Patrick Ryan

Paul Harris

Philosophy 273

26 September 2018

Master-Slave Dialectic in Hegel

In ​The Phenomenology of Spirit,​ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel explains his

understanding of the goal of the universe and the processes by which the universe and

individuals progress. He believes that the universe is progressing towards a goal. He explains

that this goal is the Spirit or absolute knowledge, where everything is known and humans live in

harmony. The Spirit is the intangible essence that is shared in history. Humans moved from faith

to reason and are on their way to achieving the Spirit. In the ​Phenomenology of Spirit,​ Hegel

introduces the Master-Slave dialectic, the process by which both humans and the universe gain

self-consciousness.

Hegel demonstrates that two individuals are able to gain self-consciousness through the

master-servant dialectic. Hegel’s understanding of self-consciousness is something

“acknowledged, or recognized” (Hegel, 43). Through the master-servant dialectic, two self

consciousnesses that have an unequal relationship are able to gain recognition of themselves

through the other. They start off alienated from themselves and from the other. Hegel highlights

the “facet of inequality of the two,” explaining that the two individuals are extremes of each

other, “the one acknowledged only, the other acknowledging only” (Hegel, 44). The master only

sees himself as superior to the slave, while the slave is unconscious of himself and is only aware

of his work and his subservience to the master. But slowly, through the desire to improve their
work, the slave becomes self-aware. Hegel explains this process, saying that “the consciousness

that works therefore attains as a consequence a view of independent being as itself” (Hegel, 47).

Once this occurs, the master and the slave undergo the death struggle, in which the slave tries to

prove its independence to the master. The two consciousnesses “each must as much aim at the

death of the other as it stakes its own life” (Hegel, 45). Through the death struggle, the two

consciousnesses “acknowledge one another as mutually acknowledging the other,” and are no

longer alienated from themselves (Hegel, 44). Hegel goes on to explain that “fear and service in

a general way, as well as that of improving, are necessary” to the process of attaining

self-consciousness (Hegel, 48). The small scale process of individuals gaining self-consciousness

is important in understanding the larger picture of Hegel’s view of the goal of history.

Hegel’s view of history differs slightly from traditional historians. He believes there is

more to history than simply facts and events. He explains that history is made up of not only

physical events but also includes the Spirit, which he believes is the “substance of history”

(Hegel, 66). Hegel believes that the ultimate purpose of history is to achieve the actualization of

the Spirit, which is similar to absolute knowledge. History is the process of moving towards

achieving the Spirit.

The process by which the spirit is actualized can be understood with the master-slave

dialectic. The dialectical pattern that Hegel believed history follows is the synthesis of a thesis

and an antithesis. This process repeats itself over and over until the actualization of the Spirit is

achieved. The process starts with humans gaining more self-consciousness and exhibiting their

will over the world. The more self-conscious humans become, the more self-conscious the

universe becomes and closer we become to actualizing the Spirit. Hegel explains the relationship
between humanity and the universe, writing that the “two elements therefore enter into our

investigation: first, the Idea, secondly, the complex of human passions; the one the warp, the

other the woof of the vast tapestry of world history” (Hegel, 72). Hegel says that the “passions,

private aims, and the satisfaction of selfish desires” drive individuals into action and

improvement (Hegel, 70). The Spirit then develops as humans achieve more. But this does not

always produce happiness. Hegel explains that “this development is connected with the

degradation, destruction, annihilation of the preceding mode of actuality which the concept of

the Spirit had evolved” (Hegel, 77). As old ideas are thrown out for new ones, the universe

moves closer to the actualization of the Spirit. If this process continues and the Spirit is

actualized, Hegel believes that the ideal consequences will be very beneficial for humanity.

Hegel believes we need more than just progression.

To achieve the actualization of the Spirit, Hegel thinks that we would need the

understanding to align all of the disciplines into one system of philosophy. It would include

things like religion, technology, politics, art, science, economics, and more into a system that

would be a total philosophy of everything. To do this, Hegel says we will need the state. In order

for the Spirit to be actualized, the State would have to play a role. It would be an organic whole

with individuals working together to work towards the common purpose of actualizing world

history. The State would be eternal expressions of self-consciousness that would lead to a more

positive freedom. Allowing people to influence history and giving them a common purpose.

When this happens, people will live in harmony and will be able to focus on their passions. This

will give humans complete freedom and there would be a utopian society.
 I believe that both the process of humans gaining self-consciousness and history gaining

self-consciousness are necessary for the actualization of the Spirit. Without individual humans

gaining self-consciousness, the universe would have no way to change or progress forward

because the two are intertwined. Hegel says that human will is required for the Spirit to actualize.

He writes that “a second element must be added for it to become reality, namely, activity,

actualization. The principle of this is the will, man’s activity in general” (Hegel, 71). Even

though humans are more focused on selfish desires, this will of the spirit is an unconscious

instinct in all of our actions. But to have this will, humans need their own self-consciousness to

exert their will on the universe. This makes the individual self-consciousness attained in the

master-slave dialectic crucial for the actualization of history.

Hegel’s Master-Slave dialectic can be used to understand the process by which both

humans and the universe gain self-consciousness. He shows that humans gain self-consciousness

through alienation, fear, service, and an unequal relationship between a master and a slave. The

universe gains self-consciousness through the synthesis of a thesis and an antithesis. Old ideas

and customs are changed by new actualizations of the Spirit. This goes on endlessly until the

Spirit is fully actualized. The process by which both individuals and the universe gain

self-consciousness are necessary for each other and so intertwined that without one, the other

would not occur. The consequences of the actualization of the Spirit would be harmony and

freedom in a society centered around reason.