Chapter 14 2. Freedom of Self-Consciousness; Stoicism, Skepticism, and Troubled Consciousness

On the one hand, only the purely abstract self is the essence of independent self-consciousness; on the other hand, when this abstract self develops itself and differentiates itself, this differentiation does not become the objective self-consciousness of self-consciousness. true nature of.Hence this self-consciousness cannot be a self which in its simplicity truly differentiates itself, or which in this absolute difference maintains its own identity.Conversely, the consciousness which is compelled to return to itself has itself as its object in the molding of the thing, that is to say, it has as its object the form of the thing being molded, and in the master he sees consciousness for itself.But with regard to the serving consciousness itself there is a split between the moment which regards itself as an independent object and the moment which takes this object as consciousness and therefore as its own intrinsic essence.But since form and being-for-itself are the same both for us and for itself, and since being-in-itself is consciousness in terms of the concept of independent consciousness, it follows that in labor accepting the imposition of The self-existence or thing of its form is nothing but consciousness.Thus a new form of self-consciousness, a consciousness whose essence is infinity or in the pure movement of consciousness, comes before us.This is a thinking or free self-awareness.For thought does not mean an abstract self, but a self which at the same time has the meaning of being-in-itself, which has itself as its object, in other words, which is related to objective existence in such a way that the latter has The meaning of being-for-itself of the consciousness that is the object.In thinking, the object is grasped not in the form of representation or image but in the form of concept. That is to say, in thinking, the object is directly regarded as the object of consciousness as a self-existing identity different from consciousness, but Indistinguishable from consciousness.The form that is represented, visualized, that is, is generally something other than consciousness.But a concept is at the same time a being, and the difference between the concept and being, so far as it is a difference made by consciousness itself, is a definite content of the concept itself.But here, since this content is at the same time a content apprehended by the concept, consciousness itself is immediately aware of its unity with this definite, differentiated being; Consciousness first and foremost feels in representations, that representations are their representations (of what exists); and concepts are for me immediately my concepts.In thinking I am free, because I am not in another, but purely in myself, and that which exists objectively for me also exists for me and is inseparably united with me .My movement in conceptual thought is movement in myself. —The determination of self-consciousness in this form therefore essentially has to bear in mind that it is thinking consciousness in general, or that its object is the immediate unity of being-in-itself and being-for-itself.Consciousness which is itself identical and self-repelling itself is now a factor existing in itself.But this element itself appears only at first roughly as being in general, and not yet as the development and movement of the multifaceted and rich content of objective existence.

This freedom of self-consciousness, so far as it appears in the history of the human mind as a conscious phenomenon, is known as Stoicism.Its principle holds that: Consciousness is something that can think, and only thinking is the essence of consciousness, and that: anything is important to consciousness or true and good only when consciousness treats it as the existence of thinking of. The vast field of life's multifaceted self-differentiation and the processes of individuation and complication of life are the objects to which the activity of desire and labor deals.This multifaceted activity is now reduced to the simple distinction found in the pure movement of thought.That which has reality is, for it, not a particular thing, or a consciousness of a particular being, nor is it an emotion, desire, or purpose for a particular thing or being, whether created by its own consciousness or Differences established by an alien consciousness have no reality, whereas only differences within thought or differences that are not directly different from oneself are considered to have reality.So this consciousness takes a negative attitude towards both master and slave.In the master's position, its actions do not acquire truth by enslaving the slaves, and in the slave position, its actions do not acquire truth by obeying the master's will and serving the master. In all the interdependent relations of its individual life, it is free and detached, and it must maintain a lifeless tranquility, which keeps it constantly separated from the movement of existence. , Breaking away from the activities of influencing others and receiving influence, and retreating to the simple reality of thought.Unlike subjective willfulness, which is a freedom which clings to particular things and remains within the slave consciousness, this is not the case with Stoic freedom, which rises directly from the slave consciousness and is already Returning to the pure universality of thought, and as the universal form of the spirit of the world, it can arise only in an age of universal fear and slavery, and only in a time of universal culture - and this culture has been raised to the level - the era can appear.

