李榮添 : 歷史之理性 -- 黑格爾歷史哲學導論述析 ( Hoffmeister, Nisbet)

李榮添 : 歷史之理性 -- 黑格爾歷史哲學導論述析 ( Hoffmeister, Nisbet)
excerpted from Lectures on the Philosophy of World History : Introduction : Reason in History. Hoffmeister ed. tr. by Nisbet.
( Nisbet, page 47 )

1. The first thing we must do is to define the abstract determination (destiny) of spirit.

2. It must, however, be pointed out that the spirit is not in itself abstract, for it is not an abstraction invented by man; on the contrary, it is entirely individual, active and absolutely alive:

3. it is consciousness, but it is also the object of consciousness -- for it is the nature of the spirit to have itself as its object.

4. The spirit, then, is capable of thought, and its thought is that of being which itself exists, and which thinks that it exists and HOW it exists. It possesses knowledge : but knowledge is consciousness of a rational object.

5. Besides, the spirit ONLY has consciousness in so far as it is conscious of ITSELF; in other words, I only know an object in so far as I know MYSELF and my OWN determination through it, for whatever I am is also an object of MY consciousness, and I am not just this, that or the other , but only WHAT I know myself TO BE.

6. I know my object, and I know myself; the two are inseparable. Thus the spirit FORMS a definite conception of itself and of of its essential nature. It can only have a spiritual content; and its sole content and interest are spiritual.

7. This, then, is how the spirit acquires a content : it does not find its content outside itself, but makes itself own object and its OWN content.

8. Knowledge is its FORM and FUNCTION, but its content is the spiritual itself. Thus the spirit is by nature self-sufficient or FREE.

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Hegel's motto, from Schiller

Letter 8 :

Reason has achieved what it can when it finds and proclaims the law; courageous WILL and living FEELING have to EXECUTE it.

When truth is to triumph in the struggle with FORCES, it MUST itself become a FORCE and put up some DRIVE as it advocate in the realm of phenomena; for DRIVES are the ONLY moving forces in the world of feeling.

劍心