Chapter 13 1. Independence and dependence of self-awareness; master and slave

Self-consciousness is for itself because, and because it exists for another self-consciousness that is for itself; that is to say, it exists only because it is recognized by the other.Its conception of this unity in duality, that is, of its own infinity realized in self-consciousness, is multifaceted, and its individual moments have multiple meanings: on the one hand, the concept The various moments of the sphere maintain a strict distinction and demarcation from one another, and in this distinction they are at the same time considered to be indifferent, or they must always be understood in the opposite sense.This double meaning of the differential aspect is contained in the very nature of self-consciousness, which is either infinite or directly posited as the opposite of its determination (or finiteness).The development of the concept of the spiritual unity of self-consciousness in this duality consists in illuminating this process of recognition.

Self-consciousness has another self-consciousness opposed to it; it goes outside itself.This has a double meaning, first, it loses itself, because it finds itself to be something else; second, it thus sublates that other, because it also sees that the other has no real sees itself in itself. It must sublate its opposite; this process is a sublation of the first double meaning, and thus itself a second double meaning; first, it must carry out the sublation of the other independent existence in order to establish and confirm it. its own existence; secondly, from which it proceeds to sublate itself, since this other is itself.

This sublation of the double meaning of its double-meaning counterpart is also a double-meaning return to itself.For the first, by sublating it, it returns to itself, because by substituting its other it reunites itself with itself; secondly, however, it also returns the other to the self-consciousness of the other, because in the other it is itself. , when it sublates the other, it also sublates its own existence in the other, thus allowing the other to be free again. But this movement of self-consciousness in connection with another self-consciousness is represented in the manner just now as the activity of one self-consciousness; but the activity of the one hand is itself double in significance, and its own activity is likewise that of the other. Activity.Because the other is also independent and closed within itself, there is nothing in the other that does not exist through itself.The object encountered by the first self-consciousness is not merely passive like the object of desire, but an independent object existing for itself. do what it (the former) did to it, it can no longer do to its object.So this movement is purely a double movement of two ego-consciousnesses.Each side sees the other doing the same things it does.

Each side does what the other wants it to do, and therefore does what the other does, only because the other is doing the same.Unilateral action is of no use, because things happen only through two sides. Actions are therefore dual in meaning not only because an action is both to oneself and to the other, but also because the action of one is inseparable from the action of the other. In this movement we see that the process of alternation of forces repeated, but now in consciousness.In the former process, it is only from our perspective (as far as the process of analytic cognition is concerned), but in this case, the two extremes or the opposing parties are aware of it.Self-consciousness is the middle term, which differentiates itself into two extremes; each exchanging its determinateness with the other, and passing completely into its other.Of course each is outside itself as consciousness; yet in its being outside itself it is at the same time returning to itself, for itself, whereas its being outside itself is for consciousness.As far as consciousness is concerned, it is at once, and is not, another consciousness; and likewise, this other consciousness is for-itself only because it supersedes its being-for-itself, and only in so far as the other has being-for-itself. It has an existence for itself.Each is the middle term of the other, and each is united and related to itself through the mediation of the other as the middle term; and each is directly for itself and to its other. What exists exists for itself only because of this mediation.They recognize themselves because they recognize themselves mutually.

① "Middle item" is a logical noun, which is very confusing at first glance, but the meaning will be clearer when "middle item" is understood as "intermediary", "medium" or "bridge". ——Translator We shall now examine this pure concept of recognition, or of self-consciousness in its dualized unity, and see how this process of it manifests itself before self-consciousness.First of all, we want to explain the non-equivalence of the two parties or the process of the two parties transitioning from the middle term to the extreme, and the two extremes are opposed to each other as extremes, one is only the recognized, and the other is only the recognized.

