Based on the three laws of dialectics, this article explains Hegel’s Dialectic of Masters and Slaves and explores the impact of labor on human self-awareness and independence.
To understand the dialectic of master and slave, we must first understand dialectics itself. In a nutshell, dialectic is a principle that attempts to explain the behavior of things by using contradiction or opposition as its underlying principle. The main principles of dialectics are changeability, which means that things are in a constant state of flux, and interconnectedness, which means that all things or processes influence and are influenced by each other. In other words, the dialectical view is that things are constantly changing under the influence of other things, and that truth lies in the whole process of change.
Dialectics has three basic laws. The first is the law of contradiction, which is the law of the unity and struggle of opposites. In dialectics, contradiction is inherent in all things, and this contradiction is the cause of change and movement. Because contradiction is an inherent property of things, opposition and conflict are not seen as temporary or unstable states, but as fundamental principles of things. However, contradiction is not used here in the sense of incompatibility or inconsistency, which are common in everyday life. This is because the concept of incompatibility cannot exist in reality, but only in language. Hegel and Marx used the concept of contradiction in the sense of opposites or polar opposites, in other words, antithesis or bipolarity.
The second fundamental law of dialectics is the law of quantitative teleology, which describes how change and motion occur. It refers to the way in which quantitative change accumulates and leads to qualitative change. In other words, it means that the quantitative changes in society, such as confrontation and conflict, accumulate and at some point manifest as qualitative changes, such as revolution.
The third is the law of negation, which is a law about the direction of change and movement. The law of negation is often described as the process of opposites attracting. Here, “thesis” refers to a statement or proposition, and “antithesis” refers to the opposite statement or proposition. When a new claim or proposition is made by excluding the negative aspect of two opposing claims and accepting only the positive aspect, it is called ‘sum’. Thus, the new argument that emerges from the negation of negation is considered to be a step forward from the previous one. However, there is also a criticism. Although the negation of the negation leads to change, the change is not necessarily better than before; it can stay the same or even regress.
Hegel considers dialectics to be the fundamental principle of the world, through which we understand the world. Our cognitive processes, social activities, and the development of society also undergo a dialectical process. Hegel also understands history as the self-development of absolute reason, taking a progressivist view that history progresses to increasingly rational stages and a legalist view that there are certain laws in history. In this respect, Hegel is considered to have a modern Enlightenment view of history.
Hegel’s view of labor is exemplified in the dialectical relationship between master and slave. Human self-consciousness is not formed in isolation, but in interrelationships with others and by receiving the recognition of others. Therefore, humans struggle for recognition from others. Those who are obsessed with preserving their own lives and give up their freedom as human beings become slaves, while those who cling to their own existence even to the point of giving up their lives become masters.
The master receives service from the slave and protects the slave’s life in return. In this process, the master indirectly relates to things through the slave. The master enjoys and consumes things through the slave, and becomes more dependent on the slave’s labor to sustain his own life. Thus, the master’s dependence on the slave deepens, and the master achieves only a non-self-sustaining consciousness.
The slave, on the other hand, has a direct relationship with objects through labor. By seeing the objects he works with, the slave affirms his power, and just as the master reveals his opposite nature, so the slave is transformed into a position opposite to his original one. Through labor, the slave establishes a sense of self and becomes self-reliant. Hegel describes this as “a reflection on oneself from the position of a consciousness that has been driven within oneself, so to speak, and which is finally reversed into the possessor of true independence.” This process of reversing the relationship between master and slave is called the dialectic of master and slave. In this process, labor plays a decisive role as a means of securing self-consciousness.
However, Hegel believes that it takes more time for the slave to become a true master. Because the slave has felt the fear of death from his master, who is an absolute power, he is unable to overcome his fear of the master and anxiety about death and risk his life in the struggle for independence against the master.
Hegel gives labor a philosophical meaning, which is significant in that he sees it as an opportunity to achieve self-consciousness and become an independent being. However, we need to think more deeply about whether labor really frees us.
