Turning Point

Hegel (form of motion, qualitative leap)

The turning point 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 turning point is not a temporal process but a logical leap. The nodal line shows: continuous change → node (turning point) → new continuity. Revolutionary change vs. evolutionary development.

Origin

Lat. 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 conversion of quantity into quality."

In Hegel

Enc. §109; SL Vol. 1, Measure

Cross-references

Measure · Knotenlinie · Quality · Quantity · Sprung · Transition · Seinslogik

Im buch

Chap. 3.5