Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit:
124.
ARGUMENT:
the contradiction present in the objective essence - is that the thing is self-identical
and its otherness is preserved - this contradiction is distributed among different things
different things exist on their own account - and the conflict is that each is different
from the other
each is determined as being a different thing - and its essential difference is its own
self
its self is a simple determinateness
it is an actual difference manifoldly constituted
but this manifold - in that it distinguishes a thing from others is unessential
thus the thing does have the twofold 'in so far as' within its unity - but the aspects are
unequal in value
this opposition does not develop into an actual opposition in the thing itself - but is an
opposition of the thing to that outside itself
COMMENTARY:
Hegel is here saying what distinguishes things is not essential to the individual things
- rather that it is unessential
and he says what determines the identity of anything - is essential
any account of the nature of a thing - of the logic of a thing will if it is successful
distinguish that thing from all other things
so I am saying that there is an argument that the essence of a thing is what it is not -
that is what is excluded from its definition
on such a view a thing is that which is not-known -
and it is to say we define entities negatively
that definition is a negative description
it is to put - is it not that 'x' is -x?
where 'x' here is a focus of consciousness - an entity to be described
and '-x' - the account of what x excludes?
my general point is that to define an entity with any precision will always entail a
characterization of what it is not -
for it is only in terms of what it is not - that we are able to differentiate it from
everything else
a corollary of this is that we cannot define everything - or the totality - or 'the' one -
just because there is nothing to distinguish it from
the way consciousness determines its focus is by determining what it is not
the focal point is therefore never grasped positively - only negatively
what is clear here I think is that the essence of consciousness is negation
consciousness brings negation into play in the world
and it is through negation that it determines and distinguishes
negation is the essential operating category of consciousness
can we say that negation is consciousness?
that into a 'world of assertion' consciousness brings negation?
and the game is on
