Process and Movement in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

October 7, 2009

Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit is, among other things, the explanation of and argument for, a process. That is, the true aim of the project is knowledge of the Absolute, but the means is a form of movement where the end is not simply a moment or object, but a culmination of the means themselves. Several passages will show, at least in part, that the essence of the Phenomenology is the Spirit’s movement toward knowledge and the thing that is gained, the Absolute itself.

Hegel tells us that, “The True is the whole,” which is “the essence consummating itself though its development” (§20). It is clear, then, that what is paramount is the whole, the consummating, and the development. What is the True is not, as it may sometimes be thought to be, some sort of abstract object or thing in the world to be either discovered or sought, insofar as it might be thought to exist external to any other considerations. Certainly for some the True, or the Absolute is understood as a thing (whether Descartes’ God or Spinoza’s One Substance) which can be known and shown to exist by some proofs or conjectures which would point to such an entity. But for Hegel, this misunderstanding is of both the means and the end, for the means is the process and the end the result. Indeed he tells us that, “[The Absolute] is essentially a result, that only in the end is it what it truly is,” and that its nature is “the spontaneous becoming of itself” (§20). It is not being, but becoming, which is the nature of the Absolute. But if this movement is toward the understanding, toward the Absolute, what is is from? Where does the movement begin, and what makes it necessary to progress?

One reason is given to us in §37, what Hegel calls the “disparity” of the distinction “between the ‘I’ and the substance which is its object... the negative in general.” This distinction is not unlike the perceived separation between the subject and object that Kant and and others dealt with. That is, what is the relationship between the subject and object, and what, then, can we know about either? If, for example, there is an absolute hard distinction between the two, then perhaps the subject can have no access to the object. Or, if the distinction is not so defined, then perhaps some some knowledge is possible. But for Hegel, it is the “defect of both” which draws them together and creates the movement described earlier. So, it is for the subject to know and for the object to be known that is the ultimate relationship drawing subject and object together, such that a negation of the very distinction solves the problem of each to the other. Certainly a great deal more could be said about this movement, but it must be sufficient for now to understand simply that the disparity moves from its opposing sides to sublation, a necessary move toward the desired end result.

And so it is, then, that what Hegel describes in his Phenomenology is just that overcoming of the “immediate Spirit... the non-spiritual, i.e. sense-consciousness” (§27). What is not enough is the sense-consciousness of the immediate relationship between a consciousness and the object. But because the Absolute is the result, each step is a part of the process. So even where we begin with consciousness of an object, we must overcome the distance between the ‘I’ and the thing we are conscious of. That initial consciousness Hegel says is “Knowledge in the first phase” (§27), which we remember is neither sufficient nor trivial. It is a part of the process; a necessary stage of development the negation of which will lead to a better understanding and closer approximation to the Absolute, the sublation and overcoming of the subject and object distinction which troubles the consciousness toward self-movement and Spirit.