Although this self-consciousness now has as its essence no other than itself, nor a purely abstract self, but an other which contains the other—though this other is a thinking being different from itself. thing-- Its self is essence, so that in its other it immediately returns to itself; but this essence of it is at the same time only an abstract essence.This freedom of self-consciousness is indifferent to the finite existence of nature, so it also leaves natural things at their own liberty; thus the self-return becomes double.Freedom in mere thought has only pure thought as its truth, and pure thought has no full content of life, so it is only the concept of freedom, not the living freedom itself.For this freedom is first of all only thought in general as its essence, which is only an [abstract] form which detaches itself from independently existing things and returns to itself.But since the acting individual should be active, in other words, the thinking individual should comprehend the living world as a system of thought, then thought itself should have such a broad content that it is good for life. What is real has the form of thought for what is real in the world, so that all objects of consciousness have no content at all but concepts, which are the essence of consciousness.But since the concept is abstract here, it is divorced from the multiplicity of things, has no content in itself, but only a given content.Since the content of consciousness is the object of thinking, of course it cancels the content as alien existence, but this concept is a specific concept, and the specificity of the concept is the alien element contained in it.Stoicism is therefore in a perplexed position in answering the question of what is the standard of truth in general (as the term then signifies), that is, what is really the content of thought itself.To the question of what is true and good, it can only answer with thought itself without content that truth and goodness are contained in rationality.But this self-identity of thought is again only a pure form, in which there is nothing definite.Hence the general terms proclaimed by Stoicism: truth and goodness, wisdom and morality, in general, undoubtedly high, but since they are in fact incapable of reaching any wide content, they soon begin to fascinate People get bored.

This thinking consciousness, in so far as it has the character of abstract freedom, is therefore only an incomplete negation of external existence.Breaking away from finite existence and only retreating into itself, it has not completed the absolute negation of finite existence within itself.It is true that the content is considered by it to be only thoughts, but the content is also regarded as specific thoughts, and thus has a specificity or limitation at the same time. Skepticism is the realization of what in Stoicism is only a concept, and what is the real experience of the freedom of thought; it is itself negative and must show itself to be negative.With the return of self-consciousness to mere thought of itself, on the contrary, the de facto independent finite being or persistent particularity breaks away from infinity.In skepticism, this aspect of finite being or particularity now becomes completely devoid of importance and independence for consciousness; world, and the negativity of free self-consciousness becomes real negativity in this multiplicity of forms of life.

From this it is clear that just as Stoicism corresponds to the concept of an independent self-consciousness expressed in the relationship between master and slave, so skepticism corresponds to the realization of the relationship between master and slave in the negation of the other, of desire and labor. attitudes match.But if desire and labor do not play their negating role for self-consciousness, this attitude of attack or negation of the multiplicity of independently existing things will succeed, because it is based on the previously accomplished free self-consciousness. The identity turns against them, precisely because it has in itself thought or infinity, from the principle of thought or infinity, those independent things which are different from it are only passing away. thing.Those different things, which in the pure thought of self-consciousness are mere abstractions of different things, become here all different things, and all different beings become a different being of self-consciousness. .

In this way, the actions and forms of skepticism in general are clearly defined.Skepticism points out the dialectical movement from perceptual certainty, perception to understanding, and it also points out the non-essentiality of what abstract thinking itself considers to be fixed or fixed in the master-slave relationship.The relationship between master and slave itself contains at the same time a definite (ideological) configuration, according to which there is also the moral law as the command of the master; Thoughts of the mind extend into such concepts, and in fact endow them with an existence independent of them only in an external manner, and recognize as valid only specific and determinate concepts, although they are still Something purely abstract.

Dialectics, as a negative movement, appears to consciousness, as it exists immediately, to which consciousness must first yield and which does not exist through consciousness itself.In skepticism, on the other hand, the dialectic is a moment of self-consciousness, which in the course of this negation not only finds that its truth and reality have disappeared without knowing how, but is convinced of its own freedom. In other words, in the face of skepticism, what disappears is not only the objective thing itself, but also the fundamental attitude of self-consciousness that recognizes the objective thing as objective and valid. gone, that is to say, with its perceptions, its efforts to stabilize what it was in danger of losing, its sophistry, and the truths determined and fixed by itself.Through this process of conscious negation, self-consciousness wins for itself the certainty of its freedom, creates for itself the experience of attaining that freedom, and thus raises this experience to the status of truth.Everything that was definite or different, however and for whatever reason these things were affirmed as fixed, disappeared.

