Preliminary Notions

The notions (Bestimmungen) in question are: thought, concept, idea or reason, and their development.

1. Thought as Concept and Idea

a. Thought. First, then, there is thought.

(1) As Concept.

Thought is:

• not empty and abstract
• is self-determining
• essentially concrete

This concrete thought we call concept.

Thought must be a concept.

No matter how abstract it might seem, it itself is concrete.

From one point of view, philosophy deals in abstractions, insofar as it deals with thoughts which are abstracted from the sensible concrete.

From another point of view, abstractions belong to the reflection proper to understanding, not to philosophy.

Some condemn philosophy for being abstract.

They are most immersed in the reflections which are proper to understanding, even though they think they have to do with the concretest of contents.

Because they reflect on the matter at hand (die Sache), what they have is a combination of the merely sensible and subjective thoughts – i.e., abstractions.

(2) As Idea

More precisely, concrete thought is concept which is further determined it is idea.

The idea is the concept insofar as it is realized.

To be realized it must determine itself.

This determination is itself.

Thus, its content is itself.

Its infinite relation to itself means that only from itself does its determination come.

This idea is what we call truth.

Recently, of course, the conclusion has been reached that

We are incapable of knowing the truth.

The object of philosophy is concrete thought.

When this is further determined it is, precisely, idea or truth.

Some say the truth cannot be known.

Tennemann is a Kantian. He thinks that:

• it is absurd to want to know the truth
• the proof of this is the history of philosophy

But why would he work so hard at philosophy with no purpose in mind?

This sort of thing makes the history of philosophy a mere account of all kinds of opinions.

Another prejudice says that we can know about the truth, but only after we have reflected on it.

They say truth is not known in:

• immediate perception or intuition
• external sensible nor intellectual intuition

Being capable of knowing the truth is different from knowing the truth.

I experience the truth of the matter only by reflection.

The contentions are:

1. We cannot know the truth
2. We know truth only through reflection.

My first determination is that:

• thought is concrete
• the concrete is truth
• the truth can be the result only of thinking

The spirit develops itself out of itself.