Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 11.djvu/512

HEGEL'S CONCEPTION OF NATUIIE. 511 traction. The force of attraction was, according to Kant, the force by which matter ' occupied ' space, that of repulsion the force by which it ' filled ' space : the former was a pene- trative force which could act at a distance, the latter acted as a surface-force between two parts in contact. Without the combination of these two independent forces matter was impossible ; but while repulsion was of the very inner essence of matter, attraction, though necessary to it, was not con- tained in it. The value of such a conception was vast ; it attributed to matter in itself, to the very nature of matter, forces which had been regarded as the accidental properties of bodies in their relation to each other. Yet it was still, Hegel thought, a one-sided conception, an abstraction; 1 it was in fact a formulation of the elements contained in the popular notion of matter. The force of repulsion corresponded to the resistance offered by bodies, the force of attraction to their consistence or cohesion ; and the former being the more obvious and striking received the first position. These two forces were then left apart in independence of each other, in order to render matter possible by their combina- tion. But Kant's argument was transparent enough to show the real connexion of the two. He proves the neces- sity of attraction because repulsion alone would expand matter beyond measure. 2 Such an expansive force of re- pulsion would act at a distance and therefore be attraction. This identity of attraction and repulsion in matter is in fact the truth of the conception of matter. Attraction is the secret of the coherence with one another of the units, which, for their independence, require other units to repel. The parts of matter are like the members of society, who are linked to each other and attracted by moral and social laws, which assign to each his different position in the system. Like such persons they might say to each other in familiar language, ' I love you, therefore keep your distance,' or, more abstractly, ' we repel each other and are different, the better to show our identity '. (2) Hegel's relation to Science. Where Hegel comes into conflict with contemporary science, it is because of its want of that ideal concreteness of which Goethe had taught him the value. Instead of seeing things as wholes, it saw special characters and converted them into realities. It is thus he rejects the notion of pores and atoms. The idea of pores 1 Hegel's brilliant criticism of Kant's construction of matter is to be found in Logik, i. (Werke, iii.), pp. 200-208. 2 Kant, Met. Anf. d. Naturwixs. (Ed. Rosenkranz), p. 359.