! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! INTRODUCTION! THE!DISCOURSE!OF!NEGATION! Section(One.(Philosophy(and(Negation( ! Negation,!like!being,!is!said!in!many!ways.!Indeed,!properly!understood,!it!is! never!not!said.!This!remains!true!despite!the!fact!that,!unlike!being,!it!is!rarely!spoken!of! at!all,!and!what!little!philosophical!attention!is!historically!granted!it!is!largely!devoted! to!marginalizing!its!use!or!registering!its!logical,!metaphysical!or!ethical!shortcomings.! Aristotle!associates!it!with!indeterminacy,!Augustine,!in!a!crucial!setting,!with!privation,! and!in!particular!the!privation!of!good!(privatio*boni),!and!so!evil,!and!Duns!Scotus! observes!that!it!is!derivative!(and!so!in!principle!dispensable),!insisting!that!it!is!"clear! that!we!can!know!negations…only!through!affirmations,!since!negation!is!not!intelligible! except!through!affirmation,”!and!indeed!that!negative!predicates!are!always!reducible! to!positive!ones.1!He!elsewhere!adds!to!his!list!of!reasons!against!the!possibility!of! knowing!God,!or!anything!else,!through!negation,!the!observation!that!"we!do!not!love! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1!Duns!Scotus,!Philosophical*Writings,!trans.!Allan!Wolter!(Indianapolis:!Hackett!Publishing!Company,! 1987),!15.! ! 1! ! 2! negations!to!the!highest!degree,"2!a!consideration!that!presumably!holds!sway!because! God!is!the!most!proper!object!of!our!love.! This!same!disregard!for!negation!is!expressed!by,!amongst!others,!Schelling,! Henri!Bergson3!and,!under!the!acknowledged!influence!of!Scotus!and!Bergson,!Gilles! Deleuze.!Whilst!for!the!former!it!is!associated!with!the!inaccessibility!of!a!transcendent! metaphysics,!for!Deleuze!and!Deleuzians!the!issue!is!pointedly!socio[political!as!well![! not!is!the!ensign!of!despotic!prohibition!and!territorialization.!Negation!is!also,!of! course,!associated!with!denial,!rejection!and!prohibition,!and!has!the!broader!cultural! significance!of!moralism,!alienation,!nihilism,!non[being!and!death.!Nowhere!is!its! philosophical!marginality!more!emphatically!declared!than!in!contemporary!analytic! philosophy!where!it!is!left!to!the!perfunctory!catalogues!of!logical!expressions!with! which!logic!textbooks!typically!begin![!following!Frege,!its!proper!use!is!defined!by!the! prescriptions!of!formal!logic,!which!treats!negation!as!a!truth!function,!i.e.,!a!semantic! switch,!so!to!speak,!that!converts!truth!values,!mapping!true!to!false*and!false*to!true.! This!then!is!the!consensus!view!of!the!role!and!function!of!negation.! Yet!even!if!marginalized,!negation!appears!to!be!an!ineliminable!component!of! thinking!and!what!we!think!about,!and!although!this!on!its!own!need!not!confer! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2!Negationes*etiam*non*summe*amamus,!in!John!Duns!Scotus,!Ordinatio!1,!d.!3,!pars!1,!ed.!Vatican,!vol.!3,! 5,!n.10.!Aristotle!makes!a!related!claim!at!Metaphysics,!4.2.1003b!9[11.!!All!citations!of!the!Metaphysics! are!from!Metaphysica,!ed.!W.!Jaeger!(Oxford:!Clarendon!Press,!1957),!and,!unless!otherwise!indicated,!all! translations!of!this!text!are!my!own.! ! 3!Bergson!defends!a!position!exactly!contrary!to!Frege’s,!arguing!that!negation!is!always!applied!to!rather! than!being!a!part!of!the!content!of!a!proposition.!See!Henri!Bergson,!Creative*Evolution,!trans.!Arthur! Mitchell!(Westport,!Conn.:!Greenwood!Press,!1975),!288.! ! ! 3! philosophical!significance,!the!case!for!the!general!philosophical!interest!of!negation!is!