Science of Logic

In General.

is; the Concept is now this absolute unity of Being and Reflection, such that Being in-and-for-itself In Hegel’s philosophy, "Being in-and-for-itself" describes something that is not only independent (in-itself) but also aware of itself and its relations (for-itself). exists only because it is just as much Reflection or Posited-being, and that this Posited-being Term: Posited-being (German: Gesetztsein). This refers to something that does not exist on its own but is "placed" or determined by its relationship to something else. is Being in-and-for-itself. — This abstract result is clarified through the presentation of its concrete genesis; this contains the nature of the Concept, but it must have preceded its specific treatment. The main stages of this exposition (which was treated in detail in the second book of the Objective Logic) are therefore to be briefly summarized here:

Substance is the Absolute, the Actual being in-and-for-itself; — in-itself as the simple identity of possibility and actuality, the absolute essence containing all actuality and possibility within itself; — for-itself, this identity as absolute power or purely self-relating negativity In this context, "negativity" is not a bad thing; it is the creative force of change and distinction that allows a thing to define itself by what it is not.. — The movement of Substantiality, which is established through these moments, consists in this:

1.) That Substance, as absolute power or self-relating negativity, differentiates itself into a relationship in which those moments are initially only simple components, as substances, and as original presuppositions. — The specific relationship between them is that of a passive substance, — the originality of simple Being-in-itself, which, being powerless and not establishing itself, is only an original Posited-being; — and of active substance, the self-relating negativity which, as such, has established itself as another and relates to this other. This other is precisely the passive substance, which the active substance has presupposed as a condition in the originality of its power. — This presupposing is to be understood such that the movement of