Chapter 27 (a) The kingdom of spirit animals and deception, or the thing itself

The above-mentioned individuality, which is real in itself, is first of all an individual and definite individuality; individuality knows itself as absolute reality, and this absolute reality, because it is already conscious of it, becomes an abstract reality. The universal reality of the universe, which has no full content, is only an empty thought of this category. —We should see how the concept of individuality, which is itself real, determines itself in its moments, how this concept of itself which individuality possesses enters into the consciousness of individuality. Ⅰ.the concept of individuality as real individuality

The conception of this individuality, when it is all reality for itself, is first of all only a direct result; Simple existence.But since negativity is what appears to be movement, it is the determination of this simple being-in-itself; and being, or simply being-in-itself, becomes a determined sphere of being.Thus individuality arises as an originally determined nature; it is an original nature because it exists in itself, and it is an originally determined nature because the negation is in itself. In itself, and the negative in itself is a quality.However, this limitation in being does not limit the conscious action, because the conscious action is here a complete relation to itself; the relation to the other which could limit action is already superseded.The original determination of nature is therefore only a simple principle, a transparent universal element in which individuality both freely maintains its own identity and unimpededly develops its differences, It also interacts purely with itself in its own realization.This is the case, as is the case with the undetermined animal life, which imbues its life into elements such as water, air, or earth, and further into more differentiated principles within these elements, So that every aspect of life is soaked in it, and each can be embodied by a specific element, but, despite the limitation of the element, life still controls its moments under its own influence, maintains its own as a single body, and as this particular organic structure remains the same universal animal life.

This specific primordial nature of consciousness, in which it remains free and complete, reveals itself to be the immediate, unique and unique content of the individual's purpose.This content is indeed a specific content, but when we consider being-in-itself in isolation, it is only content in general.But really it is a reality imbued or impregnated with individuality, a reality which is only preliminarily posited as existing, not yet posited as acting. Yes, as the individual consciousness itself has that kind of reality.But for action, the original determination of nature is not such a limit that action always tries to go beyond. It is not such a limit, partly because the determination that is regarded as the quality of being is the activity of action. But partly because negativity is only determination in being, and action itself is nothing but negativity.Therefore, in the acting individuality, determinateness dissolves and becomes general negativity, or the sum of all determinateness.

Simple primordial nature now distinguishes action from the consciousness of action, as the action itself differs.Action first appears as an object, and of course it is still an object belonging to consciousness, that is to say, as an end, and as such is opposed to the existing reality.The second moment of action is the movement of an end conceived as a standstill, the realization of an end.That is to say, it is the relationship between the purpose and the reality of pure form, so it can also be said to be a transition, or a means to achieve the purpose.Finally, the third link is the object that is no longer the purpose. This object is no longer the purpose in the consciousness of the actor, it has left the actor and has become something else of the actor. — But these different aspects must be determined according to this concept of consciousness in this way: Although these aspects are different, their content is still the same content, and there is no difference in content.There is no difference between individuality and being in general, or end and individuality as original nature and existing reality, or means and absolute end, or created reality and end or original nature or means.

