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Deducing Desire and Recognition in the Phenomenology of SpiritNeuhouser, Frederick.

Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume 24, Number 2, April

1986, pp. 243-262 (Article)

Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press

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in the

edu cing esire andRecogni t ion

henomenology of SpiritF R E D E R I C K N E U H O U S E R

TH E READER OF HEGEL'Shenomenology of Spiritis c o n f r o n t e d i n t h e c h a p t e r o ns e l f - c o n sc i o u s n e s s w i t h a s e r i e s o f e n g a g i n g , i f a t t h e s a m e t i m e , b e w i l d e r i n gm o v e s w h i c h p u r p o r t t o s h o w t h e n e c e s s a r y d ia l ec t ic a l d e v e l o p m e n t o f a na b s t r a c t, n a i v e c o n c e p t i o n o f s e l f - a w a r e n e s s in t o o n e w h i c h e x p r e s s e s m o r ea d e q u a t e l y t h e t r u t h o f s e lf -c o n s c io u s n e ss . T h e m a s t e r - s l a v e p o r t i o n o f th isd i a le c t ic i s j u s t i f i a b l y t h e m o s t f a m o u s , i n l a rg e p a r t b e c a u s e o f t h e r i c h n e s s o fi ts a n a l y si s o f t h e f o u n d a t i o n s o f h u m a n r e l a t io n s h i p s , b u t a l so b e c a u s e th em o v e m e n t w h i c h i t u n d e r g o e s is a p a r ti c u la r l y c l e ar d e m o n s t r a t i o n o f t h eb a s ic s t r u c t u r e o f t h e d i a l ec t i c al p r o g r e s s i o n t h a t i s t o b e f o u n d t h r o u g h o u t

t h e w o r k . G i v e n s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s' n e e d f o r r e c o g n i t i o n , t h e e v e n t s w h i c hf o l l o w - - t h e f i g h t t o t h e d e a t h b e t w e e n t w o s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s e s , t h e e n s l a v e -m e n t o f o n e b y t h e o t h e r a n d t h e e v e n t u a l d i ss o l u ti o n o f t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p - -a r is e o u t o f o n e a n o t h e r i n a c o h e r e n t a n d p l a u si b le m a n n e r.

T h e p i c t u r e b e c o m e s l e ss c le a r, h o w e v e r , w h e n w e as k a b o u t t h e o r i g i n o ft h e n e e d f o r r e c o g n i t i o n i ts e lf . O n e s e e s t h a t it i s s o m e h o w d e r i v a t i v e o fd e s i r e i n g e n e r a l , b u t t h e o r i g i n o f d e s i r e i s i t s e lf n o l e s s m y s t e r i o u s . H o w i si t t h a t t h e c a p a c i t y f o r d e s i r e i s s u d d e n l y a t t r i b u t e d t o a s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s sw h i c h a t i ts i n c e p t i o n w a s n o t h i n g m o r e t h a n t h e c e r t a in t y t h a t i t w a s ? T h eo b j e c t i o n i s n o t t h a t a n a n a l y si s o f d e s i r e h a s n o p l a c e w i t h i n a t r e a t m e n t o fs e l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s b u t , r a t h e r, t h a t i ts i n t r o d u c t i o n i n t o t h e d i a l e c t i c is n o ta d e q u a t e l y g r o u n d e d a n d t h a t , c o n s e q ue n t l y, H e g e l is d e c e i v in g u s - - a n d

h i m s e l f as w e l l - - w i t h h i s c l a i m to b e d o i n g a r i g o r o u s a n d p r e s u p p o s i t i o n l e s sp h e n o m e n o l o g y. I t is o f n o h e l p t o e x p l a in t h e o c c u r r e n c e o f d e s ir e i n t h ea n a ly s i s a s s i m p l y a n e x p r e s s i o n o f H e g e l ' s v i ew t h a t h u m a n c o n s c i o u s n e s s isa lw a y s e m b o d i e d a n d h e n c e i n c a p a b l e o f b e in g f u ll y u n d e r s t o o d i n ab s tr a c -

[243]

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244 J O U R N A L O F T H E H I S T O R Y O F P H I L O S O P H Y

tion fro m its appetitive activities. This is, of course, a fine view for Hegel to

hold, but he must argue for its truth, especially in light of the strong claimsof rigor which he makes for his analysis. If we are to take Hegel seriously,then, we must attempt to find this rigor which he thought belonged to thedialectic; in the case at hand, we must set out on the search for a deduct ionof desire.

We e ncou nte r ou r first obstacle in posing the task itself, for it is not imme-diately evident what would fulfill our demand for a deduction. The term'sconnect ion with syllogistic rea soning comes to mind first, but the Phenomenol-0gy is obviously not a concat enati on of statemen ts which follow logically fro man opening set of premises. Still, in our initial conception of what mightconstitute a deduct ion it is only natural to retain this notion of followingfrom and, given the story-like character of the Phenomenologyto think ofsome state of affairs as ded uce d if it necessarily follows from --i s an inevit-able result of--that which has gone before it. Deduction, according to thisview, would be a forward movement of the dialectic, an unfolding of eventsone out of anothe r. In this sense the life-risking fight between future masterand slave, for example, could be said to be deduced because it follows fromthe need for recognition and various other factors which have already beenestablished within the course o f the dialectic. We cannot, of course, pret end tohave hereby eliminated all of the imprecision in our notion of deduction, butwe shall set aside these worries for now in the hope of attaining a clearerpicture of what we are after as we engage in the search itself.

Koj~ve is one commentator who explicitly addresses the question at handbut, as we shall see, fails to give a satisfactory answer. According to Koj~ve,desire is necessary in Hegel' s analysis because it serves a particular purpose;namely, it contributes to the satisfaction of the hum an self's need for internalintegrity. Desire is what brings the merel y cognitive consciousness out of theworld of objects back to itsel f --it is what makes it aware o f itself as a subjectand enables it to f orm the concept 'I'. 1 Koj~ve's view does indeed corr espondto Hegel's own words in the passage of the Phenomenologywhere desire isintr oduce d: [The] antithesis of its [self-consciousness'] appear ance and itstruth has, however, for its essence only the truth, viz. the unity of self-con-sciousness with itself; this unity must become essential to self-consciousness,i.e. self -consciousness is Desirein general. ' This might be an accurate pheno-

' A lexandre Ko j~ve ,Introduction to the Reading of Hegel,t rans . , Jame s H . Nichols , J r. , ed .Al lan Bloom (New York : Basic Books, 1969) , 3 . G. W. F. Hegel ,Pl~no mo~ logie des Geistes(he rea f t e rPhG ,08 o 7 , Le ipz ig: Fe l ix Me ine r

Ver l ag , i 9 ~ l ) , x x6 -aT. D iese r Gegensa t z s e ine r E r sche inu ng und se ine r Wah rhe i t ha t abe rnur die Wahr hei t , n l~mlich die Einhe i t des Selbs tbewusstse ins mit s ich se lbs t , zu se inem W esen;d i e se muss ibm wesend ich werden d .h . e s i s tBegierdefibe rha upt. Eng lish trans., Phenomeno/ogyof Spirit,t rans . A. V. Mil ler (Ox ford : Cla ren don Press , 1977) , lo 5 .

