II 



HEGEL AND THE METAPHYSICS OF THE 

 FLUXIONAL CALCULUS 1 



IT is now many years since Dr. Whewell drew the 

 attention of the Cambridge Philosophical Society to the 

 courageous, if somewhat Quixotic, attempts of Hegel to 

 cast discredit on Newton s law of gravitation, and on 

 the mathematical demonstrations of Kepler s laws given 

 in the Principia. At the time when Whewell wrote, it 

 would probably have been difficult to find in Britain any 

 one ready to maintain the cause of Hegel in this matter, 

 or even to hint that the astounding arguments of the 

 Naturphilosophie flowed from any deeper source than 

 self-complacent ignorance. 



The present state of matters is different. The philo 

 sophy of Hegel is now for the first time beginning to have 

 a direct and powerful influence on British speculation. 

 Men are beginning to study Hegel ; and an author whose 

 works confessedly demand the labour of years, if they 

 are to be fully understood, can hardly be studied at all 

 except by devoted disciples. A man whose determina 

 tion to master Hegel s philosophy survives the repelling 

 impression which the obscurity and arrogance of the 

 philosopher are sure to produce at first, is very likely to 

 be carried away by the calm assumption of omniscience 

 which runs through Hegel s writings. It is not, therefore, 



1 Communicated by Professor Tait to the Royal Society of Edin 

 burgh on May 17, 1869, and published in its Transactions, vol. xxv. 

 pt. ii. pp. 491-511. 



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