Initially, therefore, the original determinateness of individuality, its immediate essence, is not yet posited as something that acts, and is therefore only called a special capacity, talent, quality, etc.This peculiar color of the spirit should be regarded as the only content, the only reality, of the end itself.If someone imagines consciousness as something that goes beyond this content to realize something else, then he imagines consciousness as something that starts from nothingness and pursues nothingness. —And this primordial essence is not only the content of the end, but potentially its realization, which usually appears as a given matter of action, as a reality which exists ready-made but has to be molded in action .Since action is only a pure transition from the form of being not yet manifest to that of being manifest, the actual being-in-itself, opposed to consciousness, sinks into mere empty semblance.This consciousness, defining itself to act, is not deluded by the empty illusions of existing reality, and necessarily ceases to circle in empty thoughts and purposes, but concentrates on the primordial content of its own essence. —It is true that this primordial content is at first only something that exists for consciousness, because it realizes it; The distinction between realities that exist outside and in and of themselves has basically been eliminated. —Only in order to make its own potentiality actual, consciousness must act, or in other words, action is the process of becoming of the mind as consciousness.Consciousness, therefore, knows its own potentiality in terms of its actuality.The individual, therefore, cannot know what it is until he has made himself a reality through action. ——But in this way, it seems that the individual cannot determine the purpose of its action before acting, but at the same time, since it is consciousness, it must have this action before it before the action takes place, as completely its own. its own behavior, or rather, as its own end.The individual who begins to act, therefore, seems to be in a circle in which every moment presupposes the others, and it seems impossible to find a starting point; for its end must be Its primordial nature, which it can only recognize in its actions, must have a purpose in order to act.But only then must it begin at once, regardless of the circumstances, without regard to what is the beginning, the middle, or the end, and go straight into action; All in one.As a starting point, this self-existing nature already exists in the environment of action; and the individual's interest in something is already a ready-made answer to the question of whether and how to act at the right time and place.For what appears to be an external reality is its original nature, but possesses only the semblance of existence; and this semblance is contained in the concept of self-dividing action, but It expresses itself as the individual himself in the interest the individual feels in his primordial nature. ——Similarly, how to express oneself or what means to express oneself is also determined by itself.Talent, so far as it is an immanent means or transition from end to reality, is likewise nothing but a determined original individuality.But the real means and the real transition are the unity of the talent and the nature of things existing in the interest; in the means, the talent is considered to belong to the side of action, and the nature is considered to belong to the side of content, both of which permeate The individuality of being and acting itself.First, therefore, comes the external environment, which is external to the individual, but which is potentially the primordial nature of the individual; next comes the interest, which takes the environment properly as its own or as an end; Finally, it is the combination and sublation of these two opposites in the means.This combination itself still takes place within the consciousness, and the whole just examined is still an aspect of the opposite.This antithetical semblance, which has yet to be eliminated, is now sublated by passing itself or the means; for the means is the unity of the inner and the outer, the opposite of the determination (the determination is the means in itself, that is, the talent) ; the means then sublates this determination and establishes itself, this unity of action and being, as something external, as actual individuality, that is to say, as individuality an existence of its own.Thus the whole act, whether as circumstances, or as end, or as means, or as accomplished work or enterprise, is never outside itself.

① Midpoint (Mittel) has dual meanings of midpoint and means. - translator However, along with the career or work, there seems to be a difference of original nature.The work, like the original nature it expresses, is a specific thing because it is liberated by action and becomes a reality of existence, and negativity, as a quality, is contained in the work.But consciousness defines itself as something opposite to works, and its stipulation is generally negativity and action.Consciousness is thus the universal opposed to the determination of the work; It can then compare one work with another and thus realize that the individualities are themselves different; Or a richer nature, that is to say, a nature whose original determination is less restricted; on the contrary, it understands the other individual as a weaker and poorer nature, etc.

Contrary to the non-essential difference expressed by magnitude [quantity], good and bad should express an absolute difference; but absolute differences do not occur here.Whichever way one acts, action is always the same action, always the same self-presentation and self-expression of an individuality, and therefore always good; And, really speaking, it may not be possible to say what is "bad" at all.What may be called a bad work is the individual life of a definite nature which realizes itself in the work; it is corrupted into a bad work only by the thought of comparison, which is a Empty, because it leaves the essence of the work (which is a self-expression of individuality) and seeks something else that no one knows what it is. —Contrasting thought can only produce a difference of the kind aforesaid; and that difference, as a difference of magnitude or quantity, is by its very nature an inessential difference; It is not essential, because what is compared are different works or different individuities, which do not relate to each other, each of which relates only to itself.Only original nature is something in itself or something that can be used as a yardstick for judging works, and conversely, only works are the yardstick for judging original nature.But the two fit together: there is nothing that exists for individuality that is not through it, or that there is no reality that is not the nature and action of individuality, and conversely, there is no individuality that is not Nature and action are not realistic.Only these links can be compared with each other.

