V. Phenomenology of Mind (or Spirit) – German Word = Geist
1. From the Preface: The work is a scientific account of knowing that moves progressively form the most primitive moments or stages of consciousness or mind to Mind or the Absolute that is conscious of being as itself. Negation, for Hegel, is the process that leads from one moment to another in the progression. Negation is related to falsity, but not in the traditional sense. Traditionally, truth and falsity are mutually exclusive, fixed properties of propositions. Falsity, however, should be seen as the process of revealing an inadequacy in what was previously claimed to be true. It is a process of negating a truth-claim as a transitional passage to a new truth-claim that will, in turn, be negated. Negation reveals “otherness” or difference in opposition to the accepted claim and thereby shows the need to reject and modify it. Negation is a desirable necessity in the profession of consciousness. Hegel argues, “Truth is the whole.” We only grasp The Truth through an entire system. Truth is reached only when we complete the process of development in consciousness. For instance, Mathematics has little standing because it is static, fixed and lacks negation in the process of its development. Regarding the Absolute as Spirit it should be noted that Spirit is the only Reality. Hegel’s identification of Being and Consciousness establishes him as an Idealist. Spirit is also the inner being of the world, for example what is and is per se. Spirit is both object for itself and one with itself-self contained and self-complete. Spirit is also a spiritual substance and both knows itself and is itself simultaneously through its own activity.
