Hegel's Pheneomenology of Spirit:
119.
ARGUMENT:
I become aware of the thing as a One - and have to hold fast to it in this its true
character
if in the course of perceiving it something turns up which contradicts it - this is to be
recognized as a reflection of mine
there also occur in the perception various properties which seem to be properties of
the thing - but the thing is a one - and we are conscious that its diversity - by which it
would cease to be a one falls in us
so in point of fact the thing is one only to our eyes - tart to our tongue - cubical to our
touch
we get the entire diversity of these aspects - not from the thing - but from ourselves
and they fall asunder for us because the eye is distinct from the tongue etc.
we are thus the universal medium in which such moments are kept apart and exist
each on its own
through the fact then that we regard the characteristic of being a universal medium as
our reflection -we preserve the self-identity and truth of the thing - its being One
COMMENTARY:
the thing as one is no more than the focus of consciousness - consciousness defines
and determines its object
conscious definition is never fixed - so there is always the possibility of revision -
such revision though is always a result of a reflection on the initial perception
the fact that the object defined as one has properties does not take away from its unity
the properties are signs of the unity - they point to the unity -
the properties of a thing are our descriptions of it - they are our attempt to determine the
thing - to give it some utility - some possibility of function
no description is final - all descriptions are revisable - the thing in itself is unknown
it is true to say that the entire diversity of these aspects come from ourselves - and not
from the thing
and further that the very focus of consciousness - which is the thing - which makes an
unknown a thing of focus - likewise comes from ourselves
the focus of consciousness however it is defined is never the truth of the thing - except
in the sense that we decide that it is - and we do this for our purposes
'the thing' outside of consciousness is the unknown - consciousness describes -
the unknown though is not made by consciousness - it is the object of consciousness
