Phenomenology of spirit

The term phenomenology comes from the Greek word " for appear" and the phenomenology
of spirit is thus the study of how consciousness or mind appears to itself. In Hegel's
dialectic system, it is the intellectual development of the successive appearances of the mind
to the itself .
Phenomenology describes the evolution of spirit throughout the course of human civilization
culminating in the modern society . Thus spirit is also known as Giest in the German.
However the dialectical evolution of giest throughout history may be seen as a metaphor
for the process through which each individual develops psychologically.
Giest is the key concept in Hegel's phenomenology of spirit . Giest is the full realisation of
self consciousness. For Hegel Giest is immanent in the world . It is not a substrate
underlying the self, it is pure activity which is why Hegel regards it as a synonymous with
freedom.
Hegel claims that giest reaches its self realisation when it becomes conscious of itself
as freedom.

Purpose of Hegel's phenomenology of spirit:

Purpose of Hegel's phenomenology of spirit is enquiry in to the truth , to look, the way
world is. Truth is the goal of every human activity and for Hegel truth consists in agreement
of consciousness within itself, the full apprehension and comprehension of itself in the
object- in what we know- and not the objects themselves.

Hegel's dialectic method

In his phenomenology of spirit , Hegel deals with dialectic method which consists of
theisis ,anti-thesis and synthesis. Hegelian method consists of actually examining
consciousness experience of both itself and it's object and eliciting the contradiction and
dynamic movement that come to light in looking at this experience.

Hegel adopts a method whereby the knowing that is characteristic of a particular stage of
consciousness is evaluated using the criterion presupposed by consciousness itself. At each
stage, consciousness knows something, and at the same time distinguishes the object of
that knowledge as different from what it knows. Hegel and his readers will simply "look on"
while consciousness compares its actual knowledge of the object—what the object is "for
consciousness"—with its criterion for what the object must be "in itself". One would expect
that, when consciousness finds that its knowledge does not agree with its object,
consciousness would adjust its knowledge to conform to its object. However, in a
characteristic reversal, Hegel explains that under his method, the opposite occurs.
Thus philosophy according to Hegel must look at actual consciousness , as it really exists.

According to Hegel, dialectic is a form of reasoning in which two theses are opposed. At the
same time, this leads to new concepts. There’s a thesis that raises certain reasonings, which
is followed by an antithesis that exposes its problems and contradictions. The synthesis
arises from the dynamics between the thesis and the antithesis, and it becomes a solution or
a new perspective on the matter.

In Hegel’s master-slave dialectic, desire plays a very important role.

Self consciousness , Desire and negation.

In Hegel's phenomenology of spirit , human being are treated as "phenomena" or the

objects for consciousness.
Kojeve's begin his interpretation of Hegel's work with statement " man is self
consciousness" , the impulse of self consciousness is to realise it's true nature and to
become conscious of itself , his dignity and reality.
Man becomes conscious of himself when for the first time he says 'I' .
Thus this sense of I and awareness about himself makes him different from animal.

According to Hegel, the essence of consciousness is to be conscious of something else i.e.

it has an object. The object of self consciousness is consciousness itself.
In order to become itself as object , consciousness must become something experienced
and it does this by expressing itself as a desire . Knowing the subject is the another way of
talking I. This desire becomes the underlying thought of I or self consciousness.
Hegel admits that man who is continuously contemplating external world can be brought
back to " himself " only by desire . By this desire man is formed and revealed to himself
and to others as an I . This I is different from non I .
Hegel's talks about desire as an activity which presupposes the content of self
consciousness and self consciousness also presupposes the content of desire . Thus
existence of body becomes groundwork for desire . Desire moves man to action. Born of
desire , man wants to satisfy his cravings which can done only by neagtion. Thus we can
say that desire carries it with the sense of negation with the state of disturbance and peace
of a desired object.
For example , in order to satisfy hunger, food must be destroyed or transformed.
Thus all actions are negating.
Hegel claims that all negating negativity with respect to given action is necessarily active
and negation of action is not completely destructive because when action destroys an
objective reality in order to satisfy his desire , it always creates a place for the subjective
reality.