Here, therefore, neither irritation nor complaint nor room for remorse takes place; There is another kind of content and another kind of freedom besides the expressiveness.In fact, what an individual is in itself is nothing more than what its actions are, and the external environment that an individual faces is nothing more than the consequences of its actions, and it can be said to be the individual itself.What the individual is aware of can only be a pure transformation of itself, that pure transformation or translation from the night of possibility to the day of actuality, from abstract in-itself to the meaning of actual existence, and what the individual is sure of It can only be convinced that what appears to itself during the day is that which is dormant in the night.Consciousness of this unity can, of course, also be said to be a comparison, but what is compared has only the semblance of an opposition; Nothing but false opposition, for rational self-consciousness knows that individuality is reality in itself.The individual, since he knows that all he can find in reality is his own unity with reality, or himself certainty in the truth of reality, and he knows that he can thus always achieve his end, so that the individual experiences pleasure only in itself.

Ⅱ.things in themselves and individuality This is the conception of itself constituted by a consciousness convinced of itself as the absolute penetration of individuality and being.Let us now see whether this concept has confirmed itself through the experience of consciousness, and whether the reality of consciousness is consistent with this concept.The finished enterprise or work is the reality that consciousness creates for itself.It is only in the work that consciousness becomes aware of what it is like for the individual to be in itself, and in this way the awareness of the individual, that is, the consciousness in the work, is no longer a particular consciousness but a universal consciousness; because it It has removed itself fundamentally from its expression in the work, into the element of universality, into the realm of the infinite determinateness of being.This consciousness detached from its own work, as universal consciousness (since it is the opposite of absolute negativity, action), is in fact opposed to its work, as specific consciousness.This consciousness thus transcends itself as work and is itself the field of indetermination not enriched by its work.If it is said that consciousness and the work were united in the concept before, it must be understood that this was so precisely because the work, as an existing work, had been sublated at that time.But the work should exist, and we should now see how in the existence of the work individuality will acquire its universality, how it will satisfy itself.

First, the completed work must be considered in itself.The work absorbs the whole nature of individuality, so that its very existence is an act in which all differences permeate and dissolve.The work then becomes a continuous existence in which, in fact, the determination of the original nature turns against other determinations, interferes with each other, and finally emerges as a vanishing moment in In this universal movement the self ascribes to disappearance. If within the concept of individuality, which is real in itself, all moments such as circumstances, ends, means, and processes of realization are identical to each other, and if the original definite nature is only a universal element, then On the contrary, since this element has become an objective existence, its stipulation itself appears in the work and acquires its truth in its dissolution.More precisely, this dissolution is as follows: in this determination, the individual as this specific individual becomes real; but this determination is not only the content of reality, but also the form of reality, In other words, this reality itself is precisely this determination at all, that is to say, this reality is exactly what is opposed to self-consciousness.Seen in this respect, the reality is clearly a foreign reality that has disappeared from conception and is found only as existing.To say that the work exists means that the work exists for other individualities, and that it is a reality foreign to them, and that other individuals must establish their reality in its place in order to Make yourself aware of their unity with reality through their actions.In other words, their interest in the work by virtue of their primordial nature is different from that in the work itself, and in this way the work is understood as something other than the work itself. something.Therefore, the work can be said to be a kind of changeable thing. It can be destroyed due to the hostile action of other forces and interests. .

