Absolute Method Quotes

“The logical form of life thus opens up the theoretical and practical activities of cognition, or more directly, the logical form of life opens up the space of reasons. Both theoretical and practical cognition take the general form of the judgment of life, beginning as a subjective drive that distinguishes itself from and relates itself to a presupposed objectivity, and in that process, realizes subjective purposes by permeating objectivity with its own rational form. In the case of theoretical cognition, the subjective drive for truth is confronted by the givenness of its presupposed world, and by means of its powers judgment and inference, it renders the world conformable by conceptual comprehension, aided by definitions, divisions, and theorems. In the case of practical cognition, the subjective drive to realize the good is achieved by transforming the external world according to its freely willed action, shaping the world in a way that further the aims of a self-determined, rational life.”
― Karen Ng, Hegel's Concept of Life: Self-Consciousness, Freedom, Logic

“In short, for theoretical cognition, all truth is to be found in the external world, and for practical cognition, no truth is to be found in the external world. This stance of the will, in which the ends of the good reside within the will alone, and external actuality is, in-itself, empty of all worth of the good will, leaving 'two worlds in opposition'. What the unity of theoretical and practical standpoints allows is a reciprocity and mutual tempering of each such that cognition can be brought in relation to the external world while avoiding the extreme vices of both stances: theoretical cognition's meta-awareness of its own activity as practical prevents the self-conception in which all content of truth is found in the givenness of the object; practical cognition's reunification with theoretical cognition prevents the self-conception in which the will alone is the source of all goodness and worth. Theoretical cognition reminds the will that the contingency of the world can be made to conform with cognition's form of activity, that although it is true that there are ineliminable contingencies, this truth is something that cognition can grasp, and most importantly, it is not a fact that disables the activity of cognition in principle. Since theoretical cognition can find truth of self-certainty in the given contingency of the world - most notably, the instinct of reason finds itself in the form of inner purposiveness as such - nothing in principle prevents the will from finding the truth of self-certainty amid practical contingency, except for its faulty conception of itself. Far from a worthless nullity, the actuality confronting the will is already permeated by rational ends, 'an objective world whose inner ground and actual subsistence is the Concept'. That is, the external actuality confronting the will is always already a world shaped by the rationally realized ends of the will itself - ultimately, the world of objective spirit, and more directly, the world of ethical life. The insistence of the will that the good is a mere ought that cannot be realized is thus a misconception of both itself and its world - a misconception that theoretical cognition can help to correct. The unity of theoretical and practical cognition brings forth the absolute Idea, which, once more, returns us to the problem of life.”
― Karen Ng, Hegel's Concept of Life: Self-Consciousness, Freedom, Logic