Master-Slave Dialectic Hegel and Fanon Views

W.E.B DuBois’ and Hegel’s concept of double consciousness implies that individuals, especially black people, look at their own identity from two perspectives: There is the perspective oneself has about one’s own identity and the conscious perspective of them, as black people, are being perceived by others. As a result, slaves failed to meet the set image and goal of white America simply because the image slaves had in their own eyes was predetermined and unaltera-ble. Jacobs’ explained this with the persistent view that the black male are inferior. Compliant to Douglass’ description on how

The entire subject of philosophy, according to Hegel, consists of the study of the history of the world and the creation of truth. When man first became aware of objects, he viewed everything in the context of death or negation. When the self encounters other people, its first reaction is to view them as objects and risk its life to kill them. After that comes the master/slave relationship, where certain people rise to the top of society and exercise control over others. Ironically, the slave actually has a more stable means of self-validation. The slave identifies with his work, which is never-ending, while the master identifies with his control over the slaves, which could end at a moment's notice. Another ideal, which we derive from Hegel, is that of "stoicism." Stoicism, defined as the recognition of the self as sovereign and independent. The individual tries to lead a self-contained life of reason but is still susceptible to the psychological residue of the master/slave relationship as well as nature's eternal mastery. After this stage comes skepticism, which is an extreme form of stoicism where the self becomes completely rational and destroys nature by doubting it. The self is still limited by the master/slave

Additionally, both Hegel and Nietzsche use the Master / Slave dichotomy to account for identity and difference in the relationship between the powerful subject and the weak object. Both thinkers see identity and morality emerging out of a relationship of conflict. Moreover, in both Hegel and Nietzsche’s narratives, there is a change in the structure of acknowledgment, where the antagonistic relationship allows one side to define itself by negating the other. Both thinkers find that negation is an integral part of identity formation. Hegel and Nietzsche both concur, in dialectical terms, ‘Being’ is represented by the ‘object’, or Master, and the ‘subject’, or Slave, is constantly in the process of ‘Becoming’. From these similarities, is that clear that both 19th century philosophers have made a massive impact on philosophical thought in todays day and age, despite their distinct

Philosophers as ancient as Plato and Socrates have pondered the soul for millennia. After all, every person appears to possess an unchanging self. Why else would languages universally utilize the pronouns, “I” and, “you?” However, conversely, other theorists such as David Hume and Buddha, inquiring what one can truly classify as their persona, have considered the self an illusion. From their perspective, though humans naturally experience the soul, it does not actually exist. Pablo Neruda espouses a similar view in his poem,“The Egoist,” written in 1973 as a part of Neruda’s posthumous collection Winter Garden. Throughout the work, Neruda contrasts the concept of

Heger’s master-slave theory does apply to Flanney O’Connor’s short story, “Revelation”, in relation to Mrs. Turpin and the people she met. In the story, Mrs. Turpin suffers from the falsehood of comparing her lifestyle with other poor slaves, leaving her to ignore the sufferings of the slaves, known as Colored people. Heger’s master-slave theory states that conflict between the self and the other-self is necessary in order to understand the situations between the master and the slave. What Heger’s theory suggests is that Mrs. Turpin has become narrow-minded and self-consciousness with her own life that she develops a “white ignorance” towards the enslavement and injustice of colored people. In other words, Mrs. Turpin never takes the time to

Hegel’s critique of Kant’s philosophy is quite prevalent throughout the unfolding of Hegel’s own dialectical philosophy. Several of Hegel’s critiques of Kant’s work can especially be seen in one of his earlier works, “The Phenomenology of Spirit.” This is particularly established once Hegel begins to undertake the developing of Spirit within his Phenomenology. Here, Hegel makes several attacks on Kantian philosophy principles, and at some of the foundations of Kant’s use of pure reason in philosophy. There are several passages within the section where Hegel gives criticism of Kant’s work; critiques that strike at the very heart of what Hegel himself is trying to elucidate through his own dialectic, while discounting one of the greatest German philosophers.

Thomas Nagel approaches the mind body problem in a different manner. Nagel acknowledges that there is a close connection between mental life and the body, but he further questions the origin of our

From this point, Hegel introduces the archetypes of the lord and the bondsman. The bondsman is the position that most of humanity occupies since most people are ultimately concerned for the struggle for bodily survival as a result of the profound fear of death and place that struggle as being central to existence and far more important than defending the integrity of the ego, an invisible concept which may not help them in their endeavors. Because they are easily manipulated by these external needs, men often fall under the power of other men, such as the lord and the bondsman loses sight of himself more as he begins to work for the lord. The problem of enslavement becomes much worse, especially if one’s sense of self is vastly different than the ‘other’s’ objective view of the self (since the self views the ‘other’ as an object). Although that seems to be the crux of the relationship, this working through fear is simply the first phase toward an independent self-consciousness.

The way freedom develops itself is though the phenomenon of history. Freedom is essentially an internal idea, but it manifest itself externally thoughout history. It may seem that many of the actions throughout history are from mens needs, passions, and desires, but Hegel says that while some actions in history do come from these things, they are relatively small in comparison to the whole canvas of history. Hegel says that passions, private aims, and the satisfaction of selfish desires are what have really driven most men throughout history and there powers are that they respect none of the limitations which laws and morality would impose on them. These passions, private aims, and selfish desires are actually closer to our own human nature then the artificial and troublesome discipline that tend to move to order, self-restraint, law, and morality.

In Fanon’s, The Wretched of the Earth, he sees the Native Intellectual as aggressive for command, nonviolent, a modern voice, and strategic. “The native intellectual has clothed his aggressiveness in his barely veiled desire to assimilate himself to the colonial world. He used his aggressiveness to serve his own individual interests,” (60). Here, Fanon emphasizes the native intellectual’s aggressiveness for power. He has hid his initial plan to eliminate the settler and take his position of authority, by assimilating to his beliefs. These revolve around the idea of a colonial world. This world is characterized as a division of action less and honorable titles where you

George Hegel introduced to the world to the theory of ideas, known as the Hegelian dialectic, and it is quite astonishing as it contemplates and assesses contradicting ideas and ultimately generates a new idea. Hegel believes that all human ideas (thesis) are often in heated confrontations with their similar counterparts (antithesis), in which both may be equally feasible for a society. Hegel believes that these issues must be resolved through the synthesis of a new idea.

As presented in the Phenomenology of Spirit, the aim of Life is to free itself from confinement "in-itself" and to become "for-itself." Not only does Hegel place this unfolding of Life at the very beginning of the dialectical development of self-consciousness, but he characterizes self-consciousness itself as a form of Life and points to the advancement of self-consciousness in the Master/Slave dialectic as the development of Life becoming "for-itself." This paper seeks to delineate this often overlooked thread of dialectical insight as it unfolds in the Master/Slave dialectic. Hegel articulates a vision of the place of human self-consciousness in the process of Life as a whole and throws light on the role of death as an essential

Consciousness allows a person to recognize their existence, and subsequently, to form their essence. The

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 the balance of master and servant is still even.

Wars, death, and other acts of violence have all been part of a process to attain true freedom. However, what is true freedom? John Stuart Mill and Georg Hegel tackle this notion of freedom. Mills states that freedom is when individuals have unlimited liberty, while Hegel says that is a false freedom. He states that freedom is when the individual’s morals align with external laws within the nation state. Despite what many say freedom is more similar in Hegel’s and Mills than different. We can see this through Hegel’s notion of absolute mind and Mill’s value of liberty and notion of diversity.