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m e n o l o g i c a l d e s c r i p t i o n o f h o w s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s e x p e r i e n c e s d e s i r e -- - a s fu l -

f il li n g i ts q u e s t f o r i n t e g r a t i o n m b u t i t c a n n o t b e c o n s t r u e d a s a d e d u c t i o n o fd e s i re . I t s l in e o f a rg u m e n t i s t e l e o lo g i c a l -- - d e s ir e is t h e r e t o s e r v e a p a r t i c u l a rp u r p o s e - - - a n d w e c o u l d n o t a c c e p t i t w i t h o u t f i r s t e x p l a i n i n g w h y s e l f - c o n -sc iousness seek s to a t t a in th i s un i ty wi th in i t se l f, s

K o j t v e , i n f a c t , r e a li z e s t h a t h i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n i m p l i e s a la c k o f r i g o r i nH e g e l ' s a n a l y s i s . I n t h e e n d , t h e r e i s f o r h i m n o t h i n g w i t h i n t h e d i a l e c t i c o fs e l f - c o n sc i o u s n e s s w h i c h c a n j u s t i f y i n a s t r o n g s e n s e t h e a p p e a r a n c e o fd e s ir e . R a t h e r , t h e c o n c e p t o f d e s i re i s i m p o s e d u p o n t h e a n al y si s f ro mo u t s i d e o f t h e d i al e c ti c s i m p l y b e c a u s e w i t h o u t i t H e g e l w o u l d b e u n a b l e t ot a k e u s a n y f a r t h e r d o w n t h e p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l p a t h . D e s i r e is f o r K o j ~ vea n i r r e d u c i b l e g i v e n w h i c h t h ePhenomenology t a k e s a s o n e o f i t s p r e m i s e s .T h e r e i s n o t i n a n y s t ri c t se n s e , t h e n , a d e d u c t i o n o f d e s i r e : T h e m u l t i p l ic -

i ty o f D e s i r e s i s j u s t a s ' u n d e d u c i b l e ' a s t h e f a c t o f D e s i r e i t se l f.T Now i t i sc l e a r t h a t K o j ~ v e ' s p o s i t i o n o n t h i s p o i n t i s n o t i n t e n d e d a s a c r i t i c i s m o fH e g e l ; h e t h in k s t h a t t h e p r e s u p p o s i t i o n is a r e a s o n a b l e o n e a n d s h o u l d b ea c c e p t e d . B u t t h is v i e w c l a s h e s s o b l a t a n t l y w i t h H e g e l ' s i n s is t e n c e t h a t t h ed i a l e c t i c , o n c e b e g u n , c o n t i n u e s t o u n f o l d o n i t s o w n , c o m p l e t e l y i n d e p e n -d e n t o f a n y nstoss f r o m w i t h o u t , t h a t w e m u s t r e c o g n i z e i t a s a n i n t e r p r e t a -t i o n q u i t e f a r f r o m H e g e l ' s o w n c o n c e p t i o n o f h is p r o j e c t . 5

B e f o r e w e r e st c o n t e n t w i t h s u c h a n i n t e rp r e t a t io n , h o w e v e r , w e m u s tm a k e o u r o w n a t t e m p t t o f i n d a r i g o r o u s j u s ti f ic a t io n f o r t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o fd e s i r e . I n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h o u r i n it i al n o t i o n o f d e d u c t i o n w e s h al l b e g i n t h es e a r ch b y e x a m i n i n g t h e m o v e m e n t t h a t p r e c e d e s d e s i r e i n t he d i a l ec t ic a n dw h i c h t h e r e f o r e p r e s u m a b l y s e ts t h e s t a g e f o r it s a p p e a r a n c e . T h e t a s k a th a n d i s n o t t o d e m o n s t r a t e t h e n e c e s s i t y o p e r a t i n g i n th e w h o l e d ia l e c t icp r i o r t o t h e a p p e a r a n c e o f d e si r e b u t r a t h e r t o p o i n t o u t t h e r i g o r i n v ol v e di n t h e m o v e m e n t i n w h i c h t h e e a r l i e s t a n d s i m p l e s t c o n f i g u r a t i o n o f se l f-c o n s c i o u s n e s s a t t ai n s a m o r e c o n c r e t e s e l f - c o n c e p t b y c o m i n g t o s e e it s e l f a s ad e s i r i n g b e i n g . S til l, w e c o u l d n o t e x p e c t to u n d e r s t a n d t h e a p p e a r a n c e o fd e s i re b y j u m p i n g s u d d e n l y i n to t h e m i d d l e o f t h e d i a le c ti c ; w e n e e d , r a t h e r ,s o m e c o m p r e h e n s i o n o f t h e t r a n si t io n i n w h ic h c o n sc i o u s n es s a s u n d e r s t a n d -i n g b e c o m e s s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s .

C o n s c i o u sn e s s a s u n d e r s t a n d i n g c o m e s i n to b e i n g b e c a u s e o f th e i n a b il it y

s T h e i s s u e o f t e l e o l o g i c a l a rg u m e n t a t i o n i n t h ePhenomenologys n o t , o f c o u r se , e x h a u s t e db y t h is b r i e f r e m a r k ; r a t h e r , i t i s a n i s s u e t o w h i c h w e s h a ll n e e d t o r e t u r n . S e e ~ 5 o - 5 1 .

4 Ko j6ve , 39 -4o .5 C h a r l e s Ta y l o r , t o o , s e e m s n o t t o b e l i e v e t h a t t h e r e i s a n y d e d u c t i o n o f d e s i r e i n t h ePhenomen0/~g). In egelC a m b r i d g e : C a m b r i d g e U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s, 1 9 7 5 ), 1 5 o , h e w r i t es : H e r ei s w h e r e t h e f a m o u s H e g e l i a n a n a l y s is o f d e s i r e st a rt s , w i t h o u t s h o w i n g h o w o r w h y d e s i rec o m e s u p a t t h i s p o i n t. T h i s i s, o f c o u r s e , c o n s i s te n t w i t h h i s v i ew t h a t t h e a rg u m e n t s i n

S e l f -C o n s c i o us n e s s d o n o t h a v e t h e f o r c e o f o n t o l o g i c a l d i a le c t ic s b u t o n l y t h a t o f s t r o n gplaus ib i l i ty ( ~ 16-1 7) .

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~4 6 J O U R N L O F T H E H I S T O RY O F P H I L O S O P H Y

o f p e r c e p t i o n t o a c c o u n t f o r t h e t h e o b j e c t s p e r c e i v e s . I n r e s t r i c t i n g i t s e l f

o n l y t o w h a t i t r e c e i v e s f r o m t h e s e n s e s , p e r c e p t i o n c a n n o t a c c o u n t f o r t h eu n i t y o f it s o b j ec t s; th e y r e m a i n , r a t h e r , m e r e u n c o n n e c t e d b u n d l e s o fp e r c e p t i o n s . U n d e r s t a n d i n g c o m e s o n th e s c e n e w h e n c o n s c i ou s n e s s a t tr i-b u t e s t o t h e o b j e c t s o f e x p e r i e n c e a u n i f y i n g f o r c e , a l o c u s o f c a u s a lb a c k g r o u n d ''6 w h i c h c o m b i n e s u n c o n n e c t e d p e r c e p t i o n s i n to c o h e s i ve w h o l e sb y p o s i t i n g a n e c e s s a r y r e l a t i o n a m o n g a th i n g ' s p r o p e r t i e s . S i n c e th i s u n i t yi t se l f i s no tf o u n d w i t h i n s e n s e e x p e r i e n c e , h o w e v e r, c o n s c i o u s n e s s c o m e s t os e e i t a s i ts o w n c o n t r i b u t i o n t o r e a li t y. T h e r e a l i z a ti o n t h a t c o n s c i o u s n e s s isn o t m e r e l y a p a s s iv e , r e c e p t i v e m e m b e r o f t h e s u b j e c t - o b j e c t r e l a t i o n s h i pm a r k s t h e b i r t h o f s e l f- c o n s c i o u s n e ss . H a v i n g s e e n t h a t a n y a c c o u n t o fk n o w l e d g e m u s t c o n s i d e r t h e s u b j e c t 's in v o l v e m e n t , t o o , c o n s c i o u s n e s s s h i ft st h e d i r e c t i o n o f it s i n q u i r y a w a y f r o m t h e e x t e r n a l o b j e c t t o w a r d s i ts e lf .

F r o m t h i s e x p e r i e n c e , h o w e v e r, s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s h a s l e a r n e d v e r y l it tl ea b o u t i t s e lf ; i t k n o w s i t s e l f o n l y a s t h e f o r m a l o rg a n i z e r o f it s o w n r e p r e s e n -t a t io n s . A t t h e s a m e t i m e , b e c a u s e o f it s r o l e a s t h e u n i f y i n g a n d s t r u c t u r e -i m p o s i n g a g e n t o f e x p e r i e n c e , i t s e e s i t s e lf a s f u n d a m e n t a l t o k n o w l e d g e ,w h i l e t h e o b j e c t o f w h i c h i t i s c o n s c i o u s b e c o m e s s e c o n d a r y t o it , o r m e r ea p p e a r a n c e . T h e n e c e ss i ty o f th i s m o v e i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f c on s c i ou s n e s sr e m a i n s u n d e m o n s t r a t e d h e r e ; r a t h e r , i t i s t h e m o v e m e n t p r o c e e d i n g f r o mt h i s i ni t ia l c o n f i g u r a t i o n o f s e l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s w h i c h w e s ha l l a t t e m p t t om a k e c o h e r e n t i n a w a y t h a t m e a s u r e s u p t o H e g e l ' s c l ai m o f r ig o r a n dnecess i ty.