Definite and differentiated things have no permanence in themselves, and must disappear before thinking, because different things are not in themselves, but their essence is only in others; This nature of different things; thinking is the negative nature of simple things. The skeptical self-consciousness then experiences its own freedom in the flux of all that seeks to fix itself before it, and regards this freedom as given by itself and acquired by itself; thus The self-consciousness of the mind itself is this tranquility in thinking itself, the unchanging true certainty of itself.This certainty is not the result of an external alien which contains within itself its multifaceted development, but is an abstract result detached from the process of its generative development.And that consciousness itself is rather an absolute dialectical restlessness, an amalgamation of sensational and thinking representations, the differences of which would merge into one, and the identity of these representations would likewise resolve itself into multiples, for this The opposition of this identity and difference is itself a kind of determination, in other words, it does not contain the difference within itself.In fact this consciousness here is not only a self-identical consciousness, but a purely contingent chaos, an oscillating thing which is always creating chaos.That is really what it is; for it brings and maintains this paradoxical disorder.It therefore admits this fact to itself, it admits to itself that it is an entirely accidental, individual consciousness,—

Such an empirical consciousness seeks what has no reality to it, listens to what has no essence to it, does and achieves what has no truth to it.But also in this way, on the one hand, it recognizes the value of individual, contingent, and even de facto animal life and self-consciousness, and on the other hand, it treats all things indiscriminately.For it is the total negation of all particulars and all differences.From this indiscriminate, all-equal attitude, or rather within itself, it falls back into the aforementioned contingency and disorder, since this self-moving process of negation deals only with individual things. , what is dealt with is only accidental things.This form of consciousness is thus an unconscious oscillating back and forth from one end of self-identical self-awareness to one end of accidental, chaotic and vague consciousness.It never unites these two thoughts of itself: on the one hand it recognizes that its freedom consists in going beyond all disorder and all contingency in Essential things and hovering in these non-essential things.It lets the non-essential disappear in its mind, but in doing so it becomes a consciousness of the non-essential.It pays lip service to the absolute annihilation of all things, yet this verbal proclamation exists, and this consciousness is only a verbal annihilation: it proclaims the non-existence of what it sees and hears, yet it itself It itself sees and hears; it pays lip service to the absence of ethical principles, yet it still regards these ethical principles as forces governing its actions.Its actions and its words are always contradictory, and it has within itself the dual contradictory consciousness of its own identity and immutability and contingency and non-identity.But it separates these two contradictory aspects of itself, and it treats this contradiction exactly as it would in a purely negative movement.To this skeptical self-consciousness, if you point out to it the identity of things, it will point out to you their non-identity; It immediately turns to pointing out its identity.What it says is actually like the quarrels of naughty and willful children. One says A, the other says B, and one says B, the other says A, and by opposing and arguing in this way, they get each other in the same way. Joy in a state of paradox.