I of a desire is empty which recieves a real positive contet only by negation of action which is
done for satisfying desire. In negating action , desire is always directed towards a natural
non - I and the I which is created by active satisfaction of a desire have same nature as the
thing towards which that desire is directed.

For there to be self consciousness, desire must be directed towards something that goes
beyond reality and it is desire itself. Desire is taken as desire is created by negation and
assimilation of action that satisfies it. Since desire is satisfied by the negation of action ,
the very being of I becomes action.
This I is an negating negativity. The very being of this I is Becoming. Therefore it's
continuation in existence will signify , " not to be what it is and to be what it is not " .
Thus I will be what it has become by negation of what it was , thus negation being
accomplished with a view to what it is in relation to itself and others and it reveals to itself
and to other as self consiouness. Hegel claims that desire here is intrinsically contradicted
as it needs the other so that it can enjoy itself alone.
Hegel maintains that desire must be directed towards another desire and for this there
should be multiplicity of desire . Therefore human reality must be essentially manifold
and man can appear in earth only within a herd and that's why human reality can be social.
For human reality to become social reality each member of herd must be directed towards
desire of another members . This anthropogenetic desire produces a free individual
who is conscious of his individuality . This human desire is completely different from the
animal desire which is directed only towards living and having sentiment of its life.
Human desire satisfies itself by negation and assimilation of action. Man " feeds" on
desire whereas animal feeds on real things. Thus for man to be essentially and really
different from an animal , his human desire must actually win out over his animal desire.
Supreme value for an animal is its life and preservation of it.
Therefore man's humanity " comes to light" only if man risks his life for the sake of his
human desire which is directed towards another's desire .

Hegel's concept of recognition

Man wants that he should be recognised by other as an " autonomous value " and thus the
function of desire is of "recognition" . Therefore to speak of the " origin " if self
consciousness is necessarily to speak of a fight to death for recognition.
Human being is formed only if atleast two of desires confront each other. Each of the two
desires puts the life of other in danger, in order to be recognized by the other , to impose
itself on the other as a supreme value. Accordingly their meeting can only be a fight to death
and it is only by such fight that human reality is begotten , formed , realized and revealed to
itself and to others as h "recognized reality".
Struggle for recognition is famously exemplified in the life and death struggle that leads to
the relation of master and slave in Hegel's phenomenology of spirit.
By the term struggle for recognition is meant the struggle of the individuals for recognition of
their person by others .
It the struggle on the part of self nonetheless, since recognition can be achieved only
through self assertion, self negation and re definition of oneself in relation to an other.
This is because recognition is an intersubjective state as such can be reached only
through a mutual give and take which takes the form of mutual recognitions.

Robert C. Solomon explains Hegel’s idea as such: “Human existence is primordially a

matter of mutual recognition, and it is only through mutual recognition that we are
self-aware and strive for the social meanings in our lives.” Only by seeing ourselves in
relation to other humans in society can we determine our sense of dignity and establish our
place in the world which we live in.
If all the human beings behave in same manner then the fight would necessarily end in the
death of one or both adversaries and in such case the realization and revelation of human
being would be impossible .

Thus in order that human being be realised and revealed as self consiouness ,two human
must exist essentially as different anthropogenetic behaviour. And in order to become as
recognised both adversaries must remain alive after the fight. They must constitute
themselves as unequals in and by this very fight. One must fear the other, must refuse
to risk his life for the satisfaction of his desire for recognition. , He must recognise the
other without being recognised by him.
According to Hegel the realisation of self consciousness is a struggle for recognition and this
struggle between two individuals bound to one another as unequals in a relationship of
dependence where one is master who have "autonomous existence" and other is slave
who have " dependent existence" and that is why to speak of the origin of self
consciousness is necessarily to speak of the autonomy and dependence of self
consciousness of mastery and slavery.
Hegel's master slave dialectic is a example of the overall work's logical structure of theisis
anti-thesis and synthesis.
Hegel's master slave dialectic tells the story of two independent self consiouness who
encounter one another and engage in life and death struggle . The interaction of master and
slave must finally end in the dialectical overcoming of both of them.

