Abstract

The purpose of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit is to demonstrate that the Concept is the underlying reality or Truth that lies hidden to ordinary knowing. Once the Concept is revealed it becomes the object of scientific development in his Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences, but because of its absolute nature the Concept and its development are identical while different simultaneously. On the absolute platform opposites are identical in their differences, just as the absolute value |1| is the same as the absolute value |-1| in mathematics. To be able to think in terms of absolute knowledge therefore one has to leave the duality of relative knowing or understanding and raise oneself to the level of dialectical unity or Reason.