Hegel's Phenomenolgy of Spirit:
153.
ARGUMENT:
in the law of motion it is necessary that motion be split up into time and space or
again into distance and velocity
thus motion is only the relation of these factors - the universal - is certainly divided in
its own self
but these parts do not express themselves in a One
they are indifferent to one another - space is thought to be able to do without time -
time without space - distance without velocity - just as their magnitudes are
indifferent to one another - since they are not related to one another as positive to
negative - and are thus not related to one another in their essential nature
the necessity of the division is thus certainly here - but not the necessity of the parts
for one another
but its just for this reason that the first necessity is a sham - a false necessity
for motion itself is not thought of as something simple as a pure essence - but as
already divided - time and space are in themselves independent parts or essences -
distance and velocity - modes of being - ways of thinking
if it is thought of as simple essence motion is no doubt gravity - but this does not
contain these differences at all
COMMENTARY:
what you have with Hegel here is the placing of common sense and the science of the
day in a philosophical arrangement
his philosophy is designed to show that the conceptions of space and time distance
and velocity - can be further resolved into the broader categories of his metaphysics
in this way his philosophy is descriptive
he is proposing a description of the world
now I say this world is the relation between consciousness and the non-conscious -
between the internal and the external
the world is this relation
science is a form of description - an account of this relation
what is clear is that there is no one account of the world - of the relation
human belief systems are testament to this fact of consciousness
how are we to judge one system against another?
what is preferable?
there is no standard that is not a player in the game -
descriptive systems are non-commensurable
what Hegel does is create categories which resolve apparent non-commensurable
theories
but this in effect is just to further fill out his own vision - to show that it has 'universal
applicability' - it is really just what any theorist will attempt to do
even so his description as a complete picture is just one of a number of possible
complete pictures
and as there is no true objectivity in any of this - there is no objective standard to
appeal to
you can only work within your descriptive framework - or change it - or take up with
another
this is the artistry of living - of acting - it is what we do
possibility - this possibility of different views of the world - exists because
'knowledge' - in whatever form it is expressed - is finally only a stratagem for dealing
with the unknown
the unknown gives us the reality of possibility - the indeterminateness of description
consciousness is the awareness of indeterminacy -
consciousness creates possible descriptions
these possible descriptions become real through our actions in the face of the
unknown
