113
Measure (qualitative Quantity)
?- 0 Hegel's 'System of Science'
- 1 Logic (Thinking of Thinking, Science of Science)
- 2 Nature (science of matter)
- 3 Spirit/Mind (Science of humanities)
- 11 Being (immediateness, 'Ontology')
- 12 Essence (mediation, reflection, metaphysics)
- 13 Concept (Notion / Logos / Comprehension, 'Begriff')
- 111 Determinateness (Quality)
- 112 Magnitude (Quantity)
- 113 Measure (qualitative Quantity)
- 1131 Specific Quantity
- 1132 Real measure
- 1133 Becoming of Essence
Measure
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Measure is the unity of quality and quantity. In measure, quantity is no longer indifferent, but constitutive for quality. Every quality has its specific quantum --- its characteristic magnitude. Examples: salt in soup (too little: bland, too much: over-salted), body temperature (37°C: healthy, 40°C: fever). Measure has leeway: within the limits, quantitative variation does not change the quality. At the turning points (nodal line of the relations of measure), quantitative change leads to a qualitative leap (water -> ice -> steam). The measureless is the state in which the old quality collapses.
Origin: "Metron" (Greek: measure) was among the Greeks an ethical ideal ("pan metron" --- everything in measure). Aristotle defined virtue as *mesotēs* (mean between extremes). In modernity, measure became mathematical (units of measure, measurement). Hegel unites both: measure is qualitative quantum --- where ethics and mathematics meet.
In Hegel: Enc. §107-111; SL Vol. 1, Doctrine of Being, Measure
Cross-references: Quality, Quantity, Turning-over, Logic of Being, Nodal line, Quantum, Emergence