Hegel and the Relation of Master and Servant

Relation of Master and Servant

According to Hegel, "the self conscious is itself and for itself" meaning that it has to come outside of itself, so that it can do two things. One is to cancel out the other otherness. The second is to try to become recognized. This recognition process is called Master and Servant self-conscious. The conflict between master and servant is one in which the historical themes such as dependence and independence are introduced. It sets up the realization of the self conscious through the recognition of and by another, through mutual recognition.

The relation between the self and the otherness is necessary to define human awareness and more importantly desire. This desire is part of the primordial human experience. The problem is that, the consciousness responds to the otherness as a threat whereas truly it is not. If the otherness is destroyed, then essentially the consciousness is destroying itself. So the original consciousness "decides" to overcome the challenge of the otherness by absorbing it into itself, causing a battle for recognition between the now two consciousnesses.

These consciousnesses supposedly battle until one surrenders out of fear of elimination. One becomes the "master" and the other becomes the "servant." The one who proves to be the master asserts it's dominance through willing to risk its "life" by not giving up or surrendering during the struggle. It announces its freedom over the servant because it believes itself to be independent and in control during the struggle to be recognized. The master does not progress or evolve because that is not it's will. It simply wants to be in control and be seen over the new servant consciousness.

The servant, however, is truly Hegel's main focal point because the servant is really where the meat of the self conscious lies. It lives in fear of the master, working in servitude to produce many things. First, the servant wants to please the master with ideas and inventions so that it can be recognized also. It endures some of this torment out of fear, but also so that it can be recognized. The servant produces these inventions, and over time, realizes itself because it can produce. It becomes aware through suffering. The servant is really the powerhouse of the self consciousness, although