Reason

The Certainty and Truth of Reason (231-239)

In the end, the Unhappy Consciousness gave away its particular being-for-self to a mediator, establishing an actual individual self-consciousness as the negative of itself (231). In this way, the Unhappy Consciousness has turned itself into [mere] being. Mere being simply being an immediate being that is both objective and aware of itself as such. The unchangeable is no longer a separate extreme from Self-consciousness, instead it has become reconciled with it through the mediator. This mediator as a middle term connects the two and asserts to consciousness that it is truly all of reality. By this Hegel means that its particular subjectivity has transformed into universal objectivity: Reason.

Self-Consciousness, now as the embodiment of Reason, has its negative relation to otherness transform into a positive one. Self-Consciousness no longer escapes from the world, seeking to hide within itself or turn inward. Rather, It discovers the world as its world. The world around it exists as something for it, becoming Self-Consciousness’s truth. In this way, Self-Consciousness becomes aware of itself as all reality. It becomes the mechanism by which the world appears and meaning is given. Hegel marks this as the beginning of Idealism, for Self-Consciousness now expresses the Concept of Idealism. Self-Consciousness’s I=I transforms into a real certainty. The ‘I’ being both an object for Self-Consciousness and the only object. This ‘I’ is not an empty object, nor is it an object that withdraws from the world while existing alongside it. Rather, it is an object for Self-Consciousness in such a way that any other object whatsoever is only a non-being, something different and not self-conscious (233). Self-Consciousness now is not just all reality for-itself, but also in-itself. Hegel shows now that Self-Consciousness has truly reached the Truth that it has harbored within itself all along, that what is in-itself or Real is only Real in so far as it is Real for-Consciousness, while at the same time, whatever is for-Consciousness is also in-itself or has intrinsic being (it is Real) (233). Unfortunately, as Hegel points out, Self-Consciousness has forgotten this, as it has time and time again. Self-Consciousness, now at the level of Reason, is like a toddler who knows that 2+2=4, but could not tell you why. In Hegel’s language, Self-Consciousness asserts that it is all reality, without understanding that it really is! Here Hegel evokes the Idealism of Kant, something that Kalkavage remarks as a shared subjectivity, where the world is all in the mind, even if it is the minds of all in the exact same way (Kalkavage 160). This backdrop is the hallmark for what is to be the tragi-comedy that is Reason.

The largest problem that comes from this bad idealism is that it remains at this level, just a higher stage of the Understanding. Where the Understanding was incapable of comprehending internal difference, this bad idealism amounts all differences in things to just being differences within the self. Kalkavage points out that with this in mind, Self-Consciousness becomes unable to posit things at all, for all things become just a different manifestation of Self-Consciousness and something that is the same as it. This becomes the biggest down-fall of Kant’s Idealism. As Hegel notes, Self-Consciousness is now acting and classifying upon the grounds of pure universality, disregarding particularity altogether.

Observing Reason (240-346)

Actualization of Self-Consciousness (347-393)

Individuality Which Takes Itself to be Real in and For Itself (394-437)