T h e a t t e m p t t o fi n d n e c e s si t y w i t h in s o m e f o r w a r d m o v e m e n t o f t h ed i a le c t i c m u s t t a k e t h e c o n c e p t o f li f e a s t h e m o s t li k e ly c a n d i d a t e f o r th es o u r c e o f t h i s ri g o r, s i n c e it is w h a t i n t e r v e n e s b e t w e e n t h e s t a n c e o f m e r e l yabs t rac t se l f -consc iousness and se l f -consc iousness as des i re . S ince ' des i re ' i sa c t u a l ly m e n t i o n e d b e f o r e ' li f e' i n t h e c h a p t e r o n s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e ss , i t m i g h ts e e m t h a t t h e p h e n o m e n o n o f d e s ir e p r e c e d e s l i fe i n th e d i a le c ti c, b u t t h isi l lu s i o n is d i s p e l l e d w h e n o n e r e a li z e s t h a t H e g e l ' s r e f e r e n c e t o d e s i r e i n t h eb e g i n n i n g o f t h e c h a p t e r i s o n l y a p a r t o f o n e o f h i s c h a r a c t e ri s t ic p r e v i e w si n w h i c h h e p o i n t s o u t t o u s h o w t h e a c t io n is g o i n g to u n f o l d . F u r t h e r -m o r e , l i f e ar i s es a l r e a d y w i t h i n t h e e x p e r i e n c e o f c o n s c i o u s n e s s w h e n t h el a w s p o s i t e d b y u n d e r s t a n d i n g t o e x p l a i n r e a l i t y a r e s e e n t o e x h i b i t a st r u c-t u r e o f i n f i n i ty - - - o f i n t e r n a l s e l f - d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n - - w h i c h i s a l s o c h a r a c t e r is t i co f l if e i ts e lf . T h e l a w o f g r a v i t a t io n , f o r e x a m p l e , d e p e n d s u p o n d i s t i nc t a n di n s e p a r a b l e o p p o s i n g(entgegengesetzte)f a c t o r s ( s p a c e a n d t i m e , d i s t a n c e a n dve loc i ty ) , bu t i t i s e s sen t i a l ly a un i ty, a whole in which i t s in te rna l d i ffe rences

6 Charles Taylor, The Opening Arguments of thePhenoraenology,in Hegel: A Collection ofCritical Essays,ed. Alasdair Ma cIntyre (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Anch or, 197 a), 175.

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a r e u n i f i e d a n d o n l y t h e n a t t a i n a s i g n i f i c a n c e t h a t t r a n s c e n d s t h i s d i s t i n c t -

n e s s: E x a m i n i n g t h e s p a ti a l a n d t e m p o r a l p r o p e r t i e s o f a n e v e n t r e m a i n s am e r e d e s c r i p t i o n o f i s o la t e d , u n c o n n e c t e d a s p e c t s o f r e a l it y e x c e p t in t h ec o n t e x t o f a l a w, w h e r e w e s t i l l d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e n s p a c e a n d t i m e b u tw h e r e w e s e e t h e m a s i n s e p a r a b l y r e l a t e d t o e a c h o t h e r i n a sp e c i fi c m a n n e r.I n f i ni t y a s t h e u n i t y o f o p p o s e d f a c t o r s p r o v i d e s t h e m o d e l a c c o r d i n g t ow h i c h c h a n g e c a n b e c o n c e p t u a l i z e d m i t is s i m p ly t h e m o v e m e n t w i t h in as i ng l e , u n i t a r y e n t i t y f r o m o n e s t a t e t o it s o p p o s i t e - - a n d c h a n g e i s s e e n t o b ea n i n d i s p e n s a b l e e l e m e n t i n t h e c o n c e p t o f l if e . H e n c e i t i s t h is v e r y s a m es t r u c t u r e w h i c h a c c o u n t s f o r t h e d y n a m i s m o f li fe , f o r li fe i s n o t m e r e l y ap a r t i c u l a r l i vi n g b e i n g b u t , r a t h e r, l i fe i n g e n e r a l m a t o ta l it y, a p r o c e s s i nc o n s t a n t f l u x w h i c h e m b r a c e s a l l l i v i n g i n d i v i d u a l s a s t h e y r e p r o d u c e a n dd i e , a s t h e y i n t e r a c t i n m u t u a l e x c h a n g e , b o t h a m o n g t h e m s e l v e s a n d w i t ht h e i n o r g a ni c e l e m e n t s o f t h e i r e n v i r o n m e n t .

T h u s , i n t h e c o u r s e o f it s e x p e r i e n c e c o n s c i o u s n e s s h a s c o m e t o r e a li z et h a t i t s o b j e c t i s m o r e c o m p l e x t h a n i t h a d o r i g i n a l l y s u s p e c t e d . T h e o b j e c ti t s e lf h a s c h a n g e d f r o m a n i n e r t b e i n g i n t o o n e t h a t is a l iv e : T h r o u g h t h isr e f l e c ti o n i n t o i t s e l f t h e o b j e c t h a s b e c o m e L i f e . '7 T h i s d o e s n o t m e a n t h a tc o n s c i o u s n e s s n o w d i r e c t s i ts a t t e n t i o n o n l y t o li v in g o b j e c ts b u t r a t h e r t h a tc o n s c i o u s n e s s n o w c o m e s t o v i e w t h e e n t i r e w o r l d a s a li v e. E v e r y t h i n g i s se e na s t a k in g p a r t i n a c o m p l i c a t e d w e b o f i n t e r d e p e n d e n t r e la t io n s h ip s , w h i c h ism a d e p o s s i b l e b y t h e n e e d o f l iv i n g o rg a n i s m s t o i n te r a c t w i t h w h a t i s o u t -s i d e t h e m . T h i s p r i m i t i v e s t a g e o fse l f - consc iousness ,h o w e v e r , d o e s n o t s e et h e s p h e r e o f l i fe a s c o n n e c t e d w i t h i t s e lf b u t i s a w a r e o n l y o f t h e a n t i t h e si so f s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s a n d l if e . I t s e e s i t s e lf a s c o m p l e t e l y i n d i v i d u a l a n ds e l f- c o n ta i n e d, i n d e p e n d e n t o f t h e e x c h a n g e s w i th t h e e n v i r o n m e n t a n dw i t h o t h e r b e i n g s w h i c h a r e c h a r a c t e r i st i c o f l if e . I t b e l i e v e s i t s e lf to b e ap u r e , d i s e m b o d i e d c o n s c i o u s n e s s , a n e n t i t y t h a t i s w h o l l y a n d i m m e d i a t e l yf o r i ts e l f a n d w h i c h i s s u p e r i o r t o li fe , n o t o n l y b e c a u s e i t e x i st s w i t h o u t t h e

a t t a c h m e n t t o o t h e r s t h a t l i fe d e p e n d s u p o n , b u t a l s o b e c a u s e i t, i n c o n t r a s tto li f e , i s aw are o f i t se lf : Se l f -consc io usness i s theun i ty for whichthe in f in i t eun i ty o f the d i ffe ren ces i s ; the l a t t e r [ li fe ] , how ev er, / s on ly th i s un i ty i t se lf ,s o th a t i t is n o t a t t h e s a m e t i m efor itself. 8

T h e m o d e o f r e l a t i n g t o t h e w o r l d t h a t c o r r e s p o n d s t o s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s 'v iew of i t se l f a s e ssen t i a l whi le i t s ob jec t i s me re ly fo r it i s s im ply tha t o fd e s i r e : s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s a t t e m p t s t o o b j e c t i f y i ts v ie w o f t h e n u l l it y o f t h eo b j e c t b y s e e k i n g i t o u t a n d c o n s u m i n g i t . D e s i r e a p p e a r s , t h e n , a t t h a t p o i n t

P h G 117 . E r i s t d u r c h d i e se Re f l ex ion i n s ichLebengew orden . Mi l l e r t ran s . , l o6 .s PhG 117. . . . d i e s e r B e g r i f tentzweits i ch i n d e n G e g e n s a t z d e s S e l b s tb e w u s s ts e i n s u n d

d e s L e b e n s : j e n e s d i e E i n h e i t , f / i r w e/c he d i e u n e n d l i c h e E i n h e i t d e r U n t e r s c h i e d e i s t ; d ie s e s a b e r/ st nu r d i e se E in h e i t s e lb s t, s o d a s s s ie n i ch t zug l e i chfa r sich selbsti s t . Mi l le r t rans . , 1o6.

