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This story is often mentioned, but without references. Was that a true story? Did Hegel indeed say this -- “the worse for the facts!” -- when somebody told him "your theory contradicts the facts!"? Or this was just a joke? Does anybody know a reference to the original source?

Sergei Akbarov
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    Huxley's quote express something quite different, than Hegel's. Huxley feel sad, maybe it is kind of nostalgy, because his theory got disproved by single experimental fact. Hegel reacts just opposite - he rejects empirical evidence contradicting his theory. –  Oct 23 '14 at 18:12

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See the paper Hegel and the Seven Planets (1992), by Edward Craig & Michael Hoskin, in Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol.23, NO. 3/AUG, P.208, 1992.

You can search on the web : Hegel and the Seven Planets.

Mauro ALLEGRANZA
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  • Ah! Thank you! Does it cointain a reference to the source? – Sergei Akbarov Jan 27 '14 at 11:14
  • Yes; the first page of the article concern the "so said" error contained in Hegel's Dissertatio philosophica de orbitis planetarum, published as docent thesis, where Hegel had "demontrated" that the number of planets cannot exceed the number of seven. This happens in the same years when the astronomer Piazzi discovered a new planet. Th papar's authors suggest that there is no place in Hegel's thesis that support such a reading. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jan 27 '14 at 12:33
  • Mauro, excuse me, I think this is a misunderstanding! That was my fault, I am actually looking for the evidenses that Hegel indeed said this: "the worse for the facts!" I'll edit my question! – Sergei Akbarov Jan 27 '14 at 12:57
  • Search in http://mathforum.org/kb/ sub voce : Math Forum » Discussions » Inactive » Historia-Matematica Topic: [HM] Hegel and seven planets . – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jan 27 '14 at 13:29
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    Mauro, I still think that we do not understand each other. It is not important for me whether Hegel indeed claimed that the number of planets can't exceed 7 - I believe that this is true, I don't need supplementary evidences for this. I am asking about something else: whether he ever pronounced this phrase, "worse for the facts". That is the question for me. – Sergei Akbarov Jan 27 '14 at 13:50
  • Searching on the web, the results point to an episode during a lesson about history, without detailed references; so I think it can be difficult to find them (if any). It can be useful traying to search into some old biographical sources, like Karl Rosenkranz, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegels Leben (1844). – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jan 27 '14 at 15:05
  • Yes, that is what I am talking about... Perhaps, somebody knows where this is exactly? – Sergei Akbarov Jan 27 '14 at 18:17
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    Theres a similar story about Einstein when he was asked how he would react if Eddingtons experiments contradicted his theory. – Mozibur Ullah Jan 28 '14 at 04:14
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    I believe Thomas Huxley said something similar - "A beautiful theory killed by a nasty ugly little fact." – Swami Vishwananda Jan 30 '14 at 15:08
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Georg Lukacs, the Hungarian ideolog of Marxism, attributed this to Fichte (quoted by Redner in his Malign Masters :48) but with no reference.

Zev Bechler
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