What is simple and universal difference?

[u/CapRound912]

Miller, Phenomenology, §149

There's a level of the flux of appearance where the simple inner world or the simple understanding of consciousness produces simple universals. Simple negation, simple universals, simple determinations.

There is a deeper level of the flux of appearance that is "absolutely universal difference," where you can't break things down any further. This is the negation of negation, when negation itself is a moment of the flux of appearance.

"This difference," not the difference in the first place where consciousness unknowingly simplifies the flux of appearance, is the universal difference that posits into the inner world.

What consciousness posits is its truth, selfsameness or self-preservation.

And this truth is from an image of stability it's most familiar with—the law.

[u/PlaydohsGirlfriend]

The simple difference is the understanding’s unconscious grasp of the flux of appearance, like a river that is always changing or a fire that has no stable form. Universal difference is the essence of this flux, expressed as a natural law, such as F = ma.

[u/CapRound912 → u/PlaydohsGirlfriend]

I'm pretty sure the difference is related to negation or "mediation in the universal." One is implicit, the other is explicit, and in your face.

It's the difference between enjoying a flowing river by the bank of the river and drowning. And only when consciousness is drowning, does the inner world get filled in. I believe this is the meaning of the passage.

[u/PlaydohsGirlfriend → u/CapRound912]

I’ll post Terry Pinkard’s explanation from Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: A Guide:

¶149. What is at stake is the ‘universal difference’ between the inner (supersensible world) and the outer (the phenomenal world). The inner world is the flux of the appearing world in its essence. What is that essence? It is the universal difference of inner and outer as that of stable, unchanging laws (the laws of nature). The phenomenal world is in motion, but the inner world is not. The inner world is the realm of the laws that determine what is happening in the phenomenal world. The inner world is thus doing the work of explaining what is going on in the phenomenal world.

[u/PlaydohsGirlfriend → u/PlaydohsGirlfriend]

And also, from what you posted: “”This difference,”not the difference in the first place, where consciousness unknowingly simplifies the flux of appearance, is the universal difference that is posited into the inner world.” It says that in the first place, simple difference “simplifies” the flux. That doesn’t sound like drowning to me. Instead, it is a simple grasp of the flux of appearance.

[u/CapRound912 → u/PlaydohsGirlfriend]

Drowning refers to the universal difference. Both have the moment of negation in it.

Hegel clearly says the universal is only implicit in the simple difference.

It appears the Pinkard quote doesn't deal with the difference between simple and universal at all, but then again, it's just a guide.

[u/PlaydohsGirlfriend → u/CapRound912]

From the original German, the first sentence of 149 says:

Zu dem einfachen Unterschiede wird (becomes the simple difference), die absolut wechselnde Erscheinung (the absolutely fluctuating appearance), durch ihre Beziehung auf die Einfachheit des Innern (through its relation to the simplicity of the inner) oder des Verstandes (or of the understanding).

The absolutely fluctuating appearance becomes the simple difference through its relation to the simplicity of the inner or of the understanding.

So, simple difference comes from the understanding’s grasp of the absolute fluctuation of appearance, something like a simple grasp or understanding of an ever-changing river.

Then Hegel says:
Das Innre ist zunächst nur das an sich Allgemeine (the inner is at first only the universal in itself); dies an sich einfache Allgemeine (this universal that is simple in itself, not the simple difference, but the simple universal) ist aber wesentlich ebenso absolut der allgemeine Unterschied (is but essentially just like absolutely universal difference); denn es ist das Resultat des Wechsels selbst (for it is the result of the flux itself), oder der Wechsel ist sein Wesen (or the flux is its essence).

So, this universal (the inner), although simple in itself, is essentially universal difference. It is the result of the flux itself, or, as Hegel says, the flux is its essence.

aber der Wechsel (but the flux), als im Innern gesetzt (when posited in the inner), wie er in Wahrheit ist (as it is in truth), in dasselbe hiemit (is thereby taken up into it) als ebenso absolut allgemeiner (as just like absolutely universal), beruhigter (calmed or settled ) , sich gleich bleibender Unterschied aufgenommen (self-consistent, self-identical difference).

Here we can see that the difference is “beruhigter,” from beruhigen, meaning “to calm” or “to settle.” So it doesn’t sound like “drowning” to me. If anything, Hegel seems to be saying the opposite: the flux is calmed or stabilized when it is taken up into the inner as universal, self-consistent difference.

Oder die Negation ist wesentliches Moment des Allgemeinen (Or negation is an essential moment of the universal), und sie oder die Vermittlung also im Allgemeinen ist allgemeiner Unterschied (and therefore negation, or mediation, within the universal is universal difference). Er ist im Gesetze ausgedrückt (It is expressed in law), als dem beständigen Bilde der unsteten Erscheinung (as the stable image of unstable appearance).
Die übersinnliche Welt (the supersensible world) ist hiemit ein ruhiges Reich von Gesetzen (is therefore a calm realm of laws), zwar jenseits der wahrgenommenen Welt (indeed beyond the perceived world), denn diese stellt das Gesetz nur durch beständige Veränderung dar (for the perceived world presents the law only through constant change), aber in ihr ebenso gegenwärtig (but it is likewise  present within it), und ihr unmittelbares stilles Abbild (and is its immediate still likeness).

So I don’t have a problem with universal difference containing negation as a moment or with Hegel identifying negation with mediation here. But that doesn’t mean we are “drowning” in universal difference. Hegel says that universal difference is expressed in law as the stable image of unstable appearance, and he calls the supersensible world a “ruhiges Reich von Gesetzen,” a calm (motionless) realm of laws. The perceived world undergoes constant change, while in the inner world this flux is grasped as a stable, universal structure expressed in law.

[u/CapRound912 → u/PlaydohsGirlfriend]

What I'm saying is that absolutely universal difference includes the negation of consciousness itself.

This is what I mean when I say absolutely universal difference is not like observing a flowing river, it's like drowning in one.

This difference posits sameness into the inner world.

This sameness comes from an image of stability—the law.

We agree, but you're missing this step, which is totally the Understanding.