THE UNITY OF IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE AS THE ...

energy is only possible through its own re-establishment out of the deepest
fission. 100
Reason seeks to overcome or “suspend…rigid antithesis,” but it does not seek to
eradicate them. Reason does not oppose opposition or difference – i.e. the distinctions
provided by the understanding. Reason does not seek unity at the expense of the
differences or distinctions drawn by the understanding, but rather it seeks to incorporate
these differences within unity. Here we see the proper conception of the relationship
between reason and understanding as both the key to uniting identity and difference and,
somewhat paradoxically, as an example of the unity of identity and difference. Reason
presents the moment of identity, the drive for unity. The understanding presents the
moment of difference, the drive to establish distinctions. Though even this manner of
speaking is misleading, since reason and understanding do not represent two distinct
drives or impulses, but rather two aspects of one process. If we conceive reason and the
understanding in oppositional terms, and if we favor reason over the understanding, then,
somewhat ironically, we favor reason as conceived by the understanding. In other words,
we conceive and favor reason only as it is distinct from the understanding. Instead, we
must embrace reason as conceived by reason, as a process of thought that includes the
differences determined by the understanding.
The final sentence in the previous passage shifts from a discussion of thought to a
discussion of life. Hegel supports his claim about the importance of reason and
understanding by showing the importance of analogous moments in the process of life.
This argumentative strategy assumes that both thought and life have similar structures. It
assumes that thought presents a higher development of the same basic structures already
100 Hegel: Selections, p. 95.
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