Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit:
156.
ARGUMENT:
thus this change is not yet a change of the thing itself - but presents as pure change
because the contents of the moments remain the same
this change becomes for the Understanding the law of the inner world
the understanding thus learns it is a law of appearance itself - that differences arise
that are no differences and the self same repels itself
and differences cancel themselves - thus what is not selfsame is self attractive
thus a second law - difference which remains selfsame - this expresses that like
becomes unlike and visa versa
the second law posits the permanence of impermanence
consequently the difference exhibits itself as a difference in the thing in itself or as an absolute difference
and this difference of the thing is thus the selfsame that has repelled itself from itself
and posits an antithesis that is none
COMMENTARY:
the relation of the conscious and the non-conscious is the reality we face
thus for consciousness the object of consciousness does not appear as the thing itself
the thing itself for all intents and purposes is an abstraction - if anything
an abstraction from the appearance
so any change in the object is a change only in the appearance - the object as
appearance
the thing in itself - on a phenomenal level is irrelevant
as a reflective argument it has a function in consciousness - but this is a theoretical
function
the thing in itself cannot be known - so the issue of change does not arise
the object as an appearance is what?
well strictly we don't know
however the function of consciousness is to describe
so the object is consciousness' description
we know consciousness does not remain still
so descriptions change
in a logical sense the object of consciousness as an objective reality is the sum of
possible descriptions
and this does not presume some fixed point that all possible descriptions refer to
the point of descriptions is itself up for argument
these epistemological issues are never resolved qua epistemology
'resolution is only a decision to move or proceed in relation to a conception that provisionally stabilizes the object of consciousness
here it must be understood that issues of 'change' and 'sameness' are arguments that are
never settled qua argument
rather they are acted upon and the action is as close to resolution as is required
finally any action is - despite its apparent determinateness - an argument that can be
opened up
