Inwardness / Outwardness (Inner and Outer)

Hegel (Logic of Essence, third essential relation)

The highest of the three essential relations (after whole/parts and force/expression). Inner and outer are not separate spheres, but constitute each other reciprocally: the inner IS nothing without its outer (a thought never expressed is no thought), the outer IS nothing without its inner (an action without intention is mere twitching). "What is inward is also outward" — this is not a banal claim, but the insight that both have *the same content*, only in different form.

Origin

Traditionally: separation (inner vs. outer, soul vs. body). In Hegel: reciprocal constitution — separation is only the starting point, which sublates itself.

In Hegel

Enc. §138-141; SL Vol. 2, Appearance

Cross-references

Essence · Appearance · Actuality · Kraft/Äußerung · Korrespondenzproblem

Der übergang zur wirklichkeit

When inner and outer are completely reciprocally constituted, their distinction is sublated — we are at actuality (Ch. 7).