Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit:
165.
ARGUMENT:
we see that in the inner world of appearance the Understanding comes to know
nothing else but appearance - not in shape of a play of forces - but rather that play of forces in its absolutely universal moments - in fact the Understanding experiences only itself
raised above perception consciousness exhibits itself closed in a unity with the
supersensible world through the mediating term of appearance - through which it
gazes into this background lying behind appearance
the two extremes - the one of the pure inner world - the other that of the inner being
gazing into this pure world - have now coincided - and have vanished - so too the
middle term as something other than these two extremes
this curtain of appearance hanging before the inner world is therefore drawn away -
and we have the inner being gazing into the inner world - self-consciousness
it is manifest that behind the so called curtain which is supposed to conceal the inner
world - there is nothing to be seen unless we go behind it ourselves - as much in order
to see - as that there may be something that can be seen
it is nevertheless evident that we cannot go behind appearance
for this knowledge of appearance and of its inner being - is a result of a complex
movement whereby the modes of consciousness 'meaning' perceiving and
Understanding vanish
and it will be equally evident that the cognition of what consciousness knows in
knowing itself - requires a still more complex movement
COMMENTARY:
appearance as I have argued is the relation between the inner and outer worlds -
between consciousness and non-consciousness
so appearance as such is neither of the inner or outer worlds - and for this reason I say
it is clearly unknown - if not inner or outer - what is it - the answer quite clearly is that
which is not known
the relation nevertheless exists and the object in the sense of the goal of consciousness
is to make it 'known' - it becomes clear that this goal is not reached - but the
endeavour results in the capacity to deal with what is presented and what is unknown
so yes I would agree the understanding comes to know nothing but appearance - and
that this knowledge qua knowledge is an illusion - a ruse - a con
Hegel has no account of the external world - as external - and so for him - the
'knowledge' that results is a knowledge that has no basis outside of consciousness
he does speak a lot of the inner world - but strictly speaking he has no inner world to
refer to - for an inner reality only has any sense and definition if it is the inner of an
outer - and so for Hegel it is true the Understanding only experiences itself - but here's
the twist - there is no self in Hegel that can do the experiencing -
consciousness is not raised above perception - perception is a function of
consciousness -
and yes consciousness is a closed unity - the inside dimension is defined - and
determined by the unity it is the inside of -
however there is no background to consciousness - there is no background to the
inside - there is relative to the inside - only the outside - and the outside is just the
external dimension of the unity
appearance is a 'mediating term' in the sense that appearance is that which results from
the relation of consciousness and its object -
this relation is given - it is natural - there are no holes in it - it is simply the world we
inhabit - in all its fullness
the inner world is pure - and but the inner world just is the inner being - there is no
differentiation between inner world and inner being -
and from the inside there is no 'gazing in' - there is no inside - in the inside -
the gazing is gazing out - and what is reflected into consciousness is the world
conceived
the relation that is consciousness and the non-conscious does not vanish - but equally
it is not seen - the unity that is the human being in the world can only be approached
in terms of consciousness and what is outside of consciousness - the unity per se is
ever present - but unknown
there is no curtain of appearance - appearance covers nothing - there is nothing to
cover
the relation of the inside and the outside is the creation that is appearance - appearance
is an effect