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948 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSO PHY

o f t h e d i a l e c t i c w h e r e t h e f a l s e n e s s o f s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s c o n s i s t s i n t h e f a c t

t h a t i t s e e s i t s o p p o s i t i o n t o l i f e w i t h o u t r e c o g n i z i n g i t s e s s e n t i a l c o n n e c t i o nt o i t. W e c a n s e e t h a t t h e g u l f w h i c h s e p a r a t e s t h e t w o is o f c r i ti c a l i m p o r-t a n c e , f o r a s l o n g a s i t r e m a i n s u n s p a n n e d , s e l f- c o n s c io u s n e s s w i ll n o t b e a b l et o c o m e t o t h e r e a l i z a t i o n t h a t i t, t o o , e x h i b i t s t h e i n f i n i t e s t r u c t u r e o f l i f e( t h e u n i t a r y s e l f- c o n s c io u s n e s s w h i c h i s s p li t i n t o t w o m u t u a l l y r e c o g n i z i n gs e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s e s ) - - a r e a l i z a t i o n w h i c h i s e s s e n t i a l i n v ie w o f t h e f a c t t h a ti t i s t h e s a m e s t r u c t u r e w h i c h w i l l c h a r a c t e r i z e s p i r i t a s w e l l. T h e i m p o r t a n c eo f d e s i r e b e c o m e s e v i d e n t , t h e n , w h e n w e s e e t h a t i t is p r e ci s el y w h a t isc a p a b l e o f b r i d g i n g t h i s g a p , f o r s e l f- c o n s c io u s n e s s' b e h a v i o r a s a d e s i r i n gb e i n g - - a n d t h e d e s t r u c t io n o f t h e o b j ec t w h i ch t h is a tt i t u d e i m p l i e s - - m a k e s

t r u e i ts v ie w o f t h e o b j e c t, b u t a t t h e s a m e t i m e b r i n g s t o l i g h t i ts c o n n e c -t i o n t o t h e r e a l m o f l i fe . B y o b j e c t i f y i n g i n t h e w o r l d i t s a t t i t u d e t o w a r d s i t so b j e c t , s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s c a n n o l o n g e r i g n o r e i t s e s s e n t i a l r e l a t i o n s h i p t ol i f e ; i t i s f o r c e d t o r e c o g n i z e t h a t i t , t o o , p a r t i c i p a t e s i n t h e d i s q u i e t a n df l u i d it y o f t h e l iv i n g w o r l d .

N o w, h o w e v e r , w e m u s t r e t u r n t o t h e m a i n s t r e a m o f o u r t as k a n d a s k w h a tw e h a v e g a i n e d f r o m t hi s e x a m i n a t i o n o f li fe th a t c o u l d h e l p u s u n d e r s t a n dh o w d e s i r e c a n b e s e e n a s a n e c e s s a r y s t e p i n t h e d i a l ec t i c . W e s e e a t o n c e t h a tl if e c a n n o t b e c o n s t r u e d a s a k i n d o f p r e c u r s o r t o d e s ir e n o r a s a s t e p p i n gs t o n e w h i c h l e a d s f r o m n a i v e s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s t o s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s a s d e -s ir e . T h e r e l a t i o n s h i p i s n o t a s im p l e l i n e a r p r o g r e s s i o n i n w h i c h t h e f o r m e rs o m e h o w l e a d s t o l i f e w h i c h i n t u r n b e c o m e s d e s i r e . R a t h e r , s e l f - c o n s c i o u s -n e s s a n d l i fe a r e tw o d i st i n c t p h e n o m e n a w h i c h a p p e a r o n t h e s c e n e s i m u l ta -n e o u s l y, w i t h d e s i r e b e i n g t h e m o m e n t t h a t m e d i a t e s b e t w e e n t h e m . T h ej u s t i f ic a t i o n f o r t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f d e s i r e c a n t h e r e f o r e n o t b e t h a t i t s o m e -h o w d e v e l o p s o u to fl if e , a s o u r s t r a t e g y o f lo o k i n g f o r r i g o r w i t h i n a f o r w a r dm o v e m e n t o f t h e d i al e ct ic w o u l d im p l y. We c a n p e r h a p s u n d e r s t a n d t h efunct iont h a t d e s i r e s e r v e s i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f s e l f- c o n s c io u s n e s s o n c e it ist h e r e , b u t w h e r e d o e s t h i s d e s i r e c o m e f r o m ? H o w is i t t h a t w e a r e j u s t i f ie d i na t t r ib u t i n g t o c o n sc i o us n e ss a n e n t ir e l y n e w d i m e n s i o n - - t h a t o f h a v i n g d e -s i r es - - -w h e n u n t i l n o w w c h a v e k n o w n i t o n l y a s a c o g n it i v e a g e n t ?

T h e a t t e m p t t o s h o w t h a t d e si r e c an b e d e r i v e d i n t h e m a n n e r w e o r ig i n a ll ye n v i s io n e d h a s f a il e d. R a t h e r t h a n a b a n d o n o u r p r o je c t, h o w e v e r , w e m i g h ta s k w h e t h e r d e d u c t i o n i n t h ehenomenolo~yis to b e f o u n d o n l y in a t y p e o ff o r w a r d m o v e m e n t , o r w h e t h e r t h e r e is a se n s e in w h i c h w e m i g h t be a b le t o

l e a r n f r o m b a c k w a r d m o t i o n a s w e ll . We m i g h t , f o r e x a m p l e , n o t e m p l o y a na r g u m e n t w h i c h i n v o lv e s a w o r k i n g o u t o f t h econsequenceso f c e r t a i n c i r c u m -s t a n c e s , b u t i n v e s t i g a t e i n s t e a d t h econditionso possibilityo f t h o s e c i r c u m -s t a n c e s . T h i s t a c t i c o f a r g u i n g t r a n s c e n d e n t a l l y i s p r e c i s e l y K a n t ' s s t r a t e g yw h e n h e t r ie s t o e s t ab l i sh t h e e x i s te n c e o f a t r a n s c e n d e n t a l s e l f a s th e a p r i o r i

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D E D U C I N G D E S IR E A N D R E C O G N I T I O N 2 4 9

o rg a n i z e r o f e x p e r i e n c e b y s h o w i n g t h a t s u c h a s t r u c t u r e i s n e c e s s a r y i n o r d e r

t o m a k e p o s s ib l e t h e u n i t y o f e x p e ri e n c e . T h e f o r c e w h i c h t hi s a r g u m e n tp o s s e s s e s - - a n d t hi s is t r u e f o r a ll t r a n s c e n d e n t a l a r g u m e n t s - - d e r i v e s f r o mt h e f a c t t h a t t h a t w h i c h i s t o b e e x p l a i n e d ( in t h is c a se , t h e u n i t y o f e x p e r i e n c e )is a p u t a t i v e l y u n d e n i a b l e f a c e t o f o u r e x p e r i e n c e . 9 S i n c e o n e c a n n o t a s s e n tt o a c e r t a i n d e s c r i p t i o n o f a f e a t u r e o f r e a li t y a n d a t t h e s a m e t i m e d e n y t h ec o n d i t i o n s w h i c h m a k e t h a t s t a t e o f a f f a i r s po s s ib l e , w e m u s t a d m i t t h a t t h o s ec o n d i t i o n s a r e j u s t a s u n d e n i a b l e a s t h a t f a c e t o f re a l i ty w h i c h t h e y a c c o u n tfor.

