Determinate Being

¹⁸⁸ In considering determinate being the emphasis falls on its determinate character; the determinateness is in the form of being, and as such it is quality.

Through its quality, something is determined as opposed to an other, as alterable and finite; and as negatively determined not only against an other but also in its own self.

This its negation as at first opposed to the finite something is the infinite; the abstract opposition in which these determinations appear resolves itself into the infinity which is free from the opposition, into being-for-self.

¹⁸⁹ The treatment of determinate being falls therefore into three parts:

A. Determinate being as such B. Something and other, finitude C. Qualitative infinity.

A Determinate Being as Such (a) Determinate Being in General (b) Quality (c) Something

B Finitude (a) Something and Other (b) Determination, Constitution and Limit (c) Finitude [a] The Immediacy of Finitude [b] Limitation and the Ought

Determinate Being

A. DETERMINATE BEING AS SUCH

¹⁹⁰ In determinate being (a) as such, its determinateness is first of all (b) to be distinguished as quality.

This, however, is to be taken as well in the one determination of determinate being as in the other — as reality and negation. But in these determinatenesses determinate being is equally reflected into itself; and posited as such it is (c) something, a determinate being.

(a) Determinate Being in General

¹⁹¹ From becoming there issues determinate being, which is the simple oneness of being and nothing.

Because of this oneness it has the form of immediacy. Its mediation, becoming, lies behind it; it has sublated itself and determinate being appears, therefore, as a first, as a starting-point for the ensuing development. It is first of all in the one-sided determination of being; the other determination, nothing, will likewise display itself and in contrast to it.

¹⁹² It is not mere being, but determinate being [Dasein], etymologically taken, being in a certain place; but the idea of space is irrelevant here. Determinate being as the result of its becoming is, in general, being with a non-being such that this non-being is taken up into simple unity with being. Non-being thus taken up into being in such a way that the concrete whole is in the form of being, of immediacy, constitutes determinateness as such.

¹⁹³ The whole is likewise in the form, that is, in the determinateness of being, for being has likewise shown itself in becoming to be only a moment — a sublated, negatively determined being; but it is such for us in our reflection, it is not yet posited as such in its own self.

But the determinateness as such of determinate being is the determinateness which is posited, and this is implied in the expression Dasein [there-being or being which is there].

The two are always to be clearly distinguished from each other; only that which is posited in a Notion belongs in the dialectical development of that Notion to its content; whereas the determinateness that is not yet posited in the Notion itself belongs to our reflection, whether it concerns the nature of the Notion itself or is an external comparison.

To draw attention to a determinateness of the latter kind can only serve to elucidate or indicate in advance the course which will be exhibited in the development itself.

That the whole, the unity of being and nothing, is in the one-sided determinateness of being is an external reflection; but in the negation, in something and other and so on, it will come to be posited.

It was necessary here to draw attention to the distinction referred to; but to take account of all the Remarks which may be prompted by reflection would lead to the prolixity of anticipating what must yield itself in the subject matter.

Such reflections may facilitate a general view and thereby an understanding of the development, but they also have the disadvantage of appearing as unjustified assertions, grounds and foundations for what is to follow. They should therefore not be taken for more than they are supposed to be and should be distinguished from what is a moment in the development of the subject matter itself.

¹⁹⁴ Determinate being corresponds to being in the previous sphere, but being is indeterminate and therefore no determinations issue from it. Determinate being, however, is concrete; consequently a number of determinations, distinct relations of its moments, make their appearance in it.