Lordship and Bondage Finished!

With lecture number 79, on paragraph 196 of the Phenomenology, we finish up with Lordship and Bondage -- or to use its more often-used title, the "Master-Slave dialectic".  I anticipated working through this section in about six video lectures, but as it turned out, it required a bit more work -- eight lectures in total, or about 4 hours of viewing time.

By the end of this dialectic engagement between two self-consciousnesses -- one of whom originally remains resolute in the face of death and who becomes the Master, the other of whom gives in, valuing temporary, determinate existence, and losing control over it in the process, the one who becomes the Slave -- the dialectical initiative has passed entirely over to the side of the slave.  A reversal has taken place, one that required a number of different conditions to hold.

The big question -- the reason why Hegel didn't just stop with this early section of the work -- is What comes next?  But for the moment, that doesn't need to be addressed.  Instead, we can look back over the path we've traversed -- and here is the last portion of it:

Lordship and Bondage, sec. 178-181

Lordship and Bondage, sec. 182-184

Lordship and Bondage, sec. 185-187

Lordship and Bondage, sec. 188-189  

Lordship and Bondage, sec. 190

Lordship and Bondage, sec. 191-193

Lordship and Bondage, sec. 194-195

Lordship and Bondage, sec. 196

First Four Videos of Lordship and Bondage Section

I've just released the 75th video installation in the series, covering paragraphs 188 and 189 -- and at the very end of the developments taking place in these paragraphs, we finally get to the very beginning of the Master-Slave dialectic proper.

Hegel introduces the two terms to us -- Herr, which Miller translates as "Lord," but which is more often rendered "Master" -- and Knecht, "Bondsman" or "Slave" -- and identifies the two of them with a dependent and an independent consciousness.

Here's the video commentary leading us through the first half of this section and to this critical transition point:

• Lordship and Bondage, sec. 178-181
• Lordship and Bondage, sec. 182-184
• Lordship and Bondage, sec. 185-187
• Lordship and Bondage, sec. 188-189   

Public Half-Hour Hegel Q&A Later Today!

We'd committed that when Patreon supporters of the Half-Hour Hegel project reached a certain level of total pledges, I'd start offering the same sort of Q&A sessions I'd been providing exclusively to my patrons to the general public, open-access, for free.

I held the inaugural session back in August, taking a break from the drive back from New York City, stopping at a rest area, and taking advantage of their free wifi.  Four people interested in Hegel, including some of my Patreon supporters, signed in, and we had a great, far-ranging conversation, focused particularly on the territory we'd earlier traversed in the Consciousness section, and looking ahead to the rest of the Self-Consciousness section.  We even discussed some of the possible parallels between Hegel and Heidegger.  All told, a great Google Hangout.

I've scheduled the second one for later today.  So, if you've got any Hegel-related questions, or if you'd just like to listen in on some Hegel enthusiasts, join the Google Hangout -- I'll be opening it up at 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.  Until then, here's the event page (where I'll also post the link, once I open the Hangout)

Starting the Master-Slave Dialectic

With this video, we start the long-anticipated dialectic of Master and Slave, or if you prefer the more old-fashioned translation, Lordship and Bondage.

You won't find any discussion of these two terms quite yet, though -- Hegel has a bit of preliminary setting matters up to conduct first.  We have to get two self-consciousnesses caught within their relationship to each other, neither one able to be entirely what it is because it needs the other in order to be what it will.

But, the subjugation of the one consciousness -- the Slave or Bondsman -- to the other -- the Lord or Master -- is soon to come.  As is the surprise ending. . . .

On To the Master and Slave Dialectic!

We've finished up with the first portion of the Self-Consciousness section of Hegel's Phenomenology.  It too six video lectures -- about 3 hours worth of video (representing somewhere around 20-25 hours worth of work) -- to get through all of the dialectical twists and turns of those paragraphs.  Here's the video for paragraphs 176 and 177:

So that does mean that with the very next video, we get into the second section, "Independence and Dependence of Self-Consciousness:  Lordship and Bondage," otherwise known by the alternate translation of Herrschaft und Knechtschaft -- the Master-Slave Dialectic.   Exciting stuff coming up!