477
PROPOSITION VIII.
WHAT ABSOLUTE EXISTENCE IS NOT.
Absolute Existence is not the ego per se, or the mind in a state of pure indetermination—that is, with no thing or thought present to it: in other words, the ego per se is not that which truly and absolutely exists.
DEMONSTRATION.
The ego per se, or the mind in a state of pure indetermination, is what we cannot know (Prop. IX. Epistemology): it is what we cannot be ignorant of (Prop. VII. Agnoiology). But Absolute Existence is what we either know or are ignorant of (Prop. V. Ontology). Therefore Absolute Existence is not the ego per se, or the mind in a state of pure indetermination; in other word; the ego per se is not that which truly and absolutely exists.
OBSERVATIONS AND EXPLANATIONS.
1. Eighth Counter-proposition.—"Absolute exist-
