Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit:
105.
ARGUMENT:
since this certainty no longer comes to us when we direct its attention to a Now that is
night or an 'I' to whom it is night -
we will approach it - and let ourselves point to it
for the truth of this immediate relation is the truth of this 'I'
were we to examine this truth afterwards - it would lose its significance entirely
we must make ourselves into the singular 'I' - which is the one who knows with
certainty
COMMENTARY:
this singular 'I' - which 'knows with certainty' is an illusion -
this particularity is immediate - but there is no certainty in this immediacy
the epistemological status of this immediacy is at the very least an open question -
hardly a matter of certainty
what I will put is that the immediate is unknown
the argument is simple really -
any 'knowledge' is reflective - and therefore by definition non-immediate
that which is immediate is therefore (by definition) - unknown
and what this amounts to is that experience - or what Hegel calls sense-certainty -
is unknown
this does not in any way take away from its reality - experience is indeed real - but it is
as immediate experience unknown
and it is for this reason that we reflect on it
'certainty' in epistemological terms is certainly (excuse the pun) not immediate -
it is a conclusion of an epistemological argument regarding status
in so far as I operate in immediacy I operate in the unknown
philosophers might have trouble getting this - lovers never have
it is also clear from what Hegel has said above that I choose my 'I'
i.e. I can place myself in an immediacy and operate from there -
this is to operate in the pure unknown
on the other hand I may take a reflective stance - a non-immediate position and thus
operate in a theoretical or explanatory mode
what is clear is that 'I' that makes these choices is an 'I' that is neither of these choices
that is no choice -
this 'I' - the underlying the 'I' is simply the ground of choice in a logical sense
and so I would say it is best to regard the self as a 'logical place'
its reality is logical - which is to say - functional
pure function
