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Hegel’s Higher-Order Theory of Consciousness : The Sense-Certainty and the Phenomenal Consciousness

Kim Seonghwan 1

1대진대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

I analyse Hegel’s theory of consciousness in terms of some theories of it in the contemporary philosophy of mind. I propose a new interpretation of Hegel’s concept of the sense-certainty in his Phenomenology of Spirit and argue the following statements. First of all, the sense-certainty can be divided into three steps and the step 1 of it has a possibility of being same with the phenomenal consciousness in the contemporary philosophy of mind. Secondly, analysing the step 2 of it, Hegel’s theory of consciousness can be interpreted as a kind of higher-order theory of consciousness. Thirdly, the richest and concrete contents of the step 1 of it which are not expressed by language can be called the step 0 of it and seen as the first-order nonconscious experience which is the object of the phenomenal consciousness as higher-order thought. The reason why I analyse Hegel’s theory of consciousness in terms of the contemporary philosophy of mind is to give a clear explanation of his difficult philosophy, especially the complex structure of the sense-certainty. And also I think that I can explain a part of the tradition of higher-order theory of consciousness in history of philosophy by showing that it has a root in Hegel’s theory of consciousness.

Citation status

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