Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit:
93.
ARGUMENT:
in sense certainty the object is immediate being or essence
the I - a knowing - knows the object only because the object is - while the knowing
may or may not be
the object is true - or essence - it is - regardless of whether it is known or not
whereas there is no knowledge if the object is not there
COMMENTARY:
yes the knowing may or may not be there - in particularity -
but are we to say that consciousness is not an essential dimension of reality?
really who is to know the answer here?
as Hegel would be well aware - Spinoza for one argued that consciousness is an
essential attribute of reality -
we can also put the question - is the material world essential?
this too is not a matter beyond question re: George Berkeley
and in a pure Idealist reality there is no object - only subject -
just another point -
Hegel at this stage of his argument anyway
seems not to have factored in the self-consciousness
my point is - that there is an internaility that consciousness is aware of - quite
independently of the external world
now granted this internality is not describable in external terminology - nevertheless it
is real and can be given characterization - in art and poetry i.e. -
anyway his main point has to do with essence -
what is essential?
can we say existence is essential and that any thing that does exist participates in and
is an expression of that essence?
OK - if so essence is no great shakes - you can't avoid it - there is nothing else
and on such an argument every form of existence - is essential
my point is that the essentialist argument tells us nothing
it's of no use -
granted particular consciousnesses may or may not exist
and all paticular forms of non-conscious reality - may or may not exist
as to the ground of all this - existence in itself - or essence - or pure being
the fact is it is the unknown - it is 'the' unknown