Self-consciousness is at first a mere being-for-itself, identical with itself by excluding all others from itself; its essence and absolute object is for it the self; and in this immediacy or in its In this being-for-itself, it is an individual being.The other appears to it as an unessential object marked by a negative character.But the other is also an ego-consciousness; here there arises an individual against an individual.As far as they are present, they appear to each other as ordinary objects.They are all independent forms, ideologies immersed in the general existence of life—because here the object of existence is defined as life—these ideologies have not yet completed the absolute process of abstraction from each other. movement: purely negative beings that have not uprooted all immediate being and become self-identical consciousness, in other words, they have not yet revealed themselves to each other as pure being-for-itself or self-consciousness.Each side is sure of its own existence, but not of the other's, so its own conviction of itself has no truth.For its truth will be only this: that its own proper being-for-itself will be shown to it as an independent object, or, in the same sense, the object will be shown as this pure conviction of itself. .But this is impossible in the light of the concept of recognition, that only the other exists for it, and it exists for the other, each by itself through its own actions and through the actions of the other, accomplishes this existence-for-itself. a process of pure abstraction—this is possible only under conditions of this mutual recognition.

But to show itself as the pure abstraction of self-consciousness consists in showing itself the pure negation of its objective form, or in showing that it is not tied to any particular being, to any individuality of being in general. and not bound to life.This revealing process is a two-fold operation: The actions of the other party and through one's own actions.As far as it is the action of the other side, each side wants to destroy the other side and kill the other side.But this also includes a second kind of action, that is, through oneself; because the first kind of action involves risking one's own life.Thus the relation of two self-consciousnesses is characterized by a life-and-death struggle between themselves and each other to justify their existence.They must take part in this life-and-death struggle, because they must elevate their own conviction, that they are for themselves, to the status of objective truth, both for each other and for themselves.Only by risking one's life can freedom be gained; only by such a test can it be proved that the essence of self-consciousness is not being in general, not being in the immediate form as it first appears, not sinking into the vast life, but self-consciousness. Consciousness is rather a pure being-for-itself, to which there is nothing that is not a passing moment.An individual who has not put his life on the line may indeed be recognized as a human being, but he has not attained the truth for which he is recognized as an independent self-consciousness.In like manner each must kill the other, precisely because it risks its own life for it, because it no longer sees the other as [a part of itself]; the other's essence is to it an other, External to itself, it must sublate its external existence.The other is a terribly troubled, existing consciousness which must regard its external existence as pure being-for-itself or absolute negation.

But this process of proving its own existence through life-and-death struggle supersedes both the truth thus acquired and, therefore, the general certainty of itself; for just as life is the natural affirmation of consciousness, independent and There is no absolute negativity, and death is the natural negation of consciousness. There is negativity but no independence, so this independence has no recognized meaning.There is no doubt that through the struggle of life and death there is such certainty that both parties have put their lives to the test, and that they do not value their own lives as much as those of the other; Such certainty.They sublate this consciousness which they have established in an alien being, that is, in the being of nature, in other words they sublate themselves, and rise to the two extremes which each seek its own being for itself.But then, due to the dialectical process of transformation, this essential moment disappears and splits into two extremes with diametrically opposed determinations, while the middle degenerates into a lifeless unity which splits into Lifeless, pure existence of two extremes that do not oppose each other.Moreover, these two aspects do not give and take from each other through consciousness. On the contrary, they just allow each other to be free, and treat each other as "things" indifferently.Their action is the negation of abstraction, not the negation of consciousness, which is such that it preserves and keeps what is superseded, so that it itself can survive its superseding and still live.

In this experience self-consciousness realizes that life is as important to it as pure self-consciousness.In immediate self-consciousness the simple self is the absolute object, but this object is the absolute medium with respect to us, or with itself, and has the independent existence of substantiality as its main moment.The dissolution of that mere unity is the result of a first experience through which a pure self-consciousness and a consciousness not purely for itself but for something else are established, that is to say, as a being The consciousness of living or the consciousness that appears in the form of things is established.Both moments are essential because they are originally unequal and opposite, and their return to unity has not yet been achieved, so they exist in the form of two opposite consciousnesses.One is independent consciousness, whose essence is to exist for itself, and the other is dependent consciousness, whose essence is to live for the other or exist for the other.

