I have purposely limited myself to a rather brief statement in this introduc­ tion, in order that the summing up be not misrepresented for the discursive development of the whole. There is something more than mildly dangerous in setting oneself a series of goals in an introduction only to find them happily attained in the conclusion, as if getting from the beginning to the end was simply a question of transition. Of course, the destination of a speculative presentation includes the process of development in such a way that the end is always implicitly the beginning: each configuration simply forms a deter­ minate moment within the on-going manifestation of the "absolute". It is around Hegel's concept of the absolute, how it is known and how it presents itself, which the bulk of our discussion turns. We may say tentatively that the absolute speaks. This speaking is the manifestation of the absolute itself, not a dissimulation or mere appearance, and consequently can be known and known most perfectly in language. In Hegel's system, this speak­ ing or discourse has exhausted itself and is complete, but in what manner this "close" is achieved remains the question which disturbs and provokes our own speech in what is to come.

Inhalt

I. Absolute knowing and presentation.- 1. Appearing science.- 1.1 The idea of presentation.- 1.2 Natural consciousness and science.- 2. The element of configuration.- 2.1 Labour and thinghood.- 2.2 The linguistic object.- 2.3 The spirit of a people.- 3. Result and presupposition.- 3.1 Absolute knowing.- 3.2 A phenomenology of presentation.- II. Spirit and presentation.- 1. Representation within the subjective mode.- 1.1 The concept of presentation.- 1.2 The universality of soul.- 1.3 Individual consciousness and its truth.- 1.4 Spirit and representation.- 2. Representation and intersubjectivity.- 2.1 Law as 'objective' representation.- 2.2 The moral 'ought'.- 2.3 The ethical subject.- 3. Absolute self-presentation.- 3.1 World-spirit.- 3.2 Absolute spirit.- 3.3 The close of philosophy.- III. Philosophic presentation.- 1. Self-knowledge and language.- 1.1 Absolute mediation as return-to-self.- 1.2 Linguistic presentation and the dialectic.- 2. Thoughts and situations.- 2.1 Absolute need and truth.- 2.2 The origin of response.- 2.3 Externalization and recollection.- 3. The act of presentation.- 3.1 Speculation and praxis.- 3.2 Time and the dialectic.- 3.3 Begriffsmystik.- IV. Conclusion: The empty sepulchre.