Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit:
122.
ARGUMENT:
we see consciousness alternately makes itself - as well as the thing - into both a pure
many-less One - and into an Also that resolves itself into independent matters
consciousness finds - that not only its truth perceiving contains the distinct moments
of apprehension - and withdrawal into itself - but rather that the truth itself - the
Thing - reveals itself in this twofold way
our experience then is this that the Thing exhibits itself 'for the consciousness
apprehending it' in a specific manner - but is at the same time reflected out of the way
in which it presents itself to consciousness and back into itself
in other words - it contains in itself an opposite truth to that which it has for the
apprehending consciousness
COMMENTARY:
the relation between consciousness and its object - or consciousness and the Thing is
that of revelation
consciousness reveals - the object of consciousness is revealed
the revelation then is a revelation in consciousness
that which is revealed has the characteristics that are revealed
strictly speaking we cannot say whether these characteristics come from
consciousness to the object - or from the object to consciousness
there just is no way to decide this issue
all you can logically say is that what is revealed is revealed
so what we are talking about here is not consciousness 'and' the object or visa versa
what the revelation reveals is a relation
it is the relation that is revealed -
and it is because it is the relation that is revealed we can say - that what is revealed in
consciousness is just what consciousness reveals
that is that there is a complete correspondence
this is the first moment of consciousness - and it is what appears to be sure
the second moment of consciousness is reflection -
it is here that it becomes known that this initial correspondence - is without any
foundation - and even more devastatingly that we cannot characterize consciousness
or its object in any sustainable way -
that is to say consciousness and its object are 'doubfuls' (to use a kind of Hegelian
term)
my point is you have the initial revelation - but a revelation is all that it is -
on reflection it is seen to be without a basis -
this does not take away from its reality -
what it does is show us that its reality is purely phenomenal
that there is nothing we can point to with any certainty - behind this appearance - this
revelation -
in fact all that is revealed there is uncertainty
we are left simply with what occurs -
we may wonder at this - and yes we do - and in response to this wonder we attempt to
give the phenomenal some underpinning -
this epistemological endeavour though is not really to do with the phenomena at all -
granted this is the almost universal assumption - that we are in theorizing foundations
- giving phenomena an epistemological basis and content -
in fact as I have pointed out - this can't be done
and if so the epistemological enterprise needs to be re-evaluated
what I suggest is that the whole business of epistemological is to do with utility -
that is how to operate with - to utilize - to work with the given phenomena
in practical terms i.e. it is often seen to be necessary to give our perceptions a basis
that is not perceived - in order to make the perception operable
so epistemology and indeed metaphysics are sciences of operation - sciences of action
the whole point of speculation is to find the best way forward -
I don't think that speculation ever actually delivers here - but it does give that
appearance
the final point is that we ultimately do not know - how to proceed - and this is of
crucial importance -
but nevertheless we must - and so we do - and speculation gives us options
options that is for dealing with the unknown
