Perception

II. Perception (§111-131)

After the immediate experience of an object in sense-certainty comes perception. Perception understands the sensible properties of an object beyond existence (§111) The seeming paradox of perception is that several properties seem to exist non-exclusively in one object. That is, an object's color and texture each exist in all divisions of the object, yet both can exist separately in other objects and are thus not the one property. Perception is able to conceive of an object as both one (unity) and a conglomeration (many) (§113).

Perception is able to understand that some mistakes about properties are the fault of itself, not of errors in the object (§116). Still, it is not willing to take responsibility for the many-unity paradox (§117). Consciousness re-evaluates the process of perception and understands that the paradox exists and makes sense when understood as a perception of an object whose Truth is then reflected into the subject (§117-123).

*Note: Hegel's view on properties as being coexistent but not dependent might be challenged by our modern understanding of atomic structure, which shows us that properties of objects do in fact arise from one essential structure and thus the white color of salt could be said to be more closely related to the cubical shape of salt than it is to the white color of a sheet. I'd say that if that challenge stands, Hegel's method of the dialectic might be in trouble, but then again, we're still talking about an essential "inner" truth here so...maybe not.