In skepticism, consciousness actually experiences itself as a self-contradictory consciousness.From this experience it proceeds to a new form which unites the two ideas which skepticism had separated. The skepticism that lacks (dialectical) thought in itself must pass away, because it is in fact a consciousness that contains both ways within itself.So this new form is aware of itself as a double consciousness, on the one hand as a self-liberating, unchanging, self-identifying consciousness, and on the other hand as absolutely self-disordered and perverted. Consciousness, that is, awareness of one's own contradictions.

In Stoicism, self-awareness is the mere freedom of oneself.In skepticism freedom is realized, self-consciousness negates the other side, the side of definite finite being, but this doubles itself, and it is itself now two-sided.In this way, the past is divided into two individuals— Master and slave—the two sides are now concentrated in one person.So now there is a duality of self-consciousness within itself, which is essential in the concept of spirit, but the unity of the two has not yet been achieved—this is the consciousness of distress, distress. Consciousness is that which realizes itself to be dualistic, divided, merely contradictory. This consciousness of torment itself split into two, because this contradiction of its nature is contained in one consciousness, there must always be another consciousness in the one consciousness, so when each side thinks it has won, reached When there is quiet unity, then it is at once expelled from the unity.But the true return of the distressed consciousness to itself or its reconciliation with itself would reveal the conception of the spirit which has life and enters into actual existence, since within itself the duality of its being an undivided consciousness is contained. status.It is itself the intuition of one self-consciousness to another self-consciousness, and it has both sides, and the unity of the two is its own essence; In essence, it has not achieved the unity of these two aspects. 1.changing consciousness Since it is at first only the underlying and immediate unity of two aspects, which are not identical to it but opposed to each other, it recognizes one of them, the simple and unchanging one. As the essence, and on the other hand, that is, the changing aspect of the manifold, as the non-essential. From its point of view, both aspects are alien existences external to each other.Since it is itself this contradictory consciousness, it puts itself on the side of changing consciousness and considers itself non-essential, while it is itself at the same time as unchanging and simple essence. It must go on to free itself from the non-essential, that is, from itself.For although it is true that it is only the changing aspect to itself, and the unchanging aspect is alien to it, yet it is itself simple and therefore unchanging consciousness, and conscious of this Unchanging consciousness is its essence, but it is not this essence itself after all.Therefore it cannot afford the two parties to be indifferent to each other, that is to say, it cannot itself be indifferent to the unchanging consciousness; And it itself is two aspects at the same time, but from its point of view, the relationship between the two aspects is the relationship between essence and non-essence, so the latter should be sublated.But since both aspects are equally important and contradictory to it, it is only a contradictory movement in which the opposite cannot rest in its opposite, but only as the opposite in it. recreates itself in its opposite. Here then arises a struggle against the enemy in which victory over the enemy is rather a defeat, and gaining a thing means losing the same thing as its counterpart.Consciousness of its life, of its being and activity, suffers only from this being and activity, for here it is conscious only of its opposite as its essence and of its own falsity.It then passes beyond this state to unchanging consciousness.But this elevation is still this consciousness itself; the elevation is thus at once awareness of the other, that is, awareness of its own individuality.Because of this, the unchanging that enters consciousness is at the same time infected with individuality, and appears only in a form imbued with individuality.Not only is individuality not annihilated in the unchanging consciousness, but it is only there to continue to appear. 