Abstract
The aim of this article is to elucidate the connection between the theoretical and practical themes in the “Self-Consciousness” chapter of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit by focusing on the discussion surrounding the opposition between “knowledge” and “object”. Accordingly, this article refers to John McDowell’s interpretation of the “Self-Consciousness” chapter as a clue. Despite McDowell himself describing his interpretation as “heterodox”, it can remain largely orthodox, and more importantly, it significantly reexamines the relationship between the theoretical and practical themes in this chapter.
Through a reading of Hegel’s Phenomenology and critical examination of McDowell’s interpretation, I present the two following claims. First, McDowell’s interpretation, which emphasizes the theoretical theme concerning the relationship between knowledge and object rather than the practical theme concerning the actions of multiple subjects, sharply captures the core concerns of Phenomenology. Second, by understanding the first part of the “Self-Consciousness” chapter (Self-Consciousness A) within the domain of these theoretical themes, the following part of this chapter (Self-Consciousness B) can be properly interpreted
as addressing the practical issues that arise within these theoretical concerns. This practical theme is the problems that accompany the practice of a certain theory of “knowledge”. This paper concludes that one of the crucial insights of Phenomenology is that one cannot examine the validity of theories of knowledge without a perspective on practicing these theories.
