External Reflection
Hegel (Logic of Essence, second form of reflection)
The second form of reflection, in which thought relates to a given ("presupposed") that it has not itself produced. External reflection "finds" something, treats it as material for its determinations.
In Hegel
SL II, "External Reflection"; Hegel: "The found is only found in that it is abandoned"
Cross-references
Positing Reflection · Determining Reflection · Presupposing · Reflection
Das problem (kap. 5.5)
Where does the presupposed come from? External reflection "presupposes" — it treats something as given, without asking whether it has itself posited it. Hegel criticizes it as "reasoning": it applies external categories to an object instead of developing it out of itself.
Die notwendige rolle
But — and this is decisive — external reflection is not a mere error. It is a *necessary moment*. Without it there would be no determinacy, no content, no difference. Positing reflection alone turns in a circle.
Charakteristik
Relation to another, presupposing, reasoning, external, mediated (from outside)
Performative erfahrung
Every moment of resistance in the experiments — "pure being" proves to be empty, the assertion contradicts itself, the definition presupposes what it wants to explain. What is posited *fails* against something it does not control.
Alltagsbeispiel
A natural scientist who applies categories (substance, causality) to nature without asking where these categories come from.
Entspricht
Dialectical moment (Enc. §79), arbitrariness, contingency, mediation