H o w m i g h t t h i s s t ra t e g y b e a p p l i e d i n t h e d e d u c t i o n o f d e s i re ? A t t h e e n do f F o r c e a n d t h e U n d e r s t a n d i n g w e fi n d c o n s c io u s n e ss h a v i n g j u s t g o n et h r o u g h s e v e ra l u n s u c c e s s f u l a t t e m p t s t o a t ta i n a n a d e q u a t e k n o w l e g e o f th eo b j e c t iv e w o r l d . I n S e l f - C o n s c i o u s n e s s w e m i g h t t u r n o u r a t t e n t i o n t o

t h o s e c o g n i t iv e e n d e a v o r s t h e m s e l v e s a n d s e a r c h f o r t h e i r c o n d it i o n s , a s k i n gw h a t m u s t b e t r u e o f a s u b j e c t w h i c h e n g a g e s i n s u c h qu e s t s f o r k n o w l e d g e .We m i g h t a r g u e , f o r e x a m p l e , t h a t t h e a t t e m p t t o k n o w ca n b e s u b s u m e du n d e r t h e m o r e g e n e r a l c a t e g o r y o f h u m a n a c ti vi ty. N e x t , w e m i g h t t r y t oe s t a b li s h t h a t a l l s u c h h u m a n a c t iv i ti e s a r e g o a l - o r i e n t e d a n d t h e n t h a t t h en o t i o n o f g o a l is i n c o h e r e n t w i t h o u t p r e s u p p o s i n g s o m e s o r t o f d e s ir e o n . t h ep a r t o f t h e a c t i n g s u b j e c t . H e n c e , w e c o u l d c o n c l u d e t h a t t h e s u b j e c t w h i c ha t t empts to know i s a l so necessa r i ly a des i r ing sub jec t , no t because i t s a t -t e m p t s t o k n o w s o m e h o w l e a d i t t o h a v e d e s i r e s a s w e ll , b u t r a t h e r b e c a u s ei ts c o g n i ti v e a c t iv i t y p r e s u p p o s e s a p p e t i t i o n a s it s c o n d i t i o n : T h e a t t e m p t t ok n o w i s p o s s i b l e o n l y f o r a b e i n g w h i c h c a n d e s i r e t o k n o w. A s s u m i n g t h e s ei n f e r e n c e s t o b e s o u n d , w e c o u l d c l a i m t o h a v e d e d u c e d d e s i re i n t h e q u i t es t r o n g s e n se t h a t a n y o n e w h o s a w c o n s c i ou s n e s s a s k n o w i n g m a n d t hi s w eh a v e i m p l i c it l y a c c e p t e d s i n c e t h e d i a l e c ti c 's b e g i n n i n g - - m u s t a d m i t t h a t it i sa l s o n e c e s s a ri l y a b e i n g o f d e s i r e .

T h i s s k e t c h o f a p o s s i b le t r a n s c e n d e n t a l d e d u c t i o n o f d e s i re is n o t a ni m p l a u si b l e s o l u t io n t o t h e p r o b l e m o f h o w H e g e l c a n l e gi ti m a t el y i n t r o d u c et h e f a c t o r o f d e s i r e i n t o t h e d i a l ec t ic . T h e p r o b l e m is o n l y t h a t t h e r e i s n ot e x t u a l e v i d e n c e t o i n d i c a t e t h a t t h is p a r t i c u l a r a rg u m e n t w a s w h a t H e g e lh a d i n m i n d . L e t u s t h e r e f o r e c o n s i d e r a n o t h e r a t t e m p t t o d e d u c e d e s i r et r a n s c e n d en t a l l y w h i c h i s n o t s o i m p r o b a b l e f r o m t h e p e r sp e c t i ve o f t h e t e x titself.

A s w e h a v e s e e n , s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s a r i s e s w h e n c o n s c i o u s n e s s , b y m e a n so f th e c o n t r a d i c t i o n s i n h e r e n t w i t h i n i ts a t t e m p t s t o k n o w, c o m e s to a n

9 Ta y l o r , O p e n i n g A rg u m e n t s , 1 5 1. Ta y l o r ' s g o al h e r e i s t o i n t e r p r e t t h e d i a le c t ic o f C o n -sc io u sn e s s a s a s e r i e s o f t r a n s cen den t a l a rgu me n t s . I t is t h i s s t r a t egy wh ich sugges t s t he ba s i ca p p r o a c h o f t h i s p a p e r , w h i c h a i m s t o d o t h e s a m e f o r t h e a rg u m e n t s o f S e l f -C o n s c i ou s n e s s.

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2 5 J O U R N A L O F T H E H I S TO RY O F P H I L O S O P H Y

a w a r e n e s s o f i ts e l f a s p l a y i n g a r o l e in t h e p r o c e s s o f c o g n it i o n . B u t t h e

in i ti a l ce r t a in ty o f th i s se l f -consc iousness - -- i t s idea o f w ha t i t i tse l f is -- -i s s ti lln a i v e a n d i n c o m p l e t e , f o r i t e n v is i o n s i t se l f a s e m p t y a n d a b s t r a c t, a s s o m e -t h i n g m e r e l y f o r m a l w h i c h i m p o s e s a c e r ta i n u n i t y u p o n i ts e x p e r i e n c e s a n dn e c e s s i t a t e s t h a t t h e ' I ' a l w a y s r e c o g n i z e t h e m a s b e l o n g i n g t o i t s e l f . I fv i e w e d o u t s i d e t h e c o n t e x t o f h o w s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s c o m e s t o f i n d th i s o u ta b o u t i t s e l f , t h e r e i s n o t h i n g w h i c h o n e c o u l d a d d u c e t o a rg u e a g a i n s t t h i sc o n c e p t i o n o f t h e s e l f . F u r t h e r m o r e , s i n ce t h e r e i s, s t ri c tl y s p e a k i n g , n o t h i n gf a l se a b o u t i t, i t i s d i f f ic u l t t o s e e h o w a c o n t r a d i c t i o n c o u l d a r i s e w i t h in

t h is m o d e o f s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s w h i c h w o u l d s t i m u l a t e a n o t h e r d i a l e c ti c a ld e v e l o p m e n t o f se l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s ' v i e w o f it s el f. I t i s o n l y w e w h o , h a v i n gw o r k e d t h r o u g h t h e m o v e m e n t o f c o ns c i ou s n e ss , c a n b e s h o w n t h a t t hi s v i ewis i n a d e q u a t e , f o r i t s s t at i c f o r m u l a t i o n l e a v e s o u t t h e h i s t o ry o f it s k n o w l -e d g e o f i t s e l f - - i t i g n o r e s t h e f a c t t h a t t h is s e l f - k n o w l e d g e i s n o t o r i g in a l a n dp r i m a r y b u t r a t h e r i s d e r i v e d f r o m t h e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s i t u n d e r w e n t a sm e r e c o n s c i o u s n e s s ; t h a t i s , i t i g n o r e s t h e r o l e w h i c h t h e o b j e c t h a s p l a y e d i nc o m i n g t o a n a w a r e n e s s o f it se l f. T h e s i g n if i c a n ce o f t h e o b j e c t f o r s e l f- c o n -s c i o u s n e s s , h o w e v e r, i s q u i t e d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h e r o l e i t p l a y e d f o r c o n s c i o u s -n e s s . F r o m t h e p o i n t o f v ie w o f t h e l a t t e r, k n o w l e d g e i s c o n c e i v e d o f a sw h o l l y o b j e c t - c e n t e r e d . F o r s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e ss , h o w e v e r, t h e o b j e c t is n ol o n g e r o f s u p r e m e i m p o r t a n c e , a s e v i d e n c e d b y t h e f a c t th a t i t t a k es n oa c c o u n t o f t h e o b j e c t i n i t s i n i da l a t t e m p t s a t s e l f - u n d e r s t a n d i n g . I t s s i gn i fi -c a n c e , r a t h e r, i s o f a n e g a t i v e s o r t: I t i s n e c e s s a r y a s a k i n d o f c o n t r a s t i n gb a c k g r o u n d i n r e l a t i o n t o w h i c h s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s g e t s a p i c t u r e o f it se l f. I no t h e r w o r d s , i n o r d e r t o p o s i t t h e ' I ' a s a n e n t i t y, s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s m u s t b ea w a r e o f s o m e t h i n g w h i c h i s ' n o t - I ' t h a t s e r v e s t o d e l i m i t t h e t h i n g b e i n gd e f i n e d . B e i n g a w a r e o f t hi s o t h e r n e s s , h o w e v e r, is i m p o s s i b l e o n a m e r e l ycogn i t ive l eve l . I f I r e l a te mere ly cogn i t ive ly to a wi ld an imal , fo r example , Im a y p e r c e i v e i t o r f o r m s o m e a b s t ra c t c o n c e p t o f it , b u t t h e a n i m a l a sp e r c e p t o r c o n c e p t b e c o m e sy r e p r e s e n t a t i o n ; i t i s n o l es s f o r m e o ro u t s i d e o f m y c o n s c i o u s n e s s t h a n m y o w n t h o u g h t s o r f e e l i n gs - -- i t i s n o tr e a ll y a n o t h e r. I t i s o n l y w h e n I c a rr y o u t t h e s a m e p r o c e d u r e o n a ne x p e r i e n t i a l l e v e l - - w h e n I t r y t o m a k e t h e a n i m a l r e a l ly f o r m e b y a t -t e m p t i n g t o c o n s u m e i t - - t h a t I fi rs t e n c o u n t e r t h e o t h e r n e s s o f t h e a n im a l .I t i s f ro m i t s th re a te n in g snar l , i ts a t t e mp ts to f l ee - - -i t s r e s i s t ance ing e n e r a l - - t h a t I le a r n t h a t i t i s s o m e t h i n g o t h e r t h a n m y s e lf . T h e e x p e r i e n c eo f t h e o t h e r w h i c h i s n e c e s s a r y f o r s e l f -a w a r e n e s s , t h e n , c a n n o t b e a m e r ec o g n i z i n g o f o t h e r n e s s ; i t m u s t a t t h e s a m e t i m e b e a s u p e r s e s s i o n o f t h eo t h e r, a n a t t e m p t t o m a k e t h e o t h e r e x i s t f o r s e l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s i n a c o n -c r e t e , o b j e c t i v e m a n n e r . F o r a m e r e l y c o g n i t i v e s u b j e c t , h o w e v e r, t h e r e i s n om o t i v a t i o n t o b e c o m e i n v o l v e d w i t h t h e o b j e c t i n th i s f a s h io n . W h a t i s l a ck -