According to Hegel, the encounter of two self-consciousnesses in the world is expe-

rienced ambiguously by each as both a threat to, and a promise of, self-certainty. These two
self consciousness are opposed to one other as extremes , the only recognised and the
other only recognizing.
To begin with, the man who wants to be recognized by another in no sense wants to
recognize him in turn. If he succeeds then the recognition will not be mutual and reciprocal,
he will be recognised but will not recognise the one who recognizes him. These are the
entities that have not yet manifested themselves to one another as pure being for itself.
Each of these two human individual is, to be sure , subjectively certain to himself but he is
not certain of the other and this is why his own subjective certainty of himself does not yet
posses truth that is universally recognised..
Hegel says that the relation of the two self-consciousness, therefore it to be determined in
such a way that they come to light each for itself and the one for the other through the fight
for life and death.

Human reality is created only in the fight for the recognition and by the risk of life that it
implies and it is through this risk of life that freedom comes in to light. And it is only by the
risk of life ,it comes to light that self consciousness is nothing but pure Being - for -
itself.

In the encounter of two self consciousness

each sees the other as a kind of object in the external world. However, insofar as the
subject is aware of this other as another subject, one is aware of something that is
essentially the same as oneself. In coming to experience another subject of experience, one
becomes aware that oneself is also an “Other”; that the Other is also oneself.The subject
becomes aware that the Other is constituted in just the same way as itself, namely, as a
negation which defines itself by excluding all otherness.At the same time, however, the
subject experiences itself as “outside of itself,” in the world of externality, in contrast to the
inner world of self-certainty.This presents as a threat because the subject is now aware of
itself as an external object to the other, and thus vulnerable tonegation by that other
consciousness. So arises a life and death struggle in the effort to establish self-certainty; the
struggle for recognition. Within this struggle, however, subjects realize that their subjectivity
is grounded in their existence as living beings,that “life is the natural setting of
consciousness,”and so, rather than fight to the death, one subject yields to the other’s
power.
This overcoming is dialectical i.e. while preserving what is overcome, it is sublimated in and
by that overcoming which preserves or that preservation which overcomes. Thus the
outcome is a situation where one is the
victor (the master) who allows the other (the slave) to live in servitude, and the slave
accepts servitude rather than death. Furthermore, if the slave were killed in battle no
recognition of the victor’s autonomy would be possible, so enslavement of the loser
is the price of recognition.

Master slave dialectic

Hegel characterises self consciousness with desire and gives an account of master slave
realtionship as an example of how consciousness is brought to level of self consciousness
as a result of interaction of two consciousness.

Therefore in Hegel's master slave dialectic two figures are formed : master and slave.
In this dialectic master is an autonomous consciousness for which essential reality is
Being - for - itself. Whereas slave is an dependent consciousness for which essential
reality is animal life i.e. given being for an other - entity.
In this relationship slave has accepted life granted to him by master. Hence he depends on
master . He has preferred slavery to death and this is why by remaining alive, he lives as a
slave.
The master objectifies the slave who then has to give up their desire for recognition,
basically out of fear of dying.
The master is consciousness existing for itself which is mediated with itself by slave's
consciousness who binds himself completely to his animal life . Slave for his part ,
recognizes the master in his human dignity and reality , therfore master's certainty is not
purely subjective and "immediate" but "objectivized" and "mediated "by an other's , the
slave's recognition.

Thus, a form of consciousness arises in the domination. Slvaes begin to recognize the other
as the master and starts seeing themselves as the slave. Therefore, they’re unable to shape
their self-consciousness; they just assume that the master’s opinion is all that matters. This
constitutes the essence of the master-slave dialectic.

All of this has important repercussions on production. The master doesn’t come into contact
with the raw material or the “thing” that the slave transforms with their work. In turn, the slave
comes into contact with it only to transform it; but it’s not theirs and is not intended for their
consumption. It’s kind of like the worker who makes bricks but doesn’t own a house.

