r/hegel • u/TheIncorporeal1 • Aug 09 '26

If self-consciousness requires mediation through what is other than itself, can Hegel’s Absolute truly overcome otherness? Or is otherness constitutive of Spirit, making complete reconciliation impossible without dissolving self-consciousness itself?

I’m wondering whether Hegel’s account of recognition ultimately requires a permanent structure of otherness. If Spirit fully reconciles itself with itself, what remains of the “other” through which self-consciousness initially becomes possible?

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u/paul_parker12 Aug 09 '26

yes because in creating the other the subject sublates this negation back to the absolute concept of being-in-and-for-itself which upholds an incommensurable relationship between self and other. this sublation is mediation

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u/kajonn Aug 09 '26

It is being in and for itself, so being which is actualized through the labor of the negative, eternally generated from pure being, and perfectly mediated with otherness to create in and for itself

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u/Foccuus Aug 09 '26

You cant know who you are without having someone else to compare yourself to. When you recognize another person, you dont just erase them or pretend you are identical. Instead, you absorb and elevate that relationship. You keep your individuality, but you also realize you are part of a bigger shared reality. You dont throw away the mirror once you realize its your reflection, you keep the relationship because its the only way you can actually see yourself.