Inverting Inversion: the 'turning point' in the Phenomenology of Spirit for the History of Thought

Abstract

The transition from 'Force and Understanding' to the 'Truth of Self-Certainty' in the Phenomenology of Spirit is marked, in Hegel's words, with a fundamental 'turning point; not just for the text itself, but for the history of thought. The structural relations between Hegel's corpus and Marx's thought are well known, however the 'opaque' character of the chapter 'Force and Understanding' has meant that its importance for Capital Vol. I has largely remained obscured. This paper therefore attempts to render Force and Understanding less opaque, to allow for such a reception.