"…an individual cannot know what he [really] is until he has made himself a reality through action. However, this seems to imply that he cannot determine the End of his action until he has carried it out; but at the same time, since he is a conscious individual, he must have the action in front of him beforehand as entirely his own, i.e. as an End. The individual who is going to act seems, therefore, to find himself in a circle in which each moment already presupposes the other and this he seems unable to find a beginning, because he only gets to knows his original nature, which must be his End, from the deed, while, in order to act, he must have that End beforehand. But for that very reason he has to start immediately, and, whatever the circumstances, without further scruples about beginning, means, or End, proceed to action; for his essence and intrinsic nature is beginning, means, and End, all in one."
GWF Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, ‘Individuality Real and For Itself (Oxford, trans A. V. Miller) $401, p.240 (via
fuckyeahdialectics)
Reblogged 10 months ago from fuckyeahdialectics