2.unchanging form But in this movement consciousness experiences precisely the individuality in the unchanging and the unchanging in individuality.Consciousness then recognizes individuality in general within the unchanging essence, and at the same time realizes its own individuality within the unchanging essence.For the truth of this movement is precisely this unity of double consciousness.But this unity is at first for it still such a unity in which the difference of the two sides still predominates.Because of this, there are three different ways in which individuality is united with the unchanging essence before consciousness: first, consciousness itself appears again in opposition to the unchanging essence and falls back into the situation at which the struggle began, This struggle is always the main principle of the whole relationship.Secondly, consciousness finds that the unchanging essence appears in it in the form of individuality, and then the individuality becomes the form of the unchanging essence, so that the whole mode or mode of existence is transformed into unchanging.Thirdly, consciousness finds itself as an individual thing in an unchanging essence.That first unchanging essence is only alien to consciousness, which takes a refereeing attitude towards individuality. As in the second mode the unchanging essence is only a mode of individuality, like consciousness itself, so in the third mode consciousness develops into spirit, which takes pleasure in finding itself in spirit, and is conscious of Its individuality and universality are united. The configurations and relations of the unchanging consciousness stated here are in fact the experiences experienced by the split (entzweite) ego-consciousness in its distress.Now this experience is certainly not its one-sided movement, because it is itself the unchanging consciousness, and the unchanging consciousness is also individual consciousness at the same time, and this movement is also the movement of the unchanging consciousness. The consciousness of the individual is present in this movement as much as its counterpart, the individual consciousness.Because this movement is carried out through three links: first, the unchanging consciousness is opposed to the general individual consciousness, second, the individual consciousness itself is opposed to another individual consciousness, and finally, the individual consciousness and the unchanging consciousness merge into one. one.But this view, so far as it is ours, is out of date here, because so far we have been talking about invariance only of the invariance of consciousness, which is also held in check by an opposite, It is therefore not yet true, unchanging in and for itself.Therefore we do not yet know what is the case with the immutable for itself. The result we have obtained here is only that, so far as the consciousness of the object under consideration is concerned, the properties indicated above are present in an unchanging consciousness. For this reason, therefore, the unchanging consciousness itself, in the form it manifests, retains in opposition to the individual consciousness the character and basic character of being split into two and being for itself.It is therefore an important event, from the point of view of individual consciousness in general, that the unchanging consciousness also has individual forms; just as the individual consciousness only [accidentally] Nature it has this relation; at last it finds itself in the unchanging consciousness, which seems to it to be in part undoubtedly done by itself, or which happens because it is itself an individual But it acquires this unity, both in its origin and in its existence, in part to that unchanging consciousness; and the opposition still exists in this unity itself.In fact, because the unchanging consciousness manifests itself in concrete form, the link of the other side not only remains, but rather becomes more fixed.For on the one hand, since the distant world beyond has taken the form of