Rocco D’Ambrosca: 02/23/2009
The topic of our relationship to the world and its objects has been the source of philosophical discussion since the dawn of philosophical thought. Starting with the Greeks and moving on through the ages, the topic of how to perceive the world around us has continued to fascinate philosophers and even pop culture with such films as The Matrix. But, it was Hegel, who with extreme ambition, decided to tackle the topic of knowledge and perception in a new and far more involved way; expanding into consciousness, subjectivity, social interaction, culture, history, morality and even religion. It is the topic of self-consciousness that will be the topic of discussion here with the exploration of the readers’ experience of self-consciousness while reading Phenomenology of Spirit as well as how the section on Lordship and Bondage elaborates upon the foundations in the Preface and Introduction.
In the Preface and Introduction, Hegel outlines the foundations of the process for gathering knowledge in the world around us. He talks about the acquisition of sense data followed by its assimilation with internal concepts. As children we are explorers by nature and try to understand the world around us. We do so initially by sense data. We crawl or walk around the room grabbing random objects and experimenting with them to understand their purpose. The problem that arises as we try to define an object is the object’s preexisting definition by those who created and placed it there. A spoon to a child could be little more than a toy bat to hit other objects with it. But it isn’t until the parent shows the child how to eat oatmeal or soup with the spoon that they discover the spoon’s true purpose and meaning. Hegel reflects on this saying, “It is this coming-to-be of Science as such or of knowledge, that is described in this Phenomenology of Spirit. Knowledge in its first phase, or immediate Spirit, is the non-spiritual, i.e. sense-consciousness. In order to become genuine knowledge, to beget the element of Science which is the pure Notion of Science itself, it must travel a long way and work its passage.” (Hegel par. 27). This uninitiated child, or the first phase of immediate Spirit as described by Hegel, is acting on sense consciousness. It isn’t until another individual uses the spoon in the proper way in turn teaching the child the spoon’s true use that the child gains knowledge. The child must go through the process of experimentation, observation of another, and then the repetition of the other’s action before understanding the object’s real meaning. This is the normal path of most knowledge that we gain through natural science as described by Hegel.
The next topic that Hegel touches upon is self-consciousness. It is again through the other that we gain self-consciousness. If a child were to be left alone in an environment free from other humans they would presumably never develop self-consciousness. Hegel says it is through the other that we become aware of ourselves. We have some sense of ourselves through our relation to the objects in the world when we perceive them. When you look at an object in the space you occupy, you can determine that the object is outside of yourself and therefore separate and distinct; causing the assumption by necessity that you yourself are an object of sorts because you are not connected to the object you are viewing and must be just another thing like any other perceivable object in space.
It is not until you encounter another human that you truly become self-aware and self-conscious. By looking into another’s eyes and seeing their similarities in bodily structure etc, do you realize that you are not a singularity but just another in the eyes of another. This other human is different from the other objects because it is living, it is moving, and remarkably similar to yourself. Hegel describes this saying, “Consciousness simultaneously distinguishes itself from something, and at the same time relates itself to it, or, as it is said, this something exists for consciousness; and the determinate aspect of relating or of the being of something for a consciousness, is knowing.” (Hegel par. 82). The concept of self-consciousness can be encapsulated in the scenario of a performer becoming nervous and stumbling in their performance. The explanation for this fumble, the performer was too self-consciousness or aware that others could see him as an individual singled out.
The section on Lordship and Bondage elaborates upon the relationship between the self and the other, exploring roles of superiority and inferiority. The realization of self-consciousness is explored as a struggle between two unequals bound by mutual dependence. The lord depends upon the bondsman to work his fields and produce crops maintaining his wealth and power while the bondsman relies upon the lord for shelter, food, and protection. The bondsman becomes aware that he is an object to the lord, seen only as a tool to an end and not as a subject or individual with self awareness. The bondsman is trapped dwelling on his dependence to the lord and his inequality with him. The bondsman must distract himself from this otherness by putting himself fully into his work but to also gain approval and recognition so that the lord may possibly see him for just a moment as a subject rather than an object. “But for recognition proper the moment is lacking, that what the lord does to the other he also does to himself, and what the bondsman does to himself he should also do to the other. The outcome is a recognition that is one-sided and unequal.” (Hegel par. 191).
The process of reading Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit is extremely chaotic, confusing, overly abstract, and frustrating. It is the opinion of this writer that the task that Hegel tried to tackle could have been done in a far more simplified and conscience manner. The same analogies and concepts appear again and again in more and more ambiguous and redundant forms. The process of reading Hegel is more of a decoding process than a true involvement in the movement of self-consciousness on the way to Absolute Spirit. But perhaps the very nature of confusion and redundancy inherent in the work is what forces you to partake in this movement.
Paragraph after paragraph, you stumble and think to yourself repeatedly what did I just read, what is this trying to tell me. In that very questioning and self reflection you participate in Hegel’s head game. You are aware of your own self-consciousness in relation to both the object of the text, your own understanding of it, and whatever personal anecdotes that the reading provokes in your mind. Perhaps the text itself was written in such a convoluted fashion just to initiate this type of mental processing in the reader. Thus it is not until the reflection upon your reflection of the reading, do you truly grasp the concepts and processes of consciousness and awareness that Hegel is trying to convey.
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