THE UNITY OF IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE AS THE ...

chimpanzee, the dependence of parts exists at the level of the kind and at the level of the
particular instantiations of kinds. Thus, for instance, this liver is dependent upon this
heart. The same claim cannot be made about the tree, since a particular leaf is never
dependent upon any particular root. Thus in terms of criteria 2a, the structure of the
chimpanzee presents a more developed form of unity than the structure of the tree.
In terms of claim 2b, the chimpanzee clearly possesses a more developed form of
unity than the tree, since the chimpanzee has sentient awareness of its environment. The
chimpanzee has the ability to move and the ability to manipulate objects in its
environment. Both of these abilities depend upon a developed awareness of its self or its
body as distinct from the environment. Complex perceptual awareness, the kind required
for navigating in one’s environment, depends upon a relatively unified conception of
space that incorporates what is before oneself, what is behind oneself, and what is at
some distance from oneself. It requires the ability to recognize or re-identify objects, an
ability that rests upon memory, which itself rests upon a relatively unified sense of time.
Thus sentient awareness presents a highly developed form of unity that includes a great
deal of diversity.
Hegel’s philosophy conceives the different species or kinds of objects in the
world – such as specimens of gold, oak trees, and chimpanzees – in terms of a scale of
truth. Objects higher on the scale present a greater degree of differentiation in a more
developed form of unity. Hegel expresses this graduated view of objects at various
points in the Philosophy of Nature. At one point he says: “Nature is to be regarded as a
system of stages, the one proceeding of necessity out of the other, and being the
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