Валерий Антонов – HEGEL'S PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT: A COMPLETE GUIDE. (страница 2)

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Hegel's structure of Phenomenology of Spirit represents a dialectical progression of consciousness from naive sensory certainty to absolute knowledge, through the following stages: consciousness (sensory certainty, perception, reason), self-consciousness (the struggle for recognition, master and slave, stoicism, skepticism, unhappy consciousness), reason (the observing, active, and legislative reason), spirit (true spirit/morality, alienated spirit/cultivation, spirit possessing self-certainty/morality), and religion (natural religion, art religion, revealed religion). This progression culminates in absolute knowledge, where spirit attains self-awareness as the unity of subjectivity and objectivity, completing its phenomenological development and paving the way for pure logic.

Although this structure describes the dialectical journey of consciousness toward Absolute Knowledge, Hegel himself begins his work with a Preface written after completing the main text, which serves as its conceptual key. In examining this Preface, it is essential to focus on its revolutionary tone—Hegel here redefines the very purpose of philosophy. He criticizes dogmatism, formalism, and "presumed knowledge," asserting that Truth is a dynamic process of self-realization rather than a fixed doctrine. This Preface lays the methodological foundations ("Science can exist only within a system") and the ontological groundwork ("Substance is Subject") for the entire phenomenological inquiry.

"This is a profound exploration of the nature of philosophical truth, a critique of preceding philosophical systems—particularly those of Schelling—and an emphasis on the necessity of science as a systematic approach. It discusses the concept of the Absolute as a Subject, rather than merely a substance, and underscores the role of dialectics as a driving force behind intellectual development. Key concepts include 'The Absolute is a Subject,' 'the cunning of reason,' and dialectics itself. Hegel's Preface to Phenomenology of Spirit outlines the foundational principles of his philosophical system and establishes the place of this work within it. Its primary goal is to transform philosophy from a 'love of knowledge' into 'true knowledge,' that is, into a systematic scientific enterprise. Phenomenology of Spirit serves as the introductory phase of this system, a 'ladder' leading to science itself. Its subject matter is the path of the spirit's development, the emergence of the spirit in consciousness, and 'the science of experience as conducted by consciousness.' It guides consciousness through its initial, undeveloped state ('sensuous consciousness') to all necessary stages of growth, where knowledge and its object confront each other, until finally reaching a point of absolute knowledge where this contradiction is resolved. At this stage, the spirit attains the realm of pure conceptual understanding, and only then begins true science—Logic, or speculative philosophy—in which the spirit recognizes itself in its true conceptual form. The implications of these principles are revolutionary: Truth exists only as a living, evolving process, not as a static result or isolated principle; it is a whole, a system that achieves completion through its own development. The Absolute (Truth, Spirit) is essentially a result that becomes what it is only at the end of this process. From this arises the essential role of Negativity—contradiction, opposition, and their resolution—in the life of the spirit; 'falsehood' is not merely an opposite, but a necessary element of this developmental journey."

Critical importance is attached to the concept that "Substance is Subject": reality is not a static foundation but a living, self-moving Spirit, whose essence lies in pure negativity—the activity of self-differentiation and return to itself. This necessitates the use of mediation; knowledge cannot begin with absolute truth directly ("like from a pistol") but must follow a long path through various forms of consciousness and experience, including mistakes. Hence, there is a sharp critique of formalism and rationality: applying ready-made schemas (such as Kant's triads as templates), external definitions, or mathematical methods—which deal with quantities rather than concepts—kills the vital substance of philosophy. The true method must be inherent in the content itself and follow its internal development. A key consequence is that what is familiar is not necessarily what is truly understood; relying on habitual perceptions and apparent clarity hinders genuine philosophical inquiry, which requires effort and conceptual engagement. The principle of the historicity of both Spirit and the individual means that an individual's development essentially repeats the process by which the World-Spirit has been formed, incorporating cultural heritage as its own property. Critiquing the notion of the Absolute as something uniform and devoid of difference emphasizes that true understanding preserves these distinctions as integral aspects of a living whole. In summary, reality and knowledge are dialectical: truth is a historical, mediated process driven by internal contradiction. Philosophy can only be a systematic body of conceptual inquiry; the foundation of the world is the self-developing Spirit-Subject. Overcoming one-sided ways of thinking requires the inherent development of concepts. "Phenomenology" is the necessary path for consciousness to reach absolute knowledge, integrating it into the system of Science (Logic). Hegel scholars, both in Russia and abroad, unanimously recognize the programmatic and manifesto nature of the Preface to Phenomenology of Spirit, seeing it as a concise exposition of the core of Hegel's entire philosophical system.

