In
class on Thursday, we discussed Hegel’s Phenomenology
of the Spirit and the Hegelian dialectic. We discussed in depth Hegel’s Master-Slave Dialectic and attempted to
understand its complexity and real-world application. I found the material to
be a bit hard to grasp and exemplify. The dialectic can be an internal process
that develops the self-consciousness of a single entity or an external process
between two entities. In this dialectic, the two free consciousnesses meet and
realize the self as a foreign, or other, object. Before this moment, the
consciousness only encountered objects that did not resist its will. However,
each consciousness, one a thesis and the other an antithesis, has its own will
and wants to be certain of itself as a free agent. Immediately, both will that
they are free agents and a contest of wills for recognition as a free agent
ensues. This struggle is a matter of life and death because only a free agent
can freely chose to put its life on the line for freedom. However, if either consciousness
dies, there will be no one to recognize the other as a free agent. Finally, one,
the slave, concedes and recognizes the other, the master, as a free agent. In
this relationship, the slave does not freely recognize the master and the truth
of the master’s freedom lies within the slave.
In
this relationship, it is the slave who has the “power.” At first, the slave is
the unessential being and an object that constitutes the truth of the master’s
freedom. Therefore, the truth of the master’s freedom lies in the independent consciousness
of the slave. The slave believes the master to be its truth, but this is not
so. The master needs the slave because the slave is able to deal with
independent objects. The master is the dependent consciousness and the slave is
the independent consciousness. This independence comes from surrendering to the
master’s will. The slave, through the experience of the fear of death and the
concession of false recognition, has become being-for-self. Through work and
service, the slave will better understand the relationship of power. The slave
is able to creatively express himself by making things and, in this way, comes
to know his independence. This independence is not completely satisfying though
since the slave is still a subject to the master.
So,
each of us have a free consciousness that shares a relationship with the
consciousness we are aware of through the eyes of another. These “individuals”
struggle for recognition, but are dependent on one another. By mutually
recognizing one another, the realization of self-consciousness can be achieved.
That is, the awareness of another’s awareness of oneself. In achieving this, we
attain knowledge and develop. I could not think of an external relationship
that would exemplify this relationship clearly. If someone could provide one it
would be much appreciated
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