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i n g i s a n a t t i t u d e t h a t c o n n e c t s t h e s u b j e c t w i th i ts o b j e c t i n a m o r e i n t i m a t e

w a y t h a n c o g n i t i o n w i t h o u t t h e s u b j e c t l o s i n g i t s e lf i n t h e o b je c t . M o r e o v e r,t h is m e d i a t i o n o f s u b j e c t a n d o b j e c t m u s t b e o f a p a r t i c u l a r n a t u r e , n a m e l y,o n e i n w h i c h t h e s u b j e c t r e l a t e s t o th e o b j e c t a s s o m e t h i n g t o b e n e g a t e d . I t isc l e a r b y n o w t h a t t h i s m i s s i n g s t r u c t u r e f it s p r e c i s el y H e g e l ' s d e s c r i p t i o n o fd e s i r e a s s e l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s w h i c h is s i m p l yfor i tselfa n d d i r e c t l y c h a r a c t e r -i zes it s ob jec t a s a nega t ive e lem ent . ''1

L e t u s b e m o r e e x p l i c i t a b o u t h o w t h i s a n a l y s i s c a n b e s e e n a s a k i n d o ft r a n s c e n d e n t a l a rg u m e n t . F i rs t , w e a c c e p t t h e in i ti a l s t a n d p o i n t o f a b s tr a c ts e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s b e c a u s e H e g e l h a s p r e s u m a b l y l e d u s t o t h a t p o i n t a l o n g ap a t h o f r i g o r a n d n e c e s s i t y. ( I n c o n s i d e r i n g w h e t h e r t h e r e i s a r i g o r t o ac e r t a i n t r a n s i t i o n i n H e g e l ' s d i a l e c ti c , w e d o n o t n e e d t o e v a l u a t e a ll t h a t h a st a k e n p l a c e b e f o r e t h e p o i n t i n q u e s t i o n b u t o n l y t o as k , g iv e n a ll o f t h is ,w h e t h e r w e m u s t a l s o a c c e p t t h e n e w c l a i m t h a t is b e i n g m a d e . ) N o w w e as k ,h o w e v e r, a b o u t t h e c o n d i t i o n s w h i c h m a k e p o s s i b l e s u c h a c o n f i g u r a t i o n o fs e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e ss , a n d w e a r e s h o w n t h a t s u c h a s e l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s m u s t a l s ob e c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y d e s i r e , f o r w i t h o u t t h e s t r u c t u r e o f d e s i r e , c o n s c i o u s n e s sc o u l d n e v e r h a v e t h e e x p e r i e n c e o f t h e o t h e r w h i c h is a n e c e s s a r y c o n d i t i o nf o r f o r m i n g a c o n c e p t o f i t se l f. S i n c e , b y h y p o t h e s i s , w e h a v e a c c e p t e d t h ep r e s e n c e o f n a i v e s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s i n t h ePhenomenology,w e m u s t a l s o a c -c e p t t h e c l a i m t h a t d e s i r e i s a f e a t u r e o f th i s s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s a n d h e n c ea d m i t t h e l e g i t i m a c y o f i ts i n t r o d u c t i o n i n t o th e a n al y si s . T h e a rg u m e n t a t i o nh e r e is t r a n s c e n d e n t a l b e c a u s e i t p r o c e e d s n o t b y t a k i n g a p a r t i c u l a r p r e m i s ea n d i n v e s t ig a t i n g i ts c o n s e q u e n c e s b u t r a t h e r b y a c c e p t i n g a c e r t a i n s t a t e o fa ffa i r s (na ivese l f -consc iousnessan d e luc id a t ing i ts cond i t io ns o f poss ib i li ty.B y s h o w i n g d e s i r e t o b e a n e c e s s a r y c o n d i t i o n o f s e l f- c o n s c io u s n e s s , w e h a v ei n a q u i t e s t r o n g s e n s e d e d u c e d d e s i r e . T h e r e i s n o t h i n g a r b i t r a r y a b o u t i tsin t rod uc t i on in to th e d ia lec t i c ; i t i s, r a the r, impl ic i t ly p re sup po se d by a l l tha tp r e c e d e s i t.

T h e r e i s o n e i m p o r t a n t a s p e c t i n w h i c h th is a r g u m e n t a s w e h a v e t r e a t e di t m i g h t s e e m t o f a l l s h o r t o f t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s o f a t r a n s c e n d e n t a l a rg u -m e n t ; n a m e l y, i t f a i l s t o a rg u e , o r e v e n t o m e n t i o n , t h a t t h e p o i n t f r o mw h i c h i t d e p a r t s i s a n u n d e n i a b l e f a c e t o f o u r e x p e r i e n c e . T h i s i s n o r m a l l ya n e s s e n t i a l e l e m e n t o f t h e s t r a t e g y o f a rg u i n g t r a n s c e n d e n t a l l y. I f t h e s t a tew h o s e c o n d i t i o n s w e a r e i n v e s t i g a t i n g d o e s n o t i t s e lf e x i s t u n d e n i a b l y, w h a tf o r c e c a n t h e a rg u m e n t h a v e ? I n t h e c a s e a t h a n d , h o w e v e r, it s o m i s s i o n i sn o t i m p o r t a n t , f o r w e a r e a t t e m p t i n g t o e x p l a i n a t r a n s i ti o nwithinthe d ia lec -t ic , n o t i t s o r i g i n a l s t a r t i n g p o i n t . W h a t w e h a v e e l a b o r a t e d , t h e n , i s n o t a n

,o PhG , l~ 7. D ~ S elbstbewusstsein,welches schlechthin f~rsichst und seine n Gegenstandunmittelbar mit dem Charakter des Negativen bezeichnet .. . Miller trans., lo6.

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a rg u m e n t c o m p l e t e i n i t se l f b u t r a t h e r a s in g l e li n k in t h e c h a i n o f t r a n s c e n -

d e n t a l a r g u m e n t s w h i c h c a n b e s e e n a s m a k i n g u p t h ePhenomenologyA t t h e s a m e t i m e , h o w e v e r, i t is p o s si b l e to s e e t hi s t r a n s i t io n t o d e s i r e a s

p o i n t i n g t o w a r d s a p h i l o s o p h i c a l a rg u m e n t w h i c h c a n s ta n d o n i ts o w n , a p a r tf r o m t h e c o n t e x t o f t h eP/~nomenologyA s s u c h w e c o u l d t a k e i t t o b e c l a i m -i n g t h a t d e s i r e i s o n e e s s e n t i a l f e a t u r e o f a n y s e l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s . E v e n h e r et h e c l a i m t h a t t h e s t a r t i n g p o i n t o f s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s is a n u n d e n i a b l e f a c e to f e x p e r i e n c e i s o f n o g r e a t i m p o r t a n c e b e c a u s e , s in c e n o o n e w o u l d d e n yt h a t d e s i r e e x i s t s , w e a r e n o t c o n c e r n e d t o p r o v e t h efctcticityo f d e s ir e . T h ep o i n t o f t h e a r g u m e n t h e r e , r a t h e r , w o u l d b e t o d e m o n s t r a t e a n es s e nt ia lc o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n d e s i r e a n d s e l f - c o n sc i o u s n e s s s u c h t h a t d e s i r e i s s e e n n o ta s a m e r e l y c o n t i n g e n t f e a t u r e o f o u r e x p e r i e n c e b u t a s a c o m p o n e n t o fse l f -consc iousness which i s e s sen t i a l to i t s ex i s t ence as such .

