Hegel’s dialectic of master and slave

The dialectic of master and slave is the name given to a theoretical construction by Friedrich Hegel, considered one of the key elements of his philosophy, which has influenced many philosophers later. It not only became the basis of the materialist dialectic developed by Karl Marx, but also had a strong influence on psychoanalysis.

For Hegel, human reality is condensed into what we call universal history. In turn, what has marked that history It is the unequal relationship between human beings. Between tyrants and the tyrannized. In this way, the historical dialectic is the dialectic of the master and the slave. What has moved history is this contradiction between one another and has given rise to an inequality in the self-awareness of human beings.

Let us remember that in Hegel dialectics is a form of reasoning in which two theses are opposed, which in turn lead to new concepts that overcome that contradiction. In this way, there is a thesis that raises certain reasoning. An antithesis follows, which exposes the problems or contradictions in the thesis.

From the dynamic between thesis and antithesis, synthesis arises, which becomes a solution or a new perspective on the matter. Likewise, studies such as the one carried out at the University of Cambridge in 2014, indicate that this text It is an exceptional means of reflecting on the concept of freedom and the progress of reason.

Desire in the dialectic of master and slave

In Hegel’s master-slave dialectic, desire has a very relevant position. This philosopher points out that animals have a desire that is satisfied with an immediate object. The animal is not aware that it desires. In humans, however, things are different.

For Hegel, history is the history of social relations. This is inaugurated when there are two competing human desires. What a human being desires is to be desired by another human being. In other words, being recognized by the other. So, human desire is fundamentally desire for recognition.

Human beings want others to give them autonomous value. That is, a value of its own, which differentiates each one from the others. This is what defines the human condition. Therefore, according to Hegel, The characteristic of human beings is to impose themselves on others. Only when the other recognizes you as someone autonomous does self-awareness create. At the same time, self-consciousnesses wage a fight to the death among themselves.

In fact, studies such as the one carried out at Harvard University in 2014, tell us that Self-awareness continues to be that psychological competence that is so neglected today.. We long for it and value it but we still don’t know how to awaken or enhance them.

History according to Hegel’s perspective

Based on those concepts that we have briefly explained, Hegel builds his dialectic of master and slave. This consists of proposing that from the first moment of history Two figures are formed: the master and the slave. The first prevails over the second. The way to do it is to deny it., that is, not recognizing his desire. She dominates him by canceling him out.

The resolution of the conflict arises when one of the two consciousnesses gives in out of fear and prefers to be a subdued consciousness rather than a dead consciousness (a non-consciousness). In other words, the conscience that gives way prefers to live in servitude rather than die.

In this way, his fear of dying is more powerful than his desire to be recognized by the other consciousness. For its part, that consciousness in which the desire to dominate is more powerful than its fear of dying is the one that subdues the consciousness that gave in out of fear. So, here we have a master and a slave.

In this way a form of consciousness arises in the dominated. This consciousness is that of one who recognizes another as master and recognizes himself as slave of this. Therefore, he does not manage to form a self-consciousness as such, but assumes himself based on a logic in which the master’s gaze prevails. This constitutes the essence of the dialectic of master and slave.

All of this has important repercussions on production. In this, The master does not come into contact with the raw material, or “the thing,” that the slave transforms with his work.. In turn, the slave comes into contact with it only to transform it, but it is not his, nor is it intended for her consumption. Like the worker who produces bricks, but he doesn’t have a house.

Masters and slaves

In this way, what Hegel proposes is that the dialectic of history is the dialectic of master and slave. Since the beginning of history there have been dominators and dominated. A recognized entity, the master, and a recognizing entity, the slave. That slave stops being an autonomous entity and becomes something reified by the master.

Because of this dominance, the master coerces the slave and forces him to work for him. Said work is not a creative process of the slave, but an imposition that turns him into an object of work. However, the master ends up depending on the slave for his own survival.. And there is always a moment in which the roles are reversed, since the slave is indispensable to the master, but the master is not indispensable to the slave.

In other words, as the slave creates more and more products with greater sophistication, through his own creativity, he begins to see himself reflected in the products he created. Thus, he realizes that the world around him was created by his own hands, so the slave is no longer alienated from his own work and achieves self-awareness. While the master, on the other hand, has become totally dependent on the products created by his slave. This is how the master is then enslaved by the work of his slave.

The dialectic of master and slave is a concept that marked a before and after in the history of philosophy.. He laid foundations that, although they have been revised and reinterpreted, essentially maintain their validity.

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