Abstract

This dissertation argues that absolute knowing in Hegel's Phenomenology consists in a comprehension of the nature or concept of spirit. Spirit is the human being, taken individually, collectively, or in terms of the essence of humanity. It is the self-moving act of cognition which constitutes the totality of human consciousness, and which is composed of the integral moments of subject and object. ;This study contends that the nature of spirit involves a unique relation of Unity in Difference between its constituent moments. This is a relation which, Hegel claims, is not recognized by formal logic and by the conventional thinking which is based upon the latter. In this relation, Difference consists in the incommensurability of the moments, e.g., subject and object, or freedom and necessity. The moments of spirit are radically opposed and mutually exclusive. Yet at the same time, these moments lack complete meaning in isolation from each other. Hegel maintains that each incommensurable moment must, therefore, contain the meaning of the other; and it is precisely this mutual involvement which constitutes the Unity of the related moments. This singular relation of Unity in Difference binds together the various moments of spirit. ;By examining each section of the Phenomenology, this study shows that the course of spirit's intellectual and historical progress is one of coming to self-knowledge, coming to recognize its own nature as that of the Unity in Difference of its constituent moments. In its progress, it consistently treats its moments either as purely incommensurable or as identical. Finally, however, spirit is compelled by its own nature to recognize the truth of its concept as the Unity in Difference of its moments. At this point, spirit has risen to the level of absolute knowing. ;This unique approach to the Phenomenology was first suggested by Donald Verene's recent book, Hegel's Recollection . In agreement with Verene, this dissertation argues against the traditional view which considers absolute knowing to consist in the commensurability--if not the identity--of spirit's moments