Into the Unhappy Consciousness

After his all-too-brief explorations - and criticisms - of Stoicism and Skepticism, the next topic in this section of Freedom of Self-Consciousness is what Hegel calls the "Unhappy Consciousness" (das unglückliche Bewußtsein).  This portion takes up the lion's share of the section, so one would be entirely right to assume that this shape of consciousness is of central importance to Hegel.

In fact, we will see certain of the motifs developed within the Unhappy Consciousness come to the fore again, and receive further examination, in later sections - particularly in the penultimate section, Religion.  Adding to the importance of this dialectical development is that it will lead us to the very end of the Self-Consciousness section, and prepare the way (as did the earlier Force and the Understanding) for a transition to the next main section - Reason.

Here are the three videos available on the Unhappy Consciousness so far:

• Lecture 86 - sec. 206-208
• Lecture 87 - sec. 209-210
• Lecture 88 - sec. 211-212

Video Lectures on the Skepticism Section

We have recently finished the videos working our way though Hegel's brief but illuminating examination of Skepticism - a comportment of consciousness following that of Stoicism.

As with Stoicism, Hegel discusses Skepticism as a philosophical movement in antiquity in greater detail in other works, which I'll hopefully have time to blog about soon.

For the present moment, however, here are the three video lectures focused specifically  on the Skepticism portion of this section of the Phenomenology.

• Stoicism, Skepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness, sec. 202
• Stoicism, Skepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness, sec. 203-204
• Stoicism, Skepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness, sec. 205

Video Lectures on the Stoicism Section

The new, and last, portion of the Self-Consciousness section is devoted to three main sets dialectical developments.  Two of these, which Hegel deals with rather briefly by comparison to the other - the longer last portion - focus specifically on two major philosophical (and indeed, cultural) movements originating in antiquity: Stoicism and Skepticism.

I'll be writing in more detail about Hegel's treatment of Stoicism in another entry -- elsewhere he does discuss at greater length what he takes the world-historical importance and contributions of that school of philosophy to have been, and it is interesting to compare this with his treatment in the Phenomenology.

For the present, however, I'll just point out the three lecture videos exploring that part of the work at hand:

• Stoicism, Skepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness, sec. 197
• Stoicism, Skepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness, sec. 198-199
• Stoicism, Skepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness, sec. 200-201

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