Re-Visiting Hegel's Life-and-Death Struggle for Recognition

This essay is an immanent critique of Hegel s theory of recognition in the section independence and dependence of self-consciousness: lordship and bondage of his Phenomenology of Spirit. First, it shows that the Notion of the unity of the self-consciousness does not require the self-consciousnesses equality. Second, it demonstrates the inherent inconsistency of a fight that would be motivated by a desire to show one s capacity to risk his life. Third, it assesses that a fight motivated by the mere desire to remain in life puts the concept of labour at the principle of the master s domination thus leading the dialectic to a successful recognition between equal consciousnesses.

Autorentext
Bernard Gbikpi is a lecturer in Political Science at Gonzaga University in Florence (Italy) and in Spokane (WA). He earned his PhD in Social and Political Sciences at the European University Institute in Florence. He participated in various research projects at the EUI. His current research interest is in Machiavelli's political thought.