History of Philosophy Commons^™

Mutual Recognition: The Struggle For Power And Domination, Madison A. Nguyen

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

This paper examines Hegel's description of mutual recognition in his Phenomenology of Spirit. On this account, development of a self-consciousness occurs only alongside another, separate and distinct self-consciousness. We find our identity and genuine sense of selfhood through family ties, civil society, and the state. Apart from others, we cease to exist—self-consciousness cannot be found in isolation. With this said, many internal and external complications ensue from obtaining recognition, our greatest desire, from another self which also seeks recognition. Hegel’s Master-Slave dialectic is delineated along with the attainment of self-consciousness through social and political spheres. The emphasis he places on …