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Full Idea
The beginning must be an absolute - an abstract beginning; and so it may not presuppose anything, must not be mediated by anything or have a ground; rather it is itself to be the ground of the entire science. ...The beginning therefore is pure being.
Gist of Idea
We must start with absolute abstraction, with no presuppositions, so we start with pure being
Source
Georg W.F.Hegel (Science of Logic [1816], p.70), quoted by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 03 'Logic'
Book Ref
Houlgate,Stephen: 'An Introduction to Hegel' [Blackwell 2005], p.49
A Reaction
This is the 'presuppositionless' beginning of Hegel's metaphysics, which Houlgate emphasises. Hegel's logic is very obviously a direct descendent of Descartes' Cogito. But it is pure thought, with no mention of a Self.
Related Idea
Idea 21765 The ground of a thing is not another thing, but the first thing's substance or rational concept [Hegel, by Houlgate]