INTRODUCTION 909
and “Idea—Nature—Mind.” Though he developed several proposals for this system,
Hegel never completed any of them.
Although Hegel never developed a complete system, he did use the dialectical
method to explain consciousness. In the section entitled “Relations of Master
and Servant” from The Phenomenology of Spirit(1807), reprinted here in the
J.L.H. Thomas translation, Hegel explains one stage in the dialectical develop-
ment of consciousness. He begins by pointing out that only by acknowledging an
“other” is self-consciousness possible. But if there is an other, then the original
self-consciousness feels threatened and asserts its freedom by trying to dominate
that other and force acknowledgment of its dominance. The ensuing struggle
results in a master who dominates and a servant who is dominated. The master
then forces the servant to produce material goods for the enjoyment of the master.
But at this point, the master now depends upon the servant he has dominated.
In the first place, his self-consciousness as master is subject to his recognition as
master by the servant. But more important, while the master has been consuming
or destroying what the servant makes, the servant has been learning to create—to
bend nature to his will—and so has established his own self-consciousness in
relation to what he has created. Furthermore, the labor of the servant has a per-
manent quality, whereas the master’s consumption again depends on the servant’s
production. So by dominating the servant, the master is dominated.
The solution to this contradiction is to acknowledge that neither master nor
servant is free and that freedom is not possible in relationships of domination.
The next stage in the dialectic is for the mind to seek freedom within itself.
Hegel’s ideas have been both lauded and attacked. His insights on the master-
servant relationship made a powerful impression on Marx and Nietzsche. Indeed,
Hegel’s understanding of dialectical development became a central feature of Marx’s
thought—though Marx rejected the notion of Absolute Spirit. Phenomenology
developed Hegel’s insights about the different types of consciousness. The sociology
of knowledge developed his notions about the connection between consciousness
and the culture of a particular epoch. Chief among Hegel’s critics was Kierkegaard,
who objected strenuously to the devaluing of the individual, questioned the implicit
optimism of the dialectic, and mocked the incompleteness of Hegel’s “System.”
Perhaps Hegel’s greatest legacy was not any specific idea, but the vision of a com-
plete historical development of thought.
For a selection of primary source readings for Hegel, see Hegel, The Essential
Writings,edited by Frederick G. Weiss (New York: Harper & Row, 1974). Many
secondary books about Hegel are difficult for beginning students. Two accessible
classics are W.T. Stace,The Philosophy of Hegel(1924; reprinted New York: Dover,
1955) and G.R.G. Mure,An Introduction to Hegel(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940).
Recent helpful studies include J.N. Findlay,Hegel: A Re-examination(New York:
Macmillan, 1958); Walter Kaufmann, Hegel: Reinterpretation, Texts and
Commentary(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965); Peter Singer,Hegel(Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1983); Raymond Plant,Hegel(London: Routledge, 1999);
Terry Pinkard,Hegel: A Biography(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2001); Frederick Beiser,Hegel(London: Routledge, 2005); David James,Hegel:
A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Continuum, 2007); and Allen Speight,The
Philosophy of Hegel(Montreal: McGill–Queen’s University Press, 2008). Charles