F i n al l y, i f w e s e e t h e d e d u c t i o n a s a t r a n s c e n d e n t a l a rg u m e n t w h i c he l a b o r a t e s t h e c o n d i t i o n s f o r s e l f - c o n s c i o u sn e s s , it is n o t d i f fi c u l t t o a c c o u n tf o r K o j ~ v e 's f a i l u r e t o d i s c e r n a r i g o r i n t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f d e s i re . I n t h isr e g a r d K o j 6 v e ' s v i s i o n i s o b s c u r e d b y h i s t e n d e n c y t o r e a d t h ePhtmomenolog~a s a n e x c l u s i v e l y h i s t o ri c a l a c c o u n t o f h u m a n c o n s c i o u s n e s s , w h i c h r e q u i r e sh i m t o l o o k f o r n e c e ss i ty o n ly in w h a t w e h a v e t e r m e d a f o r w a r d m o v e m e n to f t h e d ia l e c ti c . U n d e r s u c h a n i n t e r p r e t a t i o n i t is t o o t e m p t i n g t o t h i n k o ft h e a p p e a r a n c e o f d e si r e in t h ePhenomenologya s c o r r e s p o n d i n g t o s o m eh i s t o r i c a l p o i n t a t w h i c h c o n s c i o u s b e i n g s a c t u a l l y b e g a n h a v i n g d e s i r e sr a t h e r t h a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g i t i n t h e w a y th a t o u r i n t e rp r e t a t i o n s u g ge s ts ,n a m e l y, a s a s ta g e i n a p h e n o m e n o l o g y o f c o n s c i o u s n e s s i n w h i c h w h a t w a so n l y i m p l i c i tl y p a r t o f c o n s c i o u s n e s s s i n c e i ts n a iv e b e g i n n i n g s i s m a d e e x -p l ic i t , r e su l t ing in se l f -co nsc ious ness ga in ing a t rue r ce r t a in ty o f i tse l f.

L e t u s n o w c o n s i d e r t h e n e x t s t a g e o f t h e d i a le c t ic i n w h i c h s e l f - c o n sc i o u s -n e s s b e c o m e s a b e i n g i n n e e d o f r e c o g n i t io n . S e l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s a s m e r e d e -s i re , whic h t akes i ts im m ed ia te se l f a s tha t which is e s sen t i a l , i s ce r t a in o f then o t h i n g n e s s o f t h e e x t e r n a l o b j e c t a n d m a k e s it s c e r t a i n t y t r u e b y o b j e c t if y -i n g i t i n t h e w o r l d , i n t h i s c a se , b y d e s t r o y i n g t h a t w h i c h i t d e s i re s . B u tt h r o u g h t h is e x p e r i e n c e , s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s l e a r n s s o m e t h i n g n e w a b o u t t h eo b j e c t o f d e s i r e w h i c h n e c e s s i t a t e s a f u n d a m e n t a l c h a n g e i n i t s c o n c e p t i o n o fi t s e lf a n d o f i t s r e l a t i o n t o t h e w o r l d : I t l e a r n s t h a t t h e o b j e c t is i n d e p e n d e n ta n d n o t m e r e l y f o r i t. I n t h e fi r st p l a c e, t h e o b j e c t s h o w s i ts i n d e p e n d e n c e i nt h e m e r e f a c t t h a t i t i s a n e s s e n t i a l e l e m e n t i n t h a t e x p e r i e n c e - - t h e c a n c e l l a -t i o n o f t h e o b j e c t b y d e s i r i n g s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s - - w i t h o u t w h i c h c o n s c i o u s n e s so f s e l f w o u l d n o t b e p o ss i b l e . T h e s a t i s fa c t i o n a n d r e t u r n t o s e l f w h i c hr e s u lt s f r o m t h e r e l a t i o n o f d e s i r e w o r k s o n l y w h e n t h e r e i s a n o t h e r a s t h eo b j e c t o f a p p e t i t i o n ; b e i n g s o m e h o w r i d o f th i s o t h e r w o u l d e n t a il l o s in g o n e ' sc o n c e p t o f o n e s e lf . S e c o n d l y, h o w e v e r , t h e o b j e c t o f d e s ir e i s c o n s u m e d b y

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t h a t d e s i r e s o t h a t d u r i n g t h e p r o c e s s o f c o n s u m p t i o n t h e o b j e c t i s t r u ly f o r

s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s , b u t a s s o o n a s s a ti s f a c ti o n is a c h i e v e d a n d t h e n e g a t i o n o ft h e o b j e c t i s c o m p l e t e d , a n e m p t i n e s s s e t s i n . T h e o t h e r h a s c e a s e d t o e x i s t ,a n d t h e c e r t a i n t y o f s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s ' i d e n t i t y w i t h i t s e lf is n o l o n g e r t r u eu n t i l it r e p r o d u c e s i ts d e s i r e a n d e n g a g e s i n t h e e n d l e s s a n d u l t i m a t e l y u n s a t-i s f y in g c y c l e o f g r a t i fi c a t i o n f o l l o w e d b y a n e m p t i n e s s w h i c h s e e k s g ra t i fi c a -t i o n o n c e m o r e , o n l y t o b e d i s a p p o i n t e d a g a i n a n d a g a i n .

I n o u r d i s c u s s i o n o f d e s i r e w e s a w t h a t t h e r e i s n o w a y o f e st a b l i sh i n gs e l f - id e n t i t y w i t h o u t t h e m e d i a t i o n o f s o m e t h i n g t h a t i s o t h e r t h a n t h e s e lf .M o r e o v e r, w e h a v e j u s t s e e n t h a t n o t j u s t a n y o b j e c t i s c a p a b l e o f p l a y i n g t h ism e d i a t i n g r o l e b u t t h a t it m u s t b e o n e w h i c h c a n b e f o r a n o t h e r i n a s t a b lem o d e - - o n e w h i c h i s l a s t in g a n d d o e s n o t e n t a i l t h e o b j e c t 's o w n d e s t r u c t i o n .S i nc e t h e o b j e c t , h o w e v e r , i s s o m e t h i n g i n d e p e n d e n t - - i t s w a y o f e x i st in g i n t h e

w o r l d d o e s n o t n a t u r a l l y c o i n c i d e w i t h t h e w i s h e s o r n e e d s o f s e l f -c o n s c i o u s-n e s s - - t h e r e w o u l d s e e m t o b e n o w a y t o a t t a i n a s ta b l e se l f -i d e n ti t y. I n o r d e r t oa v o i d t h i s v io l e n t , a l l - o r- n o t h i n g k i n d o f n e g a t i o n w h i c h c a n n o t l e a d t o r e a ls e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s , t h e n e g a t e d o b j e c t w o u l d h a v e t ohoose t o b e f o r a n o t h e r ;i ts n e g a t i o n w o u l d h a v e t o c o m e f r o m w i t h i n i ts e lf . T h e o n l y e n t i ty, h o w e v e r,w h i c h c a n e f f e c t a n e g a t i o n o f i t s e l f w h i c h i s n o t a t t h e s a m e t i m e s e l f - d e s t r u c -t i o n i s a n o t h e r s e l f - c o n sc i o u s n e s s . S e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s re p l a c e s i t s d e s i r e o f t h en a t u r a l o b j e c t w i t h t h e d e s i r e f o r t h i s m o r e s o p h i s t i c a t e d n e g a t i o n o f t h e o t h e r,i n w h i c h a s e c o n d s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s r e c o g n i z e s t h a t it s o t h e r is a c o n s c i o u sb e i n g , t o o , a n d t h e r e f o r e p o s s e s s e s a n i n h e r e n t v a l u e li k e t h e o n e i t a s c r i b e s t oi ts e lf . I n o t h e r w o r d s , s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s n o l o n g e r s e e k s t h e n a t u r a l o r m e r e l yl iv i ng t h i n g t o g a i n i ts s e lf - c e r t a i n t y b u t s e e k s i n s t e a d t h e r e c o g n i t i o n o f

a n o t h e r b e i n g o f it s o w n k i n d . F r o m t h is p e r sp e c t i v e , r e c o g n i ti o n w o u l d s e e mt o b e m e r e l y u n i d i r e c t i o n a l , a s i f i t w e r e t h e t a s k o f o n e s e l f - c o ns c i o u s n e s s t o d ot h e r e c o g n i z i n g w h i l e a n o t h e r a s s u m e d t h e r o l e o f b e i n g r e c o g n i z e d . T h i s is s oo n l y b e c a u s e a t t h is e a r l y s t a g e o f t h e d i a l e c ti c a l l t h a t s e l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s h a srea l i zed i s tha ti t n e e d s r e c o g n i t i o n ; i t l e a r n s t h a t t r u e r e c o g n i t i o n i s r e c i p r o c a lo n l y a f t e r t h e l o n g a n d p a i n f u l d e v e l o p m e n t w h i c h i n c l u d e s t h e f i g h t - t o - t h e -d e a t h a n d t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p o f m a s t e r a n d s l av e .

