Umschlag [Turning Point / Qualitative Leap]

Hegel (form of movement, qualitative leap)

The *Umschlag* is the sudden transition from one quality into another through quantitative change. At the boundary of measure, quantity turns over into quality. Examples: water becomes ice (turning point at 0°C), a rope snaps (critical load), a seed becomes a plant (the germ breaks through its husk). The *Umschlag* is not a temporal process but a logical leap. The nodal line shows: continuous change --- node (turning point) --- new continuity. Revolutionary change versus evolutionary development.

Origin

From Latin *saltus* (leap). "Natura non facit saltus" (Leibniz) --- nature makes no leaps. Hegel: Yet it does, at the boundaries of measure! Quantity turns over into quality. Marx/Engels: "the law of the transformation of quantity into quality."

In Hegel

Enc. §109; *Science of Logic*, Vol. 1, Measure

Cross-references

Measure · Knotenlinie · Quality · Quantity · Sprung · Übergang (Transition) · Doctrine of Being