Will, Self-Knowledge, Labor

As previously discussed, one common interpretation of Kant's 'refutation of Idealism' is that it argues that self-knowledge is mediated by the knowledge of environmental objects. Hegel is one who seems to subscribe to that interpretation, when he offers his influential thesis--that self-knowledge is a function of one's effects on one's environment, i. e. is mediated by labor. However, Hegel's phenomenological method preemptively abstracts from knowledge of one's corporeality, thereby eliminating the possibility of self-knowledge being attained in the course of one's physiological processes, e. g. in a dance performance. In contrast, the recognition that Will, i. e. Motility, is a fundamental principle of Experience, not only exposes the arbitrariness of Hegel's method, but also places his attempt to spiritualize Labor back on its feet.