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Hegel's Master / Slave Dialectic
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Hegel's Master / Slave Dialectic

Introduction given to the London Old Hegelians, 15.10.2023
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“The consciousness that toils and serves accordingly attains by this means the direct apprehension of that independent being as its self.”

Hegel in the Phenomenology of Spirit

In this admirably clear introduction David Perks provides us with an overview of Hegel’s master / slave dialectic, as outlined in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (1807).

In the discussion it was argued that Hegel’s foundational scenario might appear a touch melodramatic, but could usefully be taken as a bloody alternative to those offered by proto liberal contractarians.

It was also said that whilst this dialectic might not apply in all social situations, it certainly seems empirically closer to the is of many, if not the ought to be.

Image: Desperate Conflict In A Barn, taken from William Still's The Underground Rail Road (1872). Posted by Monumenteer2014 on Wikicommons and used with gratitude.

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