What Hegel proposes is that the dialectic of history is the dialectic of the master and the
slave. Since the beginning of history, there have been dominators and dominated people.
The master is a recognized entity, while the slave is in charge of recognizing. The
slave stops being an autonomous entity and becomes something shaped by the master.

For the master, only Being for itself is the essential reality. He is pure negative or negating
power , for which the thing is nothing and consequently he is the pure essential activity. The
slave on the other hand is not pure activity but non essential activity

It is therefore , an unequal and one sided recognition that has been formed from this
relation of master and slave. Hegel says although the master treats the other as a slave ,
he does not behave as slave himself, and although the slave treats the other as master, he
does not behave as master himself. The slave does not risk his life , and the master is
the idle.

Master's point of view in this relationship.

The master is the one in the interaction who succeeds in obtaining recognition from the other
in the sense that he imposes himself as the slave’s value. Master is recognized in his human
reality and dignity. But this recognition is one sided as he does not recognise in turn
the slave's human reality and dignity. Hence , he is recognized by someone whom he
does not recognise. The master is unable to recognize the other who recognizes him .
Therefore he founds his attitude in existential impasse.

Master is master only because his desire is directed towards another desire i.e. desire for
recognition. On the other hand , when he has consequently become master ,then as a
master he must desire to be recognized and it is possible only by making other as his slave.
But for him slave is an animal or thing .
He is therefore "recognized" by a thing , thus his desire is not directed towards human
desire but towards a thing.

The master therefore was on wrong track as there is no development and advancement in
his attitude and he is not what he wanted to be in starting of the fight i.e. a man recognized
by another man .
Therefore Hegel claims that if man can be satisfied only by recognition , the man who
behaves as master will never be satisfied . And if the man is necessarily satisfied then he will
be slave not a master.

Thus the non essential or slavish consciousness is for the master because the master's
truth is the slave and slave's work . Actually, others recognize the master as master only
because he has a slave and the master's life consists in consuming the products of slavish
work and in living on and by his work.
The master precisely in being the master therefore debases himself to an infra-human
condition.
The master is fixed in his mastery. He cannot go beyond himself, change or progress. He
must conquer and become master and must preserve himself as such or else he should die.
He can not be educated . He risked his life to be master . Therefore, mastery is the supreme
given value for him, beyond which he can not go.

Initially, it looks like the Master has won the day and that the dialectic of spirit will continue
from the perspective of the Master. But soon enough, a contradiction emerges: Once the
other consciousness emerges as Slave, it can no longer provide the Master with the
recognition it initially desired, a recognition that is essential to their mastery. Also, the life of
the Master rapidly devolves into one of dependence on the Slave, who provides the Master
with all of life’s necessities and anticipates their desires. In other words, the Mater’s life
becomes one of pure and unfettered consumption and enjoyment.

Slave's point of view in master slave dialectic

Slave is one who sees his own true self in other i.e. master. We have seen only what slavery
is in its relation to mastery. But slavery is also self consciousness. The slave is
subordinated to the master. Hence the slave esteems , recognizes, the value and the reality
of " autonomy" of human freedom. However he does not find it realized in himself, he finds it
only in the other and this is his advantage.
The Slave recognizes master from the beginning. Hegel says slave must cease to be slave ,
he must transcend himself to " overcome," himself as a slave. The experience of fight that
made him slave predisposes him to the act of self overcoming, of negation of himself i.e.
negation of his slavish l .
Slave did not want to be a slave but he became a slave because he did not want to
risk his life to become a master . Slave in this relationship did not want to bind
himself to the master's condition, nor does he binds himself to his condition as a
slave. He is not constant , he is ready for the change through education. Slave
knows he is not free but he wants to be free in this unequal relationship. Initially, it
looks like the Master has won the day and that the dialectic of spirit will continue
from the perspective of the Master. But soon enough, a contradiction emerges: Once
the other consciousness emerges as Slave, it can no longer provide the Master with
the recognition it initially desired, a recognition that is essential to their mastery. Also,
the life of the Master rapidly devolves into one of dependence on the Slave, who
provides the Master with all of life’s necessities and anticipates their desires. In other
words, the Mater’s life becomes one of pure and unfettered consumption and
enjoyment.

