By applying reason to the observation of others’ actions, humans know one another. Spirit occurs when the individual knows oneself. The concept of “spirit” is presented as the pinnacle of reason and absolute knowing: “Reason is Spirit when its certainty of being all reality has been raised to truth; and it is conscious of itself as its own world, and of the world as itself” (263). Spirit occurs when people collectively move from the passive forms of cognition to reason, during which they recognize themselves in the other. Spirit is the actualization of collective ethical consciousness.

The True Spirit. The Ethical Order

Hegel opens this section of the chapter with a statement that seems to contradict his earlier assertion that Spirit is a form of collective ethical consciousness: “Spirit is, in its simple truth, consciousness, and forces its moments apart” (266). Consciousness is divided into three moments: substance, the reality of the object; individualized reality, the construction of reality through human experience; and ethics, which Hegel asserts brings unity to itself and others. The division of Spirit emphasizes the conflict which arises between ethical thought and Divine Law, human action, and human law.