O defeito da lei universal do entendimento na fenomenologia do espírito de Hegel

Abstract

Hegel points to the fact that the law is necessary, but its existence is not a necessity since it is an abstract word stripped of meaning, being merely a definition or a concept for understanding, that is, a formal identity or essence which holds the existence; or, in another words, the law in itself, which is necessary, it is not inserted in the same object. That universal law as simple force or internal difference is the output of the understanding, therefore its necessary aspect is not real, and it spells out the very need of understanding; the universal law is the afore-mentioned internal difference, purely mental, that lodges itself in the words; a difference of understanding only; a difference that spells out no difference from the object itself (§154 from PhG). If differences are not anything by themselves, for they hold the same content and constitution, namely, interior difference and the sole law difference, as given by understanding, the difference as difference of content, that is, from the object, is found in the general law (pure force) which was discarded. Being this the case, the explanation (Erklärung) that describes the several moments or cycles that constitute the necessary universal law is not directed towards the object, but just towards the understanding only from which issues an analytical purely tautological movement which is proper to understanding itself. Within that tautological movement, understanding leaves out the object and unveils itself only; it does not say anything about the object itself, but just holds to its own object which is the object’s quiet unity, the peaceful kingdom of universal laws which are created by itself (§155 from PhG).