Hegel’s grounding of intersubjectivity in the master–slave dialectic

Bibliographic Data

ID8096851
AuthorsStefan Bird-Pollan (0000-0003-0401-9975, corresponding author), Bird-Pollan Stefan (University of Kentucky)
Year2012
Volume38
Issue3
Pages237-256
Publication date2012-01-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy & Social Criticism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0191-4537 • E-ISSN: 1461-734X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0191453711430929
OpenAlexW2032939361
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited21

In this article I seek to explain Hegel’s significance to contemporary meta-ethics, in particular to Kantian constructivism. I argue that in the master–slave dialectic in the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel shows that self-consciousness and intersubjectivity arise at the same time. This point, I argue, shows that there is no problem with taking other people’s reasons to motivate us since reflection on our aims is necessarily also reflection on the needs of those around us. I further explore Hegel’s contribution to the debate about internal and external reasons. I end by arguing that we should understand reasons as historically constructed in the sense that who counts as an intrinsic bearer of value changes over time. I thus argue that the struggle for recognition is in fact the beginning of the long march toward the idea of recognition and the Kantian kingdom of ends. This march, however, is driven by the need to overcome injustice as it is instantiated at the beginning of history by the master’s absolute domination of the slave

Absolute (philosophy · Consciousness · Dialectic · Epistemology · Hegelianism · Intersubjectivity · Phenomenology (philosophy · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Philosophy

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