Consciousness then perceives in its works the opposition of action and being, which in its previous forms was at once the beginning of action and its result, is now only a result.However, when consciousness begins to act as in-itself real individuality, this opposition is in fact already taken as the ground of action; The practice of life is based on this original nature.But pure action is the form of self-identity, so it is inconsistent with the determination of the original nature.Of course, here, as elsewhere, it does not matter which of the two is called the concept and the actual.We may say that primordial nature is the thought or in-itself as opposed to action, and action alone gives it reality; Sexual existence, as for action, is a primitive concept, an absolute transition or process of becoming.This disproportion between concept and reality contained in the essence of consciousness is now experienced by consciousness in its works; empty conception of itself disappears. Since the work is the truth of individuality in and of itself, in this basic contradiction of the work, all aspects of individuality appear again and contradict each other.That is to say, the work is the result of the entire individual content emanating into existence for action, and action is a negative unity, which once contained all the links, so now the work releases all these links; In the elements of continuous existence, these moments are independent of each other.Concept and reality are thus separated from each other, becoming purpose and primordial essence respectively.It is accidental that an end can have a real essence, or that it is an end in itself.In the same way, concept and reality are separated from each other, and become the transition and the goal respectively into reality; in other words, the choice of what is used as the means to achieve the goal is also a matter of chance.And finally, the relation of all these inner moments (whether or not they combine into a unity), the whole individual action, to reality in general, is also contingent; Means, of course, can lead to misfortune, but they can also meet luck. If we say now that the will and the execution, the end and the means, contained in the works of consciousness, and the opposition between the whole inner thing and the outer reality itself, have already appeared before consciousness (generally speaking, this If the opposite itself represents the contingency of the action of consciousness), it should be said that the unity and necessity of this action have also appeared before consciousness; and the latter aspect exceeds the former, so the contingency of action Experience itself is just an accidental experience.The inevitability of action lies in the fact that purpose is inherently related to reality, and this unity of purpose and reality is the concept of action; action occurs because action is the essence of objective reality for itself.It is true that there is contingency in the work, which is the difference between the finished thing and the will and the execution; and this experience of contingency, which seems to be necessarily true, actually contradicts our above-mentioned concept of action.Moreover, if we examine the content of this experience in terms of its completeness, we find that the content of this experience is the vanishing work; its own maintenance is not passing away, on the contrary, passing away itself is real, combined with the work, and follows the work itself. The negation is the negation of the affirmative, and the negator itself perishes with the affirmative. This disappearance of disappearance is contained in the very concept of its own real individuality.For that which disappears in the work, or which disappears in the work, is objective reality (or objective reality), and enables that which was previously called experience to prevail over what individuality possesses. The concept of individuality, that is, this objective reality.But objective reality is already a link in this consciousness that no longer has independent truth.Truth exists only in the unity of consciousness and action, and the true work is only the unity of action and being, will and