Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit:
146.
ARGUMENT:
the inner world for consciousness is still - a pure beyond - because consciousness does
not yet find itself in it - it is empty - for it is merely the nothingness of appearance -
and the simple or unitary universal
this mode of inner being of things finds acceptance by those who say the inner being
of things is unknowable
we have no knowledge of this inner world as it is here in its immediacy - because in
the void nothing is known - or expressed from the other side
this inner world is the beyond of consciousness
if no further significance is attached to the inner world - there would be nothing to stop
us perceiving something as true that is not true
the void - the holy of holies - we must fill up with reveries appearances produced by
consciousness itself
COMMENTARY:
the inner world for consciousness just is consciousness - consciousness is internality -
and this is all consciousness is -
now what this is - this internality is not known - it is an unknown -
nevertheless it is recognized as a dimension - the internal dimension
consciousness may attempt - in fact does attempt at every move to define itself - to
'find itself' - but the reflective realization of consciousness is that the lack of definition
is the definition of consciousness
the external world is surface - it does not have the depth of consciousness - that is it does not have the dimension of consciousness
the surface is just that - the surface
appearance is strictly speaking a relation -
it is the relation that is the world experienced - that is the relation of the internal and
the external - it is the unity - given
Hegel has got it all wrong in my opinion
and his fundamental mistake is with the nature of consciousness
consciousness is internality
that which does not have consciousness has no internality
the external world - the outside of consciousness - the material world - is purely one dimensional
so there is no question of the inner being of external things
they do not have an inner being
unless that is they possess consciousness
and from what we can see such is an exception and not the rule
so the inner world is not beyond consciousness - the inner world just is consciousness
Hegel's imaginary inner world of things has nothing to do with the issue of truth
what appears (the external world) is what is true - and what does not appear
(consciousness) is what is true
and as to the void - there is no void -