Due to that dominance, the master coerces the slave and forces them to work for
them. Said work is not the slave’s creative process. Instead, it’s an imposition that
makes them the actual object of work.
Thus by working , the slave becomes the master of nature.
In becoming the master of nature by work , slave frees himself from his own nature ,
from his own instinct that made him master's slave. He frees himself from the
master's slavery. Generally, in the natural given world , slave is slave of master, but
in technical world , transformed by work, slave rules as an absolute master one day.
And this mastery that arises from work , from the progressive transformation of the
given world and of man in given in this world , will be entirely different from the
"immediate" mastery of the master.
The slave in transforming the given World by his work goes beyond himself and his
master. Only after having worked for the master, he realises the necessity of the fight
between master and slave and the value of the risk and terror that implies.

In winning the struggle, the master has affirmed his power over the slave, yet the
master has failed to recognize that he is not god. The slave, however, recognizes his
limitedness, slavery to the master “Is his chain, from which he could not, in the
struggle, get away, and for that reason he proves himself dependent, shows that his
independence consists in his being a thing.”
Only in being subdued and forced to see himself as merely an object, is it possible
for the slave to become fully aware of his place in the universe. The slave realizes
just how fragile life is and he understands that he is dependent upon the master for
his life. Furthermore, the slave sees that the master depends upon him for
affirmation of his position as master. The slave shapes the master’s world by working
for him and acknowledging him as master. Essentially, the slave recognizes that
there is no fundamental difference between himself and the master – they both are
finite individuals. The master-slave relationship is now the exact opposite of what the
master intended – although the master controls the slave physically, he cannot
control the slave’s spirit or sense of dignity. Through his enslavement, the slave has
established his dignity and validated his life by becoming fully aware of his place in
the world. In contrast, the master cannot establish his dignity or validate his life
outside his role as master.
At the end the Slave becomes an independent self-consciousness.

Primacy of work culture

According to Hegel, it is only by work, that man realised himself objectively as man. It is only
by work man is a supernatural being that is conscious of
it's reality, by working he is " incarnated" spirit and " objectivized" history.
Work " forms or educates" man beyond the animal. The formed or educated man is one
who has passed through slavery. The master acts only as a catalyst of the historical
anthropogenetic process. Though he himself does not participate actively in this process
but without him this process would be impossible.

Work creates a real objective world in which man lives an essentially different life from that of
animals in the bosom of Nature. This work liberates the slave from the terror that tied him to
given Nature and to his own innate animal nature .
Hegel says the forming of the thing by work has negative or negating significance which is
directed against the first constituent element of the slavish consciousness i.e against fear

According to Hegel man achieves it's true autonomy, his authentic freedom, only after
passing through the slavery, after surmounting gear of death by work performed in the
service of another. Work that frees the man is necessarily in the beginning , the forced work
of a slave who serves an all powerful master, the holder of all real power.

However on account of primacy of work culture tables turn around and Hegel introduces a
twist , according to Hegel t: it is the slave, not the master, who has the higher realization of
self-consciousness.Hegel provides three reasons for this which are as follows:

● First,since each serves as an object (and in this sense, truth) for the other’s
self-certainty, the slave, having the master as his object, has the superior truth, while
the master has the “inessential consciousness” of the slave as his object"

● Second, since the slave has been shaken to the core by the fear of facing death, he
has experienced independent consciousness of himself

● Third, the master’s satisfaction is fleeting because it lacks the endurance and
recognition that the slave enjoys through seeing his will objectified in the objects of
his labor.

Thus it is only by work man gets sense of recognition and self consciousness. There is no
absoluteness in master and slave dialectic.

Ultimately, the master comes to realize his dependence upon the slave for affirmation of his
position as master. He discovers that he is in fact dependent upon the slave for determining
his place in the universe. This situation of recognized mutual dependence is what Hegel
refers to as the “double self-consciousness” – each individual is aware of what it is in itself
and in relation to the other. Each self-consciousness knows the extent of its power and how
its power measures up to that of the other.