Kommentar zur Naturphilosophie, Chapter 27
The Geological Organism
That the earth should be an organism sounds like natural mysticism. What is meant is a connection in which processes condition one another, without any subject steering them and without self-preservation in the full sense. Hegel is more cautious here than his choice of words suggests.
What is remarkable is his handling of the great geological controversy of his time. Neptunism and vulcanism stood opposed to each other: the earth from water versus the earth from fire. There was evidence for both — glasses in igneous rocks, shell remains in marine sediments. Hegel points out that both processes occurred side by side.
That is the answer that has prevailed, arrived at by taking both findings seriously. [KF]