individual reality, it certainly seems closer to individual consciousness; The whole solidity comes in opposition to the individual consciousness.The hope of becoming one with such a unity must always remain a wish, that is to say, never be fulfilled or fulfilled.For just between hope and its fulfillment there exists an absolute chance or an unshakable indifference, which is contained in the particular shape itself which is itself the cause of hope. Foundation.Because of the nature of this singleness, and because this singleness is clothed with reality, it must disappear in time, become far away in space, and remain far away forever. 3.Unity of reality and self-awareness If at first the mere conception of the divided consciousness had the character of sublating itself as individual consciousness and becoming constant consciousness, the direction of its subsequent endeavors may be said to consist in sublating its sense of the unrepresented. It is not a relation of pure unchanging consciousness as a concrete form, but only a relation loyal to the unchanging consciousness of that manifested form. For the unity of individual consciousness and unchanging consciousness is its future essence and object, just as in its simple concept its main object is only formless abstract unchanging consciousness; this absolute split which its simple concept contains relationship, which is now precisely what it seeks to avoid.But that external relation which at first treated the unchanging consciousness manifested as form as an alien reality, it must raise it to an absolute unity. The movement of the non-essential consciousness striving for unity has itself three moments in its triple relation to the beyond which appears as form: first, as pure consciousness, and second, as individual being, which Being deals with actuality in the form of desire and labor, and thirdly, as consciousness of its own being-for-itself.We shall now see how these three forms of its existence are expressed in that general relation, and what their characteristics are. (1) Pure Consciousness In the first place, in so far as it is recognized as pure consciousness, the unchanging consciousness which appears as form, since it is the object of pure consciousness, seems to be established as it is in itself.But what it looks like in and for itself, as already mentioned, has not yet been realized.If it is in consciousness itself, it must, of course, proceed from that unchanging consciousness, not from consciousness.But nevertheless, its appearance here is at first only one-sided through consciousness, and that is why it is imperfect, unreal, and always weighed down by imperfection or by an opposite. . But although distressed consciousness does not enjoy the presence of real, perfect, unchanging consciousness, it at the same time transcends pure thinking, which is completely divorced from individual, abstract Stoic thinking, and It is the simple restless thinking of skepticism—in fact, skepticism is only thinking that regards individuality as an unconscious contradiction and the incessant movement of this contradiction. So distress consciousness goes beyond these two schools of thought, and it combines and maintains pure thinking and individuality, but it has not yet advanced to the kind of thinking in which consciousness of individuality and pure thinking itself are reconciled.It stands, so to speak, at an intermediate point where abstract thought comes into contact with the individuality of consciousness itself.It is itself the point of contact; it is the unity of pure thought and individuality; and it is conscious of the individuality of this thought, or pure thought, and of that unchanging consciousness which is itself essentially individual.But it is not yet aware that this object of its own, the unchanging consciousness which it regards as essentially individual, is itself itself, the very individuality of its own consciousness. So far as this first mode, which we recognize as pure consciousness, its attitude towards its object is not thinking, but since it is of course itself potentially a pure thinking individuality, its