Some people mistakenly think that the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of the mind are applications of logic. The objective of the Encyclopedia is descriptive, not to apply the dialectical method to all domains of human knowledge, but to describe how the idea (or reason) develops itself. The Idea is in the process of growing, like a seed growing into a mature tree: it goes through stages. The Logic describes the initial phase of the idea's development. As a result, the Logic reveals the categories of thought as they are in themselves; they are the prerequisites for even the most basic forms of thought, the conceptions that form the basis of all of our reasoning.



Hegel, unlike Kant, believes that reason is immanent inside being and not just "for us." The basis of everything and the only thing that is real is reason. We must think about something in order to understand what it is. No amount of observation can enable us to grasp the true nature of anything. The same way that thinking and being are equivalent, logic and metaphysics are also. The philosophy of nature begins to take shape once the concept develops to the point that it can no longer be understood as it is because it is insufficient. As a result, it "others" itself.