Hegel's Pheneomenology of Spirit:
137.
ARGUMENT:
Force is itself this universal medium in which the moments subsist as 'matters' - or in
other words - Force has expressed itself - and what was supposed to be something else
soliciting it is really force itself
it exists as the medium of the unfolded matters
but equally essentially it has the form of the supercession of the subsisting matters - or
is essentially a One
COMMENTARY:
it is clear that 'Force' becomes a characterization of the unconditioned universal - of a
One
and what this tells us is that the unconditioned universal - is undefined - it can
function as a ground for definition
in this case the idea that is being run through the universal is force
one gets the impression that any notion could have its place here -
that Hegel's universal does not discriminate regarding its use
this is OK - but what it really points to is that this universal is an unknown that
becomes the ground for description - in this case 'force' - but anything is possible
we can also see from this that language has meaning given particular use - given a
particular slant -
the term 'force' is a term that is designed to function in e.g. a dynamic context - in a
context that is - in which we wish to explain movement -
how far you want to go with this depends on how far you think the concept extends
if you end up thinking of it in a holistic way - the particularity of the concept is by
definition lost - you move into the realm of such indefinite terms as 'one', 'universal'
etc.
and its really at this point that function is lost
and this is why in my view such terms as 'universal' 'one' 'totality' are of no use
they are actually not positive concepts though they are often presented as such - they
are in fact non-functional concepts - that have been mistakenly accorded significance
perhaps this is overstating the case a little
clearly such concepts have function - but only in a formal sense
whereas when it comes to force e.g. we are dealing with a concept that defines action
we can I think also say of these formal concepts that in a metaphysical sense - they
function as signs of the unknown
they function as markers of the foundationless ground of consciousness and the world