object is This pure thought, however, is not pure thought in its own relation to one another, so that it does not think, but only contemplates,—it is the contemplation of devotional contemplation.Its thinking is nothing but the deep ringing of an imageless bell or the waft of a hot-smelling cigarette, in other words, a musical thought, not at the level of concepts, which alone are unique, An inner, objective way of thinking.This infinite, pure, inner emotion certainly has its object, but this object does not appear in the form of a concept, but as an external and alien thing.So here we have the inner movement of the pure mood, which feels itself, but feels itself in a state of painful dissociation, and whose movement is an infinite admiration which is sure of its The essence of it is that pure mood, pure thought, which conceives itself as something individual—this admiration and the certainty that it will be known and recognized by the object precisely because it conceives itself as individual things.But at the same time this essence is an unattainable shore, which immediately flies away when you reach it, or rather, it flies away when you reach it.For on the one hand it is itself unchanging consciousness conceived as an individual, so that when consciousness reaches itself directly in unchanging consciousness, it finds itself in direct opposition to unchanging consciousness, which is not only It does not grasp the essence, it only feels, and falls back to its original situation. Since the reaching of consciousness itself is not free from this opposition, it not only fails to grasp the essence, but only grasps the non-essential.Just as consciousness, on the one hand, strives to reach the essence, but grasps only its own split reality, so on the other hand it cannot grasp the other (i.e. the essence) as individual or real. Where it seeks essence, it cannot find essence there; for essence has been recognized as beyond, as something that cannot be found.If the essence is sought as an individual, it is not a universal, thought individual, not a concept, but the individual as object, or the real, the object of immediate sensuous certainty, just as Because of this, it is just such a thing that has passed away.Consciousness can therefore only reach the grave of its own life.But since the grave of life is itself an actuality, it is against its nature for actuality to furnish a permanent property; This struggle is doomed to failure.But since consciousness recognizes by experience (1) that the grave of its actual unchanging essence has no actuality, and (2) that vanished individuality, being vanished, is not real individuality, then it It will give up seeking the unchanging individuality as a real thing, or it will no longer insist on the unchanging individuality that has disappeared.Only in this way can it find true individuality or individuality with universality. (2) Essence and reality of the individual, activity of pious consciousness But first of all, the return of mood to itself must be recognized as an individual existence with actuality.它是纯粹的情调，这种情调就我们或就它本身来说，都得到了实现和满足；因为虽说它在它的情绪中意识到它同本质分离开了，但这种情绪本身就是自我情绪，它曾经感觉到它的纯粹情绪的对象，而这个对象就是它自身；因此在这里它就作为自我情绪或独立存在着的现实的东西而出现。这种返回到自身在我们看来就是它的第二种态度，即欲望和劳动的态度，劳动对于意识证实了对它自己本身的内在确定性，这种确定性，我们看见，是通过扬弃和享受异己的存在，亦即通过扬弃和享受以独立事物的姿态出现的异己的存在而达到的。但是苦恼的意识发现它自己只是在欲求着和劳动着；它自己并没有意识到，发现它自己在这样欲求着和劳动着的境地即包含着它的内在确定性的根据，而它对本质的情绪即是这种自我情绪。由于它自己本身没有意识到这种确定性，所以它的内心生活仍然对它自身还保持着一种苦恼失望的确定性；它通过劳动和享受所可获得的证实，因而也同样是苦恼失望的证实，换句话说，它自己本身必须否定这种证实，以便在其中发现这种保证诚然是一种保证，但只是关于它的自为状态亦即关于它之分裂为二的证实。 欲望和劳动所指向的现实性，对这个意识来说，已不复是一个本身虚无的东西，对它只消加以扬弃和消灭就行，而是一个象意识本身一样的东西，一个分裂为二的现实性，这种现实性只在一方面是本身虚无的，而另一方面却又是一个神圣的世界。这种分裂为二的现实性是不变的意识的一个形态，因为不变的意识曾经保有个别性在自身内，并且因为它是不变的所以它就是普遍的，它的个别性一般讲来都具有一切现实性的意义。 如果意识是自为的独立的意识，而现实性对它是自在自为地虚无的，那末在劳动和享受中，它就可以达到独立性之感，从而它自身就会是能够扬弃现实性的东西。但是这种现实性既然被意识认作是不变的本质的一个形态，那末它就不能通过它自身扬弃这种现实性。反之既然意识能够消灭这现实性并加以享受，那末，对它说来，这主要是由于那不变的本质自己放弃了它的形态，任凭意识去享受它。在这里，意识就它那方面说，同样作为现实的东西而出现，不过同时作为内在地破裂了的现实东西而出现，而这种分裂为二在它的劳动和享受之中，分裂为对现实性或自为存在的态度和一个自在存在本身。前一种对现实性的态度是改变或行动的态度，是一种属于个别意识本身的自为存在。但是在这里它也是自在存在；而自在存在这一面属于不变的彼岸；这一面包含才能和能力，这些东西是被认作由不变的本质授予意识的一种外来的恩赐，以供意识使用的。 