execution.Thus, because of the certainty of consciousness on which its actions are based, it feels that reality, which is opposed to the certainty of consciousness, is itself a thing only for consciousness.For self-consciousness returning to itself, all opposition has disappeared, so that when consciousness is self-consciousness, opposition can no longer appear in the form of reality versus consciousness for itself; on the contrary, it appears in the work The opposition and negativity of the work not only involve the content of the work or the content of consciousness, but also involve reality itself, and thus involve the opposition that only appears in reality through reality, and the disappearance of the work.Consciousness thus returns to itself from its ever-changing work and affirms its concepts and certainties as something existing and enduring in contrast to the experience of the contingencies of action, in fact consciousness It experiences its concept in which reality is only a moment, a being-consciousness, not something in and for itself; it experiences reality as a passing moment, and therefore for it reality Just being in general, the universality of being in general and action are one and the same.This identity, this unity, is the real work, the real work; the real work or work is the thing itself, which in all cases asserts itself and is felt as an independent and unaltered existence. It is completely independent of events, that is, it has nothing to do with the contingencies of individual actions themselves, nor with the contingencies of circumstances, means, and reality. The thing itself is opposed to these moments only when they are regarded as acting in isolation, but in essence it is the unity of these moments as the permeator of reality and individuality.Likewise, the thing itself is an action, and as such it is pure action in general, and therefore also the action of a particular individual; Purpose.Likewise, the matter itself is the transition from this determination to the opposite determination, and in the end it is a reality that exists before consciousness.Thus the thing itself expresses the spiritual essence in which all these moments acting in isolation for themselves are sublated, so that only the universal moments act; In this spiritual essence, the certainty of consciousness towards itself becomes itself a thing of consciousness, an object; (Not of consciousness) Free, true object. —What belongs to the stage of sensuous certainty and perception now has meaning for self-consciousness, and only through self-consciousness.This is the difference between a thing and a thing. —The course of movement that is passed here corresponds to that of the stages of sensuous certainty and perception. Self-consciousness then becomes aware of its true conception of itself in the thing itself, or rather, it becomes aware of its substance in the thing itself, in the penetration or unity of the already objectified individuality and objectivity.At the same time, self-consciousness, as it currently stands, is a just-attained and therefore immediate awareness of its substance; and this is the particular mode in which the essence of the mind is revealed , but has not yet reached the real real entity.The thing itself appears in this immediate consciousness of substance in the form of a simple essence which, as a universal, contains all its different moments in itself and belongs to to them, but at the same time it treats these specific moments of them indifferently and maintains itself in independent freedom, and it, being the simple, abstract thing of this freedom itself, becomes [their] essence.All kinds of links, including the original stipulations or things of a particular individual, its purpose, means, action and reality, are, on the one hand, individual links for this consciousness, so consciousness can give up for the things themselves They; but on the other hand, they all take the thing itself as the essence, because it can pervade these different moments of them as their abstract universal and can be their predicate.The thing itself is not yet the subject; the moments are taken as subjects, because the moments belong