Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit:
143.
ARGUMENT:
the true essence of things has the character of not being immediately for
consciousness
consciousness has a mediated relation to the inner being
consciousness looks through this mediating play of forces into the true background of
things
the middle term which unites the two extremes - the understanding and the inner
world - is appearance
for we call being that is directly and in its own self a surface show
the totality as totality or as the universal - is what constitutes the inner - the play of
forces as a reflection of the inner into itself
in the universal - the totality - things of perception are expressly present for
consciousness as they are in themselves - as moments that turn into their opposite
the universal is the object that in itself possesses being
the being of this object for consciousness is mediated by the movement of appearance
- in which the being of perception has a merely negative significance
consciousness reflects itself out of this movement back into itself as the true
consciousness converts this truth again into an objective inner - and distinguishes this
reflection of Things from its own reflection into itself - just as the movement of
mediation is likewise objective for it
this inner for consciousness is an extreme over and against it - but it is for consciousness the true - since in the inner as with the in-itself - consciousness possesses the certainty of itself - or the moment of its being for self
but it's not yet conscious of this ground as the being-for-self is a negative movement
this for consciousness is still the objective vanishing appearance
the inner for Consciousness is certainly Notion - but it does not yet know the nature of
the Notion
COMMENTARY:
the true essence of things for consciousness is uncertainty
the world of appearance as a mediated world is this uncertainty
when consciousness looks through this play of mediating forces what it sees is the
unknown
and the unknown is the explanation for - the reason for - uncertainty
consciousness in relation to that which external to it - this relation
is experience - is appearance
this is the middle term
the understanding just is a function of the inner world - and here I mean not the inner
nature of things - but internality - that is consciousness
consciousness is the inner world
and I too would say that being that is directly and in its own self is a surface show
the surface as in the external world
the totality -
the 'totality' - as I understand it is that which is undefined - so any word denoting it is
dummy word - a marker or a placement that signifies the absence of definition
the universal is on the other hand a definition of type - the universal is that which has
members - it signifies membership - so it is just a general classification
its nature has to do really with how we describe - that is how language is structured to
operate in the world
in a way the universal is best seen as an approximation of particularity - a pointing to
it -
we never of course get to it - for it is the unknown
consciousness operates with universald - the universal is its stock and trade - the
universal is form
universals are essentially without content - they are merely proposals of category or
organization
we use them to gather particulars - to make particulars in effect - but the particulars
are just decided contents for a specific purpose
reality is never at issue - everything is real
the question is definition is description - it is here that uncertainty reveals itself as the
essence of consciousness
so the universal is not the object that possess being
the universal is an operation of consciousness - the universal is an action
appearance is just appearance - there is really nothing else to say of it
and what I mean here is that whenever we reflect on it - we come a cropper
a good deal of Hegel's thinking is about how to make appearance not what it is - to
give it a basis that has no movement - or perhaps he would say - higher movement
appearance is just appearance - and what this amounts to is that appearance - as with
any purity - is unknown
that is essence or essences are unknown
reflection is the dissolution of essence -
reflection makes the essence into object
the object thereafter is unstable
yes consciousness does distinguish its reflection of things from its own reflection into
itself
consciousness distinguishes itself from what it is not
that is consciousness - in reflection - distinguishes internality (itself) from externality
(what it is not)
it couldn't be further from the truth to say that consciousness possesses certainty
the essence of consciousness is uncertainty
the self is a reflective construct of consciousness - we are best to understand in terms
of its function - what such a construct enables
consciousness is the inner - and consciousness reflects - its reflection of itself - the
construct of consciousness for consciousness - is indeed unknown -
