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197

|199| Through the manifold of the determinations and objects that engage his interest, theoretical culture develops — not only a manifold of representations and items of knowledge, but also a mobility and quickness of representing, and of passing over from one representation to another, the grasping of complicated and general relations, and so on — the cultivation of the understanding in general, and thereby also of language. — Practical culture, through labour, consists in the need, engendering itself, and the habit, in general, of occupation; further, in the limitation of one’s activity, in part according to the nature of the material, but in part, and chiefly, according to the arbitrary will of others; and in a habit, acquired through this discipline, of objective activity and of universally valid skills.

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2 responses to “197”

  1. Eduard Gans (Additions) Avatar
    Eduard Gans (Additions)

    The barbarian is lazy and is distinguished from the cultivated person by the fact that he broods dully to himself, for practical culture consists precisely in habituation and in the need for occupation. The unskillful man always brings forth something other than what he wants, because he is not master of his own doing, whereas the worker can be called skillful who brings forth the thing as it ought to be, and who finds no resistance in his subjective activity as against the purpose.

  2. Hegel (Simple) Avatar
    Hegel (Simple)

    § 197: Culture through labor

    Labor and needs cultivate human beings. This happens in two ways.

    Cultivating thought:

    Whoever deals with many things learns a lot. He gathers knowledge. He thinks faster. He understands complicated connections. His language grows richer too.

    Cultivating action:

    Whoever works gets used to being busy. He learns to adjust to the material. And above all, he learns to adjust to the wishes of others. Through this discipline he becomes skilled. He can do what everyone needs.

    Skill and clumsiness:

    The clumsy person always turns out something other than he wanted. He is not master of his own doing. The skilled worker makes the thing as it ought to be. In him the hands obey the purpose.

    The barbarian, by contrast, is lazy. He broods dully to himself. Practical culture means that you need to be busy and are used to it.

    Summary: Labor cultivates human beings. It trains their thinking and their doing. Whoever works becomes skilled and gets used to meaningful activity.

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