to the individuality, and the thing itself is now only the simple universal.The thing itself is the genus, and the genus pervades all these moments which are its species, and is likewise independent of them. Ⅲ.Mutual Deceit and Spiritual Entities Consciousness is called honest consciousness because, on the one hand, it reaches the idealism expressed by the thing itself, and on the other hand, it takes the formal universality of the thing itself as its truth.Honest consciousness always only seeks to reach the thing itself, so it always seeks repeatedly in every link or species of the thing itself; It is not obtained here but can be obtained in another link, so in fact it always enjoys the satisfaction that this consciousness should enjoy according to its concept.In any case it always completes and reaches the thing itself, since the thing itself, as the universal species of moments, is the predicate of all moments. If, for example, consciousness has not been able to bring about an end, then in this case it has wanted to make it after all, and that is to say, it has made the end an end, has made nothing The mere act of doing becomes the thing itself, and it is consoling to say that something has been done anyway.For since the universal includes negation or disappearance, the self-sublation or negation of the work is also its act.It prompts the other to negate its reality, while it is content in its disappearance, like a mischievous child who is delighted to be slapped, proud of itself as the cause of the slap.Or let us take another case, say, where it never even tries to realize the thing itself, and does nothing at all, then it has no desire or willingness to do so; For it, too, is the unity of its will and reality; for it reality is nothing but its own will. —Finally, supposing that something happens to interest it even without its participation in the action, then in this case, because it is interested in it, this reality is for it the thing itself, although this reality It does not spring from it at all; and this reality which it so happens to encounter, if it were a satisfactory thing, it would certainly claim to be its own cause and merit, even if it were an ordinary Events, it can also regard as its own, because it takes an interest in not participating in any action as an act of taking a stand for or against and supporting and resisting. From this, this honesty of consciousness , and the contentment it feels everywhere, is evidently due to its failure to unite its ideas about the thing itself.For consciousness the thing itself, or its own thing, is not a work at all, or is pure action and empty purpose, or a reality without action; it regards one meaning after another as the subject of the predicate, and forget them one by one.Now we see that in the case of merely wishing (or not wishing) the thing itself, from the point of view of consciousness, is the thoughtful unity of the empty purpose and wish with reality.Moreover, the consolation of consciousness, and the satisfaction of prompting others to act, in cases where the end has not been achieved despite wishing or taking a pure action, lies in the fact that it takes the pure action or the complete Bad works or careers are regarded as the essence, because the kind of works that are not works at all should only be called bad careers or works.Finally, in a fortunate case, that is to say, when it encounters reality ready-made, this being that appears without its participation in any action is the thing itself. But this honesty is not really honesty as it seems.Because in fact it cannot be so thoughtless that these different links are really independent and independent of each other. On the contrary, it must be directly aware of the mutual opposition of the various links, because these links are absolutely interrelated.Pure action is essentially the action of a particular individual, and this action is also essentially a reality or a thing.Conversely, reality is essentially only the action and action of the individual; and the action of the individual is at the same time only action; it is therefore also reality.Thus, while the individual seems to be dealing only with the