Of the Concept.

...set as identical to extension within absolute substance, for its part, to be held stiffly and firmly. A true refutation must enter into the opponent’s strength and place itself within the circle of their power; to attack them from outside themselves and to maintain one's rightness where the opponent is not present does nothing to advance the cause.

The only refutation of Spinozism The philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, who argued that everything is a manifestation of one single "Substance." Hegel sees this as a necessary but incomplete stage of logic. can therefore only consist in this: first, that its standpoint be recognized as essential and necessary, but second, that this standpoint be raised to a higher level from within itself. The relationship of substantiality The state of being a "substance" or an underlying, unchanging reality., considered entirely in and for itself, leads over into its opposite: the Concept.

The exposition of substance contained in the previous book, which transitions to the Concept, is therefore the only and true refutation of Spinozism. It is the unveiling of substance, and this is the genesis of the Concept Hegel argues that the "Concept" (the way we understand and categorize reality) is not just a tool in our heads, but the final, most developed stage of reality itself, emerging out of the limitations of "Substance.", the main moments of which have been summarized above.

— The unity of substance is its relationship of necessity; but in this way, it is only internal necessity. By positing itself through the moment of absolute negativity, it becomes manifested or posited identity, and thus freedom, which is the identity of the Concept. This Concept—the totality resulting from reciprocal action translated from Wechselwirkung; the stage where two things influence each other so deeply that they can no longer be seen as separate things, but as part of one system.—is the unity of the two substances in reciprocal action, such that they now belong to freedom. They no longer possess their identity as something blind (meaning, purely internal); instead, they essentially have the determination of being shining from the German Schein, referring to a "reflection" or "appearance" that points to a deeper truth. or moments of reflection. Through this, each has merged just as immediately with its "other" or its "positedness," and each contains its own positedness within itself. Thus, in its "other," it is posited simply as identical with itself.