Spirit

Spirit is the third element in the system after Logic and Nature --- the return to self out of otherness. In nature the idea is outside itself (spatial, temporal, material). In spirit the idea returns to itself: consciousness, self-consciousness, reason. Spirit is not an isolated subject, but intersubjective (recognition), institutional (family, society, state), and historical (developing). Three forms: (1) Subjective spirit --- psychology, (2) Objective spirit --- right, morality, ethical life, (3) Absolute spirit --- art, religion, philosophy. Spirit is freedom --- being with itself in the other. It shows itself in history and knows itself in philosophy. Hegel's formulation "Logic is the presentation of God before the creation" is to be understood metaphorically: it means the pure categorial structures, not a personal God (see Ch. 23.7).