Reading Group
Reading group: Hegel’s master and servant, Phenomenology of Spirit §§178–196, over three weeks
Society & cultureModern EuropeanGerman IdealismG. W. F. Hegel#hegel#master-and-servant#reading-group#recognition
Its coordinates: 6.7 Social Ontology · 6.15 Philosophy of Social Science · 6.31 Philosophy of Culture
Nineteen paragraphs that changed political philosophy, and that most people know only from summaries. Let's read them properly.
What to read: the section on lordship and bondage near the start of the chapter on self-consciousness in the Phenomenology of Spirit, paragraphs 178 to 196 in Miller's numbering. About eight dense pages.
Plan:
- Week one, §§178–184. Self-consciousness exists only in being recognised by another self-consciousness. Read slowly; this is the hardest part.
- Week two, §§185–188. The life-and-death struggle. Why must each risk his life to be recognised, and why does killing the other defeat the purpose?
- Week three, §§189–196. The outcome. The master gets recognition from someone he does not himself recognise, which turns out to be worth little. The servant, through fear and through working on things, comes to see his own mind in what he shapes.
Why now: every week I sit in job centres with people whose work goes unrecognised and whose dependence is almost total. Hegel thought the servant, not the master, carried the future. I want to know whether that is true or only consoling.
Beginners are very welcome. Bring one sentence you could not parse.