Hegel Glossary 1) identity, sameness, equality Usually Hegel does not mean numerical identity, but something like "necessarily connected with." Does not exclude difference. Simple, mere, or abstract self-identity implies that the thing in question has no structure or determinate characteristics, since such characteristics imply contrast (and therefore connection) with other things. Self-identity (without the 'mere') implies some degree of independence, of having an identity that is maintained in becoming more determinate. 2) (pure) being A (hypothetical) stuff whose only property is that it exists. Hegel argues that such a thing/stuffwould be indistinguishable from (pure) nothing, hence being and nothing are identical (and also not identical). Thus pure being by itself is not possible, but only a unity of being and non-being, i.e., becoming, which expresses the instability of pure being or pure non-being. 3) determinate being Thing or stuff that has specific characteristics and is therefore different from other determinate being(s). 4) being-in-itself 'In itself' designates what is implicit or potential in something. A seed is 'in itself' a plant. Being-in-itself is the 'inner' nature of determinate being. 5) being-for-itself Being that is something more than merely the opposite of the things it contrasts with. "Something is for itself in so far as it transcends otherness, its connexion and community with another, has repelled them and made abstraction from them." (SL158). Being-for-itself has developed to the point of having a degree of independence from its opposite by incorporating that opposite within itself. It does this by having aninner relation with that opposite, a relation with the opposite that (partly) determines what it is itself. Key example: something X that is conscious of itself by seeing another conscious being Y which is none-the-less identical to X. That is, I become conscious of my self only when I see other people who are identical with me, and who are conscious of me and of themselves. 6) being-in-and-for-itself not only implies the previously noted characteristics, but has the connotation of a complete entity, that is what it is in conformity to its nature (its in it self), considered apart from any relation it may have with anything else. 7) understanding The kind of thinking that produces contrasting categories like essence vs. appearance. Understanding makes sharp distinctions, and regards them as fixed and unchanging. (see speculative reason). speculative reason has a uniting function, but what it unites are opposites which it "dissolves." (SL28) The contradictory opposites of the Understanding must be reconciled and overcome by (speculative) Reason, the kind of thinking that produces the Notion (Concept). Speculative thinking "holds fast contradiction." (SL440) 8) overcoming, aufheben, sublation A dialectical process the outcome of which incorporates what has come before, but is also different from what has come before. The result of this process is a unity which combines the things which are overcome, and modifies those things by their incorporation in to the unity. See moment. 9) moment An aspect of something, or some whole as seen from a limited point of view. In dialectical development, each stage of that development is called a moment. The implication is that a mere moment is not the comprehensive thing that will come later, which will be a totality of various moments, each of which is merely a partial version of it. 10) bad infinite An endless repetition of something without coming to an end, like the steps toward moral perfection in Kant's ethics.11) negation of the negation The sublation of something, particularly the relation of the true infinite that sublates the bad infinite. Repetition without limit is a kind of negation (of limit) and negation of the limitless repetition creates an outcome that incorporates that series of repetitions and completes it. More generally, the idea that applying dialectical negation twice does not lead back to the original thing, but produces something new. 12) doctrine of internal relations This term was used by and about the British Neo-Hegelians. It describes Hegel's (and Marx's) view that a thing is partly constituted by its relationships to other things. An extreme example is Hegel's statement that destroying a speck of dust would destroy the universe. 13) mediation A connecting link, or relationship between two things. Alternatively, the thing that something is linked to may be called a mediation. That is, if A is related to B and B to C, then B is a mediation between A andC. In the internal relations point of view, something is constituted (partly or fully) by the totality of its mediations. 14) immediate Direct. Having no mediations. A relationship having no intermediate links. Something merely given, rather than being a result. Simple immediacy is pure being (SL 69). But immediacy is not necessarily simple. It can be the result of mediation that results in sublation. "… the third is the immediate, but the immediate resulting from the sublation of difference…. It is equally immediacy and mediation."(SL837) This sort of immediacy is a new starting point, analogous to the immediate being of the first stages of the dialectic. Inthis sense, illusory being is immediate. 15) negativity Internal conflict, opposition or differentiation. The source of dialectical development of thought."…the inner negativity of … determinations … [of thought is] their self-moving soul, the principle of all naturaland spiritual life." (SL56) 16) positing What is posited is dependent on something else from which it is derived, it is not being-in-itself.. What is posited is made explicit, is recognized as true or as existing. Can also mean something assumed and requiring later confirmation or justification. Carries some of the connotations it has in Fichte, i.e., free or arbitrary creation by thought. In the Notion (Concept) the necessities of essence thinking are converted into something freely posited by rational thought. 17) posited being A kind of deficient being. "It is unstable in the highest measure. It is missing a considerable degree of self-sufficiency, or perhaps formulated more weakly, it lack a certain identity [equality with itself]." (Schmidt) 18) reflection The activity of thought that connects and also differentiates or negates. The dialectical