VI. Reason and Reality – The Real is Rational and the Rational is Real
1. Rationality is not associable with traditional or formal logic for Hegel. Rationality is a dialectical process that occurs within consciousness. Mind, not matter, constitutes the Real.
2. Dialectic: The dialectic process leads to higher levels of consciousness and reality as one proceeds through various moments which are characterized by: Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis.
Generations of opposites or contradictions are central to the above process. A particular thesis generates an antithesis as its opposite, which then leads to a synthesis that becomes the thesis for a generation of a new opposite, or antithesis so as to advance the dialectical process. Note that Hegel himself never uses these three terms together in this way, although it is an effective way of presenting dialectical opposition and synthesis.
For example, the thesis characteristic of the Oriental World, namely a non-subjective universality, generates the subjective freedom of the Greek World, which is then synthesized in the Roman World. The rational, cold subjectivity of the Roman World and its universals generates as an opposite the subjective Heart of the German World, leading to a true realization of Freedom.
The German term aufgehoben aptly captures the nature of the dialectical process. A given thesis is “negated, preserved, and transformed or transcended.” Although Hegel writes about dialectical oppositions as contradictions we need to interpret the term within the special context of his though: Terms such as negation, difference, otherness within an ongoing process come close to his meaning than a classic statement of the principle of contradiction. Nothing can both be and not be in the same respect at the same time.
