Yes that's right, and Hegel tries to show exactly how an abstraction
becomes concrete. "Unionism" is an abstraction separated from a worldwide
movement and a long history of struggle, and any such movement is an on the
way to becoming an abstraction without millions of members who believe in
and act according to such principles, knowing and living this history.
Likewise, "science" is just an abstraction without all the institutions and
active branches of science, and the individual scientists engaged in
scientific practices. The concreteness lies in the way each side of the
relation supports and mediates between the other two.
The importance, in practice, lies in dealing with the multitudinous
one-sided views and activities which fixate on just one of these relations.
Andy
At 01:02 PM 28/10/2003 -0800, you wrote:
>aha. now i can go back and read the union example.
>Isn't this line of reasoning the same as, or resonant with, the idea of
>rising to the concrete and abstractions as empty?
>mike
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