Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit:
130.
ARGUMENT:
the singular being of sense vanishes in the dialectical movement of immediate
certainty and becomes universality
my meaning vanishes and perception and perception takes the object as it is in itself or
as a universal
singular being emerges in the object as true singleness - as the in-itself of the One - or
as a reflectedness-into-self
this is still a conditioned being-for-self - along which appears another being-for-self -
the universality that is opposed to and conditioned by singular being
these two contradictory extremes are in a single unity
being-for-self is burdened with opposition i.e. is at the same time not a being-for-self
the sophistry of perception seeks to save these moments by distinguishing between the
aspects - by sticking to the 'Also' and 'in so far as' - and finally distinguishing the
unessential from an essence
these expedients instead of warding off deception in the process of apprehension
- prove to be empty
the truth of this logic of perceptual process - proves to be in one and the same respect
the opposite of itself - and to have an essence of universality devoid of distinctions
and determinations
COMMENTARY:
sense experience as the immediate connection of consciousness to the world outside
itself - is strictly speaking without content
consciousness reflects on this immediacy and gives it form and content
the singular being of sense does not vanishes - it was only ever there as the contact of
consciousness with the unknown
my meaning is never definitive - perception regards the object as a sophisticated
unknown - that can be characterized and thus can be grasped for use
the 'single unity' does not burden us with contradictory extremes - the object is simply essentially and unessentially - unknown
how consciousness regards the single unity - depends on whether or not there is a clear conception
of use
it is not a matter of 'also' and 'in so far as' - consciousness deals with possibilities of
definition - possibilities of use - and the object does not have these possibilities -
outside of consciousness - the object as a question of use becomes a range of
possibilities
conception which is really only the operation of consciousness on perception -is never
without distinctions and determinations
that is so long as human beings have to act
