ABSTRACT
In all probability, the lack of interest shown by the commentators for this initial moment of the Philosophy of Spirit can be explained by the disappointment its first reading produces. The twenty-five paragraphs that comprise its development force the reader to follow a long and steep path that leads only to a definition which, on the face of it, appears rather impoverished, and indeed far from original. Under the heading – ‘the knowledge of man’s genuine reality – of what is essentially and ultimately true and real’2
– not very much is revealed: man is a being whose essence consists of ‘the upright posture, the formation of the limbs . . . , especially the hand, as the absolute instrument, of the mouth, laughing, weeping, etc.’, and finally ‘speech’.3 Does such a rich development justify only this sort of conclusion? Isn’t this simply the rediscovery of the most traditional of all definitions of the human as ‘animal rationale’, midway between the animals and God?
