The Doctrine of Right, Duties and Religion for the Lower Class

[p. 212]

|212| particular determinations of consciousness, which is their universal ground.

§ 3

In consciousness we commonly have the object before us, or we know only of the object and do not know of ourselves. But essentially present in these things is the I. Insofar as we represent to ourselves merely an object, we have a consciousness, namely of the object. Insofar as we represent to ourselves consciousness, we are conscious of consciousness or have a consciousness of consciousness. – In our ordinary life we have consciousness, but we are not conscious that we are consciousness; we have much, even of the bodily, unconsciously; e.g. the vital functions which belong to our self-preservation we possess without thereby already having a consciousness of their more exact constitution, which we acquire only in science. Even spiritually we are much that we do not know. – The external objects of our consciousness are those which we distinguish from ourselves and to which we ascribe an existence independent of us. The inner objects, on the other hand, are determinations or faculties, forces of the I. They do not subsist outside one another, but that in which they subsist is I. – Consciousness behaves either theoretically or practically.

§ 4

Theoretical consciousness contemplates what is and leaves it as it is. The practical, on the other hand, is active consciousness, which does not leave what is thus, but produces alterations in it and generates out of itself determinations and objects. – In consciousness, then, two things are present, I and the object, I determined through the object or the object through me. – In the former case I behave theoretically. I take the

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