Perception, Thing and Deceptiveness Summary and Analysis

Here Hegel introduces some basic important concepts. He is preparing readers to be able to address the development of the scientific consciousness from the natural one. To do so, he must address certain aspects of consciousness itself. The title of this portion clearly indicates how he intends to do this. He provides a discussion of perception and how appearances relate to the actual nature of reality and life. He also communicates about how these appearances are deceptive.

The prose in this is quite complex. Perception is the starting point. Consciousness rests upon perception. This includes the difficulty that in order to proceed with cultivating the mind for truth we have to recognize how perception is conducive to knowledge and how it at the same time is deceptive. This requires 'understanding'. Hegel ends up providing a...