First divsion, Chapter I. — The Metaphysics of the Understanding...

If there are different Notions of the science of Philosophy, it is the true Notion alone that puts us in a position to understand the writings of philosophers who have worked in the knowledge of it. For in thought, and particularly in speculative thought, comprehension means something quite different from understanding the grammatical sense of the words alone, and also from understanding them in the region of ordinary conception only. Hence we may possess a knowledge of the assertions, propositions, or of the opinions of philosophers; we may have occupied ourselves largely with the grounds of and deductions from these opinions, and the main point in all that we have done may be wanting — the comprehension of the propositions

— Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "If there are different Notions of the science of Philosophy, it is the true Notion alone that puts us in a position to understand the writings of philosophers who have worked in the knowledge of it. For in thought, and particularly in speculative thought, comprehension means something quite different from understanding the grammatical sense of the words alone, and also from understanding them in the region of ordinary conception only. Hence we may possess a knowledge of the assertions, propositions, or of the opinions of philosophers; we may have occupied ourselves largely with the grounds of and deductions from these opinions, and the main point in all that we have done may be wanting — the comprehension of the propositions" in the context of "First divsion, Chapter I. — The Metaphysics of the Understanding..." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel" (Quotes, Lectures on the History of Philosophy (1805): See wikipedia article Lectures on the History of Philosophy Full text online in English (E. S. Haldane translation). Haldane's translations of the 1825-1830 lectures are also available here along with the 1830-1831 lectures here. The Collected Works of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: The Science of Logic, The Philosophy of Mind, The Philosophy of Right, The Philosophy of Law,The Criticism of Hegel's Work and Hegelianism by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche Full text online in English (J. B. Baillie translation)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

About Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher considered one of the most important figures in German idealism. He is one of the fundamental figures of Western philosophy, with his influence extending to the entire range of contemporary philosophical issues, from aesthetics to ontology to politics, both in the analytic and continental tradition.