Domestic scholars such as Alexey Fedorovich Losev, Evald Vasilevich Ilin, Merab Konstantinovich Mamardashvili, and Vladimir Solomonovich Bibler emphasize the revolutionary nature of Hegel's approach to understanding Truth. Losev, through a thorough analysis of dialectics, sees the Preface as providing an account of Truth as a living, historically evolving whole—in which becoming is inseparable from being, and where the result is impossible without the process that leads to it. This completely rejects the notion of truth as something static or merely a collection of dogmas. Ilin, in his foundational work on Hegel, meticulously examines the principle that "Substance is Subject," interpreting it as an affirmation of the Absolute Spirit's absolute activity—whose essence lies in pure negativity, self-surpassing, and self-mediation. This means that any direct knowledge of the Absolute is impossible; instead, a phenomenological approach to consciousness is necessary. Bibler focuses on the "Phenomenology" as "the science of the experience of consciousness," seeing it as a dynamic dialogue between different forms of consciousness in which "falsehood" is not an error but rather a necessary element in the Absolute's self-awareness through its manifestation. Mamardashvili, acknowledging the complexity of Hegel's texts, highlights the challenge they pose to those accustomed to straightforward interpretations, arguing that the Preface requires hermeneutic effort akin to the very phenomenological process of understanding.

The international tradition of Hegel scholars, including figures like Alexandre Kojève, Jean Hippolyte, Herbert Marcuse, Charles Taylor, Robert Pipin, Terry Pincker, and Robert Brandom, offers a range of complementary interpretations. Kojève, whose lectures had a profound impact, radically reinterprets the "Phenomenology" as the history of human self-awareness driven by the desire for recognition and struggle for affirmation. For him, the Preface is crucial in understanding dialectics as the logic of negation and emergence through conflict.

"Ippolit, the author of that classic commentary, meticulously examines how the Preface lays the foundations for a speculative approach to understanding content itself. He also highlights how this critique of formalism—particularly Kant's and Schelling's—aims to reject any attempt to impose external structures on reality, structures that would destroy its dynamic, dialectical nature. Marcuse draws attention to the socio-historical context behind this critique of 'empty identity'—the notion of 'a night where all cows are black'—linking it to Hegel's rejection of reactionary romanticism and his affirmation of the historicity of Reason. Taylor and Pippen emphasize the epistemological revolution that Hegel represents: the shift from 'love of knowledge' to 'true knowledge' signifies, for him, overcoming the divide between subject and object, cognition and being—an achievement only attainable through absolute knowledge, as pursued by the 'Phenomenology' as a science of the spirit's phenomena. Like Pincard, they see the concept of 'mediation' as the core of the Preface's approach: the path of consciousness is essential because the Spirit can understand itself only through its own emergence and subsequent return from it. Pincard particularly stresses the role of 'negativity' as the driving force behind dialectics, without which the Spirit would be unable to move forward or develop. Brandom, with his 'inferentialist' interpretation, understands Hegel's dialectic as a process of defining concepts through their relationships and interactions within a 'space of causes,' where 'Aufhebung' (sublation) means reinterpreting old positions from a new perspective—an approach that is already inherent in the Preface's opposition to isolated truths."