照这样看来，意识在它的行动里首先就有了两个极端相反的态度；一方面它采取能动的此岸的态度，有一个被动的现实性与它相对立，两者有着相互关系，但是〔另一方面〕两者又都回到不变的本质，并坚持其自身。因此从两方面都只是分离出了一个表面的部分彼此互相反对，而每一方的表面部分于矛盾运动的过程里，走向与对方的表面部分相对立。现实性的这一面被能动的那一面所扬弃，但是现实性这一面之所以能够被扬弃，只有因为它自己的不变的本质把它扬弃了，它的不变的本质自己排斥自己，并把那排斥掉的东西授予那能动的一面。这能动的力量看来就是现实性赖以解体的威力； 由于这样，这种表现在能动性方面的威力是意识——这意识以自在存在或不变的本质为外在的他物——自己的彼岸。因此通过意识的行动，不惟没有返回到自身、不惟没有对自己证实自己的存在，它反而把这种行动的运动反射到对立方面，这方面从而就被认为纯粹普遍的东西、为绝对的威力，从这个威力出发向各方面展开运动，这威力并且是那自身分裂的两个方面的本质——既是它们最初出现的阶段，也是它们矛盾、变化过程的本质。 当不变的意识否定并放弃它自己的表现形态时，而个别的意识便表示感谢，这就是说，它否认它获得自己独立性的意识的满足是由于它自己的努力，并且把它自己行动的本质归功于彼岸，通过两方面相互放弃其自身给对方的这两个步骤，于是无疑地就产生了意识与不变的本质的统一。不过这种统一同时包含着分裂，在自身内又分裂为二，于是从这个统一中又发生普遍与个别的对立。因为意识在表面上诚然不承认它的自我情绪的满足，但是它获得了自我情绪的真实满足，因为它经历过欲望、劳动和享受诸过程；作为意识，它曾经欲求过、工作过和享受过。同样，它对对方的感谢，承认对方是它的本质，并且扬弃自己，这本身就是它自己特有的行动，这个行动平衡并补偿了对方的行动，并且对于对方所赐予的福利以一种对等的行动去报答它。如果前者（不变的本质、彼岸）只把它表面的东西授予意识，而意识也一样地感谢它，犹如对方放弃了它的本质那样，因此真正讲来意识比那只放弃表面部分的对方，在行动上有了较多较好的表现。所以整个运动之返回到个别性这一方面不仅在现实的欲求、劳动和享受之中，而且甚至在对那看来不值得感谢的赐予表示感谢之中。在这里面意识感觉到自己是这种个别的东西，也不让自己为它的自身否定的假象所欺骗，因为它的自身否定的真理即在于它并没有放弃它自己。这里所发生的情况，只是两个对立方面之各自返回其自身；其结果就是把相反对的不变的意识与同它相对立的意识，亦即意志、工作、享受和自身否定或否定其一般自为存在着的个别性意识的分裂过程重演一遍。 （3）自我意识达到了理性 于是我们就进入意识的运动的第三种态度，这个意识继第二种态度而出现，它已经通过它的意志和工作证明自己真正是独立的。在第一态度里它只是现实意识的概念或者是在行动和享受方面还没有实现的内部心情。在第二态度里，这种心情已经实现为外部的行动和享受。但是由这个阶段它就返回到这样一种意识，这个意识经验到自己是现实的并起着作用的意识，或者是自在自为地真实的意识。但是在这里敌人现在就以它最特殊的形态出现了。在心情的斗争里，个别意识只是一个音乐式的抽象的环节。在劳动和享受里，它只是这种非本质的存在之实现，它可以立刻忘掉它自身，并且在这种实现的过程中，它的这种意识到的特性，由于它以感谢之忱承认对方的赐予就被否定了。但是这种否定真正讲来乃是意识之返回到它本身，并且是返回到它的真实的现实性的自身。 这第三种态度，在其中这种真实的现实性成为一个〔与普遍本质对立的〕对立面，对于这种现实性与普遍本质的关系的看法，在于认现实性只是虚幻不实。对于这种关系的发展过程，我们还须加以考察。 首先就意识的对立关系而论，在这个关系中意识把它的实在性直接地认作虚幻不实，因而它的实际的行动也成为毫无行动，它的享受也成为对它自己的苦恼的感觉。这样一来，行动和享受就失掉了一切普遍的内容和意义，因而它们就会具有自在存在和自为存在的性质，并且双方面都会退回到一种意识企图要加以扬弃的个别性。意识发现它自己作为这种现实的个别性，是在动物性的活动之中，这些动物性的活动并不是不自觉地或自然地作出来，当作一种本身虚幻不实的、对精神没有什么重要性和本质性的东西，由于在这些动物性的活动里表明了敌人特有的形态，于是它们就反而成为意识严肃地费力对待的对象，并且恰好成为最重要的东西。但是既然这个敌人是在它被打倒的情况下创造出来的，并且由于这个敌人是意识自身确立并固定下来的，所以意识不惟不能驱除敌人，反而老是和敌人纠缠在一起，并且看见自己不断地为敌人所玷污，同时它努力从事的内客不惟不是有重要性的东西，反而是最卑贱的东西，不惟不是有普遍性的东西，反而是最个别的东西，所以我们往这里只是看见这样一种人格，它局限在自己狭隘的自我和琐屑的行动中，它老是怀念忧虑着自己不幸的和贫乏得可怜的处境。 但是意识对于两者，对它自己苦恼不幸的情绪和它的行动的贫乏可怜，都同样把它与不变的本质的统一相联系起来。 因为它所企图的对它的现实存在加以直接的毁灭是以不变的本质的思想为中介的，而且是在这种中介的关系中才作到对它的现实存在的毁灭。这个中介的关系构成意识自己反对它的个别性之否定运动的本质，但是它的个别性作为自在的关系同样是肯定的且并将为它自身实现它的这种统一。 因此这个中介的关系是一个推论（Schluss），在这个推论里，那最初确立起来认为与自在的本质相对立的个别性，只是通过一个第三者才与它的对立面结合起来。通过这个中项或第三者，不变的意识那一个极端也是为它的另一极端非本质的意识而存在，而同时非本质的意识也同样只是通过这个中项为不变的意识而存在。于是这个中项就成为把两个极端互相介绍给对方，并且是依次代表每一方向另一方交涉的服务员。这个中项本身就是一个有意识的存在，因为它是一个对意识本身起中介作用的行动；这个行动的内容是意识对它的个别性所采取的否定或消灭的过程。 因此在中项里意识就不把行动和享受看作它自己的行动和享受；它不承认它的意志的本质是自为存在着的一项，并且把它的独特和自由的决定归给中项或服务员身上，从而也就把它的罪过归给中项或服务员。这个中介者，由于和不变的本质有直接的联系，便尽义务劝导人关于什么是正当的。这样产生的行为既然是出于听从他人的劝导，就主观方面亦即就行动和意志方面来说，便停止其为它自己的行为了。但是它的客观方面，亦即劳动的成果和享受却仍然留给那非本质的意识。对于这些成果和享受，意识因而亦同样加以排斥，正如它放弃了它的意志那样，它同样也否定或放弃它在劳动和享受中所获得的现实性。它放弃这些东西一部分是把它们当作它自身意识到的独立性所达到的真理而放弃，因为它所作为的都是一些对它极其生疏不相干的东西，它所想的和所说的都是对它没有意义的东西；一部分是把它们当作外在的财产而放弃，因为它是把它通过劳动赢得的财产丢掉一些；另一部分是放弃它所获得的享受，因为当它在绝食和苦行中它也是弃绝这种享受的。 通过这些步骤：首先放弃自作决定的权利与自由，其次放弃从劳动得来的财产和享受，最后通过一个肯定的步骤，作自己所不懂得的事，说自己所不懂得的话，意识可算得真正地、完全地放弃了它内心的和外在的自由或者放弃了作为它的自为存在的现实性。意识已经确信真正地外在化它的自我，并且把它的直接的自我意识弄成一个事物、一个对象性的存在。 只有通过这种真实的自我牺牲，意识才能保证对它自身的否定与弃绝。因为只有这样才可以消除一种存在于通过心情、意向和语言以表示对于感谢之内心承认中的欺骗性：当意识这样承认感谢时，它无疑地否认自己有独立存在的任何力量，并且把它自己的力量归诸上天的恩赐，但是欺骗性即包含在这种否认本身中，因为在它所没有放弃的财产中，它保持着自身的外在特性，并且在它所作出的决定的意识中，以及在它自身规定的内容的意识中（而这内容不是由外来的异己的东西所给予的，也不是为毫无意义的观念和言语所充满的）它还保持着自身的内在特性。 在这种实际的完成了的牺牲里，意识一方面扬弃了它个别的独特的行动，但另一方面意识也就自在地消除了它的苦恼。至于这种苦恼之自在地消除，乃是出于这个推论中的另一项的行动，即自在存在着的本质的行动。但是同时非本质的那一项的那种牺牲却不是单方面的行动，而包含着对方的行动在自身内。因为放弃自己的意志只是就一方面说是消极的，但是按照它的概念说或就它本身说，它同时又是积极的，因为在放弃意志的过程中同时就肯定意志作为一个他物，肯定意志的本性不是个别的而是一个有普遍性的东西。就这个意识看来，那消极地设定的个别意志之积极的意义乃是另外一个方面的意志，这个意志由于是意识的对方，它不是通过自身，而是通过第三者、中介者，以劝导的形式出现。因此对意识来说，它的意志无疑地是一种普遍的和自在地存在着的意志，但是它自己本身不是这种自在存在。放弃它自己的个别的意志，在它看来，本质上还不是普遍意志之积极的环节。同样它对财产和享受的放弃也只有相同的消极的意义，并且那对它成为中介者的普遍的东西，在它看来，也不是它自己特有的行动。这种客观存在和自为存在的统一虽说是包含在行动的概念之内，并且因而也将成为意识的本质和对象，——但是由于意识没有把这个统一认作它的行动的概念，所以这个统一也没有成为意识的对象——直接地或通过它本身。它反而让那起中介作用的服务员说出它这种本身还摇动着的确信，即确信：它的苦恼自在地正是它的反面，这就是说，它的苦恼在它的行动中自在地会带来自我满足的行动或幸福的享受，同样它的贫乏可怜的行动也自在地是它的反面，亦即绝对的行动，并且确信，按照概念来说，一个行为只有当它是某种个别的行动时一般讲来才是真正的行动。 但是就苦恼意识自身来说，行动和它的实际行动仍然是贫乏而无意义的，它的享受仍然是一种痛苦，并且对这些情况加以扬弃，就其积极意义来说，仍然是达不到的彼岸。但是在这个对象里，在它看来，作为这种个别意识的它的行动和存在，是自在的存在和行动，于是对它说来就出现了理性这一观念，出现了意识确信在它的个别性里它就是绝对自在的存在，或者它就是一切实在这一观念。