Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit:
127.
ARGUMENT:
the object is defined as having within it an essential property which constitutes its
simple being for itself -
but along with this it contains a diversity which though necessary is not essential
determinateness
this distinction is nominal
the unessential which is none the less supposed to be necessary - cancels itself out
it is what has been called the negation of itself
COMMENTARY:
look the fact of it is that this 'essential property' that is 'simple being for itself' is
unknown
we can decorate the fact with such phrases - but in the end that is what it comes to - decoration
we may wish to think of things as having simple base properties or essences and also
on top of this a collection of non-essential properties - and this way of thinking may
well be very natural - ingrained - and as it were necessary if we are to do anything
with an object or objects of our focus
but really all this amounts to is that consciousness characterizes the unknown - gives it
some structure and utility
my own view is that strictly speaking we can't say for sure what the origin of this
characterization is - on the face of it there are two options - consciousness or the non-
conscious -
origin is not really the issue - and it can't be decided
we have what we have and we work with it
my immediate response to this issue would be to say consciousness imposes its
characterization on the unknown - and I think there is value in looking at it this way -
it does set up the issue quite sharply -
however my considered view is as I just mentioned that strictly speaking once this
perspective is understood - it too must be held in doubt