The former is the master and the latter is the slave. 1.rule The master is the consciousness that exists for itself, but no longer just the concept of being for itself, but the consciousness that exists for itself, and this consciousness unites itself with itself through another consciousness, that is, through such a consciousness , its essence is to belong to an independent existence, or in other words, its essence is to belong to general things.The master is related to both links, on the one hand to a thing, which is the object of desire, and on the other hand to the consciousness whose essence is the thing or the nature of things.Since the master first as the concept of self-consciousness is the direct connection of being-for-itself, but the second is now at the same time as mediator or as being-for-itself, which only becomes its being-for-itself through the medium of the other. , so the master first is directly associated with both parties, and the second is indirectly associated with each party through the other.The master indirectly relates himself to the slave by being independent, because it is in this relationship that the slave becomes a slave.This is the chain from which he struggles to break free, and thus proves that he is not independent, but only in the form of a thing.But the master has power over his being, because in the struggle he proves that this being is for him nothing but a negation.Since the master has the power to dominate his being, and this being has the power to dominate its counterpart (slave), in this process the master puts his counterpart under the dominion of his power.Similarly, the master has a relationship with the thing indirectly through the slave.As a general self-consciousness, the slave also has a negative relationship with things and can sublate things.But for the slave, too, the thing is independent, so he cannot destroy it at once through his negation, that is to say, he can only transform it.On the contrary, through this intermediary, the master's direct relationship with the thing becomes a pure negation of the thing, in other words, the master enjoys the thing.What he could not obtain by mere desire, he now obtains, enjoys it, and is satisfied in enjoyment.Desire alone cannot achieve these, because things also have their independence.But the master places the slave between the thing and himself, so that he combines himself only with the non-independence of the thing and enjoys it; Let slaves process and transform things.

