Temporal Immediacy in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

Abstract

A significant portion of recent Hegel scholarship has taken a primarily historical view on Hegel’s time-sense. Any primarily historical interpretation of Hegelian time, however, ignores the fundamental role immediacy (or the ‘eternal now’) plays in the text’s denouement: the reconciliation between Spirit and the Absolute Other. While the Hegelian time-sense does have a historical aspect – and this can be seen through Hegel’s development of Spirit – the ultimate reconciliation between knower and known must take place now if it is to truly have meaning and relevance now. Leading up to Absolute Knowing, each chapter of the Phenomenology contains at least one instance of temporal immediacy; these instances largely consist of repeated attempts at reconciliation between the knower and the known, instances which, up to Absolute Knowing, come up short for one reason or another. In Absolute Knowing itself, in order for this step to be successful, this reconciliation must be centred in the now, and not in the past.