Abstract

This article analyses the Hegelian notion of death, presented in the Phenomenology of Spirit. In this work, Hegel names death the “absolute master” and this idea appears in two different sections of the text. The first mention of the absolute master is in the death struggle for recognition (self-consciousness), whereby the slave, who is aware of death and due to it experiments the anguish of its arrival, abandons the struggle to live at the service of his master. Thus, overcoming his own fear of death, the slave finds in its expression the transformation of the world. The second mention takes place in the analysis of the terror lived during the French Revolution. In this part, Hegel describes how the abstraction of absolute freedom is imposed upon all citizens, generating death and terror among individuals. In both experiences that the subjects (the slave and the citizens) respectively face, death appears as an experience that opens us to reflection and allows us to overcome immediacy.

Highlights

  • This article analyses the Hegelian notion of death, presented in the Phenomenology of Spirit

  • Hegel names death the “absolute master” and this idea appears in two different sections of the text

  • The first mention of the absolute master is in the death struggle for recognition, whereby the slave, who is aware of death and due to it experiments the anguish of its arrival, abandons the struggle to live at the service of his master

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Summary

Introduction

This article analyses the Hegelian notion of death, presented in the Phenomenology of Spirit. De ello se puede vislumbrar una idea que atraviesa toda la Fenomenología y que se ve como resultado de la lucha, específicamente, con la conciencia servil: el hombre es acción y la acción es negatividad que aparece como muerte, puesto que sin la angustia inicial, sin el temor inaugural, el siervo no hubiera descubierto el trabajo como el sentido propio de su ser para sí.

Results
Conclusion

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