In these two moments, the master is recognized as the master through another consciousness, because in them, the latter is affirmed as non-essential, on the one hand because of his processing and transformation of things, on the other hand because of his Depending on a given being, in neither case can he be the master of his destiny, reaching absolute negativity.Here then comes the aspect of recognition: the other consciousness (slave) sublates his own being-for-itself or independence, and he himself does exactly what the master tells him.There is also another side: The actions of the slave are also the actions of the master himself, for what the slave does is really what the master does.To the master only being-for-itself is his essence, he is the pure negative force for which nothing is nothing.He is therefore the purely primary act in this relation, whereas the slave is not, he is only a secondary act.But there is something lacking in order to achieve true recognition: what the master does to the slave, he should do to himself, and what the slave does to himself, he should do to the master. It appears that a one-sided and unbalanced recognition takes place here. In this case the non-essential consciousness is the master's object which constitutes the truth of his own conviction.It is evident, however, that this object does not correspond to his conception, for just as the master fulfills himself as master, something happens to him that would not have occurred as an independent consciousness.What he has accomplished is not an independent consciousness, but a dependent consciousness.The certainty he attains is therefore not the being-for-itself as his truth; his truth is rather the non-essential consciousness and the non-essential action of the non-essential consciousness. Seen in this light, the truth of an independent consciousness is the consciousness of a slave.It is true that the slave consciousness initially seems to be outside that independent consciousness itself, not the truth of self-consciousness.But just as the master reveals his essence to be exactly the opposite of what he himself wills to be, so, in the process of his own fulfillment, the slave passes over to the opposite of his immediate position.He becomes compelled to return to his own consciousness and transforms himself into true independence. 2.fear We only see the relationship of the slave to the master.But the slave is self-consciousness, and now it is necessary to examine further what the slave is in and for itself.First of all, as far as the slave is concerned, the master is the essence.Consciousness that exists independently for itself is therefore his truth, but this truth is not yet inherent in the slave.But in fact the slave contains within himself this truth of pure negativity and self-existence, because he has experienced this essence in himself.Because the consciousness of this slave is not afraid of this or that disaster at this or that moment, but is afraid of his whole existence, because he has felt the fear of death, the fear of the absolute master.The fear of death had penetrated his inner soul in his experience, had shaken his whole body, and made him tremble with all fixed rules and orders.This pure universal movement, the change and flow of all fixed and persistent things is the simple essence of self-consciousness, absolute negativity, pure being-for-itself, which is precisely embodied in this consciousness.This moment of pure being-for-itself is also the object of this consciousness, since the master has pure being-for-itself as his object.Furthermore, this slave consciousness is not generally just this general transformation, but it actually completes this transformation in service.In all the individual moments of this process he abolishes his dependence on the existence of nature, and he abolishes it by labor. 3.cultivate or cultivate But the sense of absolute power in general, and in service in particular, is only the dissolution of the latent, and though the fear of the Lord [or master] is the beginning of wisdom, in this fear consciousness itself is not aware of it. existence for itself.Yet through labor the consciousness of the slave returns to itself.When the action corresponds to the consciousness of the master, the aspect of the non-essential relation to the thing certainly appears to fall on the consciousness of the servant, because in this relation the thing retains its independence.Desire retains for itself its pure negation of the object, and thus enjoys a full sense of self.But just because of this, this satisfaction itself is only a fleeting thing, because it lacks the objective side or the permanent substantive side.Labor, on the contrary, is the extinction of restricted or tempered desire, that is, of delayed gratification, in other words, labor molds things.The negative relation to the object becomes the form of the object and becomes something permanent precisely because the object is independent of the worker.This negative mediation or act of edification is at the same time the individuality of consciousness or the pure being-for-itself of consciousness which now externalizes itself in labor into a permanent state.Thus the laboring consciousness attains the intuition of its own independent existence. But the edification of things not only has a positive meaning, making the consciousness of service become a pure being-for-itself that actually exists through this process, but also has a negative meaning for its previous link, fear.For in the process of cultivating things, it becomes conscious of its own negativity, its being-for-itself, as its object, simply because it sublates the form of being that is opposed to it.But this objective negation which confronts it is precisely that alien being before which it trembled.But now it destroys this alien negator and in a permanent state establishes itself as a negator, thereby becoming itself a being-for-itself.In the presence of the master, the slave feels that being-for-itself is something external or irrelevant to him; in fear he feels that being-for-itself is only potential; Yes, and he begins to realize that he himself exists in and for himself.The form in which the slave molds things, being objectively established, is not to him an external thing but himself; for this form is his pure being-for-itself, but this being-for-itself It is realized in the process of cultivating things.It is thus in labor (although labor seems to embody only the dispositions of aliens) that the slave becomes aware of his own inherent dispositions through the process of rediscovering himself. —In this process of the self returning to itself, two moments are necessary: ​​the moment of fear and the moment of general service and edification of things, and at the same time both moments must appear in a universal way.Without the training of service and obedience, fear remains only in form, and does not shake the whole body and mind in real life. Without the labor of cultivating things, fear only stays in the heart, making people stunned, and the consciousness cannot be improved and developed.If there is no initial absolute fear, consciousness will mold things, then it can only be subjective, false prejudice and willfulness; Because its form or negativity is not negativity itself or real negativity, its edification of things cannot therefore give consciousness itself the essence of consciousness. If the consciousness has not endured absolute fear, but only feels a little nervous or frightened, then the negative existence is still an external thing to it, and its whole soul has not been thoroughly infected or shocked by the other party.Since the whole content of its natural consciousness has not been shaken, it still has a certain existence in itself, [and also has willfulness and prejudice, and] willpower and prejudice are one's own subjective opinions and intentions,—a kind of Freedom, but this freedom remains within the condition of slavery.For this consciousness pure form cannot be its essence, especially in so far as this pure form is conceived as the universal edifying power and absolute concept pervading all individuals; On the contrary, this kind of consciousness is rather a kind of cleverness. This kind of cleverness only has a certain ability to deal with certain phenomena, but it cannot grasp the universal force and the entire objective reality.