thing itself as abstract reality, it also finds that the thing itself is its own action.But also, when it feels that it is only concerned with action, it realizes that this is not a serious situation, and on the contrary, it knows that what is concerned with it is really one thing, and its own thing.Finally, when it seems to wish only its own affairs and its own actions, what it wishes is the reality of things as such or as they exist for themselves. Just as the thing itself and its individual moments appear here as content, they must also appear as forms in consciousness.They appear as content only to disappear, each moment disappearing in order to make way for another.The determination with which they appear must therefore be that of a superseded, but only so that they are aspects of consciousness itself.The thing itself appears as a return in itself or as consciousness; and the mutual exclusion of the moments is expressed in consciousness in that they are established in consciousness not in itself, but only for other consciousnesses.Consciousness brings to light one of the moments of content, presenting it as his; but at the same time from this moment consciousness returns to itself, and in itself likewise presents the opposite moment, and retains it as its own moment. .At the same time, however, it must be noted that consciousness does not place any one moment alone and only keeps some other inward; on the contrary, it treats them alternately in turn, because it has to make each of them into Both for itself and for his essence.The whole is a movement in which individuality and universality interpenetrate; but since this whole appears to this consciousness to be only a simple essence and therefore only an abstraction of the thing itself, the moments of this whole, as separate moments, fall within the things themselves.外，而且此一环节落于彼一环节之外；而整体自身则全靠它的环节的轮流更替地呈现与保留才能全部表现出来。由于在这个呈现与保留的更替过程中意识只把一个环节当作为它自己的，当作它的自身返回中的本质的东西，而其他环节虽说也存在于它自身却是外在的或为他的，于是在个体性与个体性之间就出现了一种互相欺骗的游戏，每个个体性都自欺也欺人，都欺骗别人也受人欺骗。 因此，一个个体性，总在设法实现些什么东西，它好象也确乎因此而把某种东西搞成了事情；它的行为动作，而就在它的行为动作里它成了为他的；并且好象它与之打交道的是一种客观现实。因此，其他的个体也就把这个个体的行动当作是对事情本身的一种兴趣，并且以为它的行动目的在于使事情自身得以实现，至于由上述那一个个体还是由它们这些其他个体使之实现，是无关重要的事。可是，当其他的个体指出这个事情早已由它们弄成为现实了的时候，或者如果它们还没弄成为现实的话，那么当它们提供它们的援助并实际进行援助以求这个事情实现的时候，它们竟发现上述的那一个意识已经不在它们以为它所在的那个地方，换句话说，那一个意识在事情中感到兴趣的，〔并不是事情本身，〕而是它自己的行为动作；而当它们知道了它的行为动作就是当初的事情自身时，它们于是就觉得自己受了欺骗。——但事实上，它们当初之急忙去援助，也不是为了别的，只不过想看看和表现一下它们自己的行动，而并不是为了事情自身；换句话说，它们当时正是想以它们所抱怨的那种受骗的方式去欺骗别的意识。——现在既然已经真相大白，充当事情自身的是意识自己的行为动作，是它自己的力量的游戏，或表演，于是好象意识对它自己的本质的所作所为就纯然是为它自身的，而不是为其他意识的，好象它只关心它自己的行动而不关心作为别人的行动的那一种行动，因而好象它对别人的行动绝不过问，听任它们自由行事。但是它们是再度看错了；意识已经不在它们以为它所在的那个地方。意识所关心的，已不是作为它的这个个别的事情的事情，而是作为事情的事情，而是为一切意识所共有的一种普遍。因此，意识是在干涉别人的行动和事业，而如果说它现在已不再能直接左右已在它们别人手里的事业或作品，那么至少它表示对此感兴趣，通过它有兴趣于对别人的作品下判断来进行干涉；因为，如果它给作品打上赞成和赞扬的烙印，那么这意味着它不仅赞扬作品本身，并且同时也赞扬它自己的慷慨大度和自我克制，因为它竟然没用它自己的非难疵议而使作品为之败坏。当它喜欢某一作品时，它固然从中享受它自己；同样，当它不赞成一件作品时，它也欢迎这个作品，因为它可以通过它对作品的非难而享受它自己的行动。然而那些自认为或自称是因这种干预而受骗了的意识，自己当初却曾想以这同样方法去欺骗别人。它们自称它们的行为动作是一种只为它们自身的东西，它们的行动只以它们自身和它们的本质为目标。但当它们做出或实现了某种东西，从而表现了自己，将自己显露于日光之下时，事实上它们就直接与它们的自许矛盾起来，因为按它们自许，它们是想排除日光自身，排除普遍的意识，并排除一切人的参与，而所谓实现则可以说正是将属于它自己的东西陈列于普遍的原素之中，以便它自己的事情变成并且一定变成一切人的事情。 因此，如果有人自称他只与纯粹的事情有所关涉，那他就既是自欺，又是欺人。一个意识，当它展出或实现了一件事情时，它自己就会经验到，其他的意识都象苍蝇之群趋于新挤出来的牛奶那样急忙凑拢过来想插手参与这件事情；而这些其他的意识也会从它那里经验到，它所展出的，不是作为对象的事情而是它自己的事情。反之，当这个意识行动的时候，如果它自以为本质的东西只是行动自身，只是力量与才能的发挥运用，或只是这一特定个体性的自我表现，那么它们其他意识也会反而经验到：它们每一个都是心情激奋，准备随时应邀参与其事，而且知道原来那个意识所展出或实现出来的，并不是一种纯粹的行动，或一种个别的独有的行动，而勿宁同样是一种为他的东西或一个事情自身。上述两种不同情况，发生的结果是相同的。即是说，意识经验到的意义都不同于当初所设想的和认以为真的那种意义。意识经验到，事情与行动这两个方面同样是本质的环节，事情自身按其本性来说，既不只是事情也不只是行动，因为事情仿佛与一般行动和个别行动相对立，而行动则作为独立于它的种的环节之外的类而与持续存在相对立；事情自身勿宁是这样一种本质，这种本质的存在是个别的个体和一切个体的行动，这种本质的行动是直接为他的存在或是一种事情，因为只有事情才可以说是每个个体和一切个体的行动；这种本质，是一切本质的本质，是精神的本质。意识经验到，上述的那些环节都不是主体，它们都消溶于普遍的事情自身之中；个体性的诸环节，在这个意识的无思想阶段曾经先后充当主体，现在则结合成为简单的个体性，而简单的个体性，作为某个特定的个体性，同时又直接是普遍的。这样一来，事情自身就丧失了它作为宾词的关系以及它作为无生命的抽象普遍性的规定性：它勿宁是为个体性渗透了的实体；它就是主体，在这种主体中个体性既是作为它自己，换句话说作为某个特定的个体，又是作为一切的个体；它就是普遍，普遍作为每个个体和一切个体的这种行动时乃是一个存在；它就是现实，每个意识都知道这种现实是它自己的现实又是一切意识的现实。这样，纯粹的事情自身就是上面被规定为范畴的那种东西，即是说，它是存在，而这个存在即是自我（Ich），或，它是自我，而这个自我即是存在；但这样它就等于被规定为一种与现实的自我意识还有所区别的思维；不过在这里我们须知，现实的自我意识的诸环节，如目的、行为、现实既然被我们称为意识的内容，而自为存在与为他存在又被我们称之为意识的形式，那么现实的自我意识的环节就已经与简单的范畴本身合而为一，即是同一个东西，所以简单的范畴同时即是一切内容。