T h e r e is s o m e t h i n g m o r e p l a u s ib l e t o t he i n t r o d u c t i o n o f r e c o g n i ti o n t h a no n e f i n d s i n ti ti a ll y i n t h e d e d u c t i o n o f d e s i r e ; i n d e e d , i t m i g h t a p p e a r t h a t t h er i g o r i n v o l v e d is t r a n s p a r e n t a n d i n n e e d o f n o f u r t h e r d i s c u s s i o n . To s e ew h e t h e r t h i s is re a l l y t h e c a s e , h o w e v e r, l e t u s e x a m i n e m o r e c l o se l y t h e c r u c i a lp o i n t u p o n w h i c h t h e a rg u m e n t t u r n s . T h e n o t i o n o f s a t is f a c ti o n is c l e a rl y ak e y e l e m e n t h e r e : S e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s is d r i v e n t o se e k th e r e c o g n i t i o n o f a no t h e r b e c a u s e i t s o w n d e m a n d s f o r s e l f - c e r t a i n ty w e r e l e ft i n a d e q u a t e l y s a t is -f i e d b y i ts e x p e r i e n c e w i t h o b j e c t s a s m e r e o b j e c t s o f d e s i r e. T h i s i s p l a u s i b l e t ou s , b e c a u s e i t r o u g h l y c o r r e s p o n d s t o o u r n o t i o n o f w h a t c o n s ti t u te s h u m a n

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satisfaction. (We could think, for example, of the seducer who, like desiring

self-consciousness, relates to his victims only on a physical, natur al level andwho, af ter each conquest, feels even more acutely than before the emptinesshe was attempting to flee.) When we try, however, to hook up this account ofrecognition with our earlier deduction of desire, we find that somewhere alink is missing. It is not really a continu atio n of the same argum ent, f or a newelement has appeared which we have not yet established, namely, self-con-sciousness' drive for integrity, its longing to be one with itself and f ree fr omany depen denc e upon that which is other. This need or longing is essentialto make the ar gume nt work, for it- -and its manifestation in the lack of satis-faction fou nd in the relation o f desire-- is what causes self-consciousness toabando n me re desire and to seek the recognition of an other. In our deduc-tion of desi re, howeve r, it was not necessary to presu ppose that self-conscious-

ness possessed this drive for integrity. We simply noticed that it had, in fact,achieved a certain degree of self-unity (its abstract self-awareness resultingfro m the dialectic of consciousness) and showed tha t it could not have arriv edat this view of itself unless it was capable of r elating to the world as a desiringbeing. Whether self-consciousness had some internal drive towards the self-identity that desire made possible was not a factor in the argument, andcorrelatively, the necessity of desire h ad noth ing to do with its fulfilling somegoal o f the subject. Unless we can comp rehe nd this funda ment al longing assomehow arising out of the previous stages of the dialectic--and this wecannot do---we must not assume that we have understo od the precise mannerin which the need for recognition is to be thought of as a necessary develop-ment within the movem ent of self-consciousness.

What, then, are we to make of this tale of the transf ormation of self-con-sciousness which initially seemed so plausible, but which now is seen to besomething less than rigorous? Is Hegel to be criticized for this lack of rigor?Such an objection would make sense only if one were to forget that ther e areimportant differences between the various planes of Hegel's analysis, andhence between the standards each must measure up to as well. We mustrealize that this tale is exacdy tha t-- par t of the story of developing con-sciousness. Narr ate d on the level of phenomenologica l observation ratherthan as part of the commentary for us , it possesses a certain plausibility,but it is not apparent to consciousness that the movements of its own devel-opment are necessary; that necessity, rather, is up to u s to establish.

To explain the transition at this junc tur e comment ators often appeal tothe teleological nat ure of Hegel's dialectic? At this point we must make

See, for example, Jean Hyppolite, Genesis and Structur e of Hegel's Phenomenologyof Spirit',trans. Samuel Che rniak a nd Joh n Heckman (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1974),~63, and Hans-Georg Gadamer, Heg el's Dialectic,trans. P. Christopher Smith (New Haven: YaleUniversity Press, 1976), 61-6 2.

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c l e a r w h y s u c h a n a p p e a l i s o f n o h e l p i n t h e p r e s e n t t as k . W e r n e r M a r x , in

a d d r e s s i n g t h e q u e s t i o n o f t e l e o l o g y i n t h ePhenomenology,descr ibes Hege l ' sm e t h o d a s o n e w h e r e t h e e n d , i n t h e s e n s e o f th e ' a t ta i n e d g o a l' a n d ' f u l-f i l l e d p u r p o s e , ' d e t e r m i n e s t h e b e g i n n i n g b a c k w a r d , ' f r o m t h e e n d , ' a n dwi th i t a ll the s tages o f de ve l op m en t o f a p rocess l ead ing up to it . '1 ' Neces-s it y u n d e r s u c h a c o n c e p t i o n o f t h e d i a le c t ic w o u l d b e l o c a te d w i t h i n t h er e l a t i o n s h i p o f a p a r t i c u l a r s t a g e i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t t o t h e e n d - p o i n t t o -w a r d s w h i c h i t is t e n d i n g . I n t h e c a s e a t h a n d , w e w o u l d b e s a ti sf ie d w i t h t h er i g o r o f t h e a n a ly s is i f w e c o u l d p o i n t o u t t h e n e c e s s i ty o f r e c o g n i t i o n f o r t h ea t t a i n m e n t o f a b s o l u te k n o w l e d g e . T h i s s e e m s t o b e G a d a m e r ' s p o i n t as w e l lw h e n h e e x p l a i n s t h e n e c e s s i t y f o r r e c o g n i t i o n a s h y p o t h e t ic a l : I f s e l f- c o n -s c io u s n es s is t o b e c o m e t r u e s e l f -c o n s c i ou s n e s s , t h e n i t m u s t b e r e c o g n i z e d b ya n o t h e r. '3 T h i s t y p e o f n e c e s si t y m a y b e c o m p e l l i n g f o r t h e p h e n o m e n o l o g i -c a l o b s e r v e r w h o is v i e w i n g t h e d i a l e c t ic f r o m t h e s t a n d p o i n t o f it s f i n al s t a g ea n d is c o n v i n c e d o f t h e n e c e s s it y o f t h a t e n d - p o i n t , b u t i s th i s t h e o n l y s e n seo f n e c e s s it y w h i c h H e g e l is c la i m i n g f o r h i s a na l ys is ? W h a t a b o u t t h e r e a d e ro f t h e Phenomenologyw h o i s n o t y e t a n i n i t i a t e i n t o t h e r e a l m o f a b s o l u t ek n o w l e d g e o r, m o r e i m p o r t a n t l y, t h e s c e p t i c w h o h o l d s t h a t t h e q u e s t f o rk n o w l e d g e i s a h o p e l e s s e n t e r p r i s e ? H e g e l c e r t a i n l y t h i n k s t h a t h e i s c o n v i n c -ing them of the necess i ty o f consc iousness ' a r r iva l a t the p os i t ion o f abso lu tek n o w l e d g e a s w e ll , a n d h e c a n d o t h is o n l y w i t h o u t p r e s u p p o s i n g h is e n d -poin t , tha t i s , on ly by showing tha t e ach s tage lead ing up to the end i s i t se l fn e c e s s a r y, g i v e n o n l y t h e s t a g e s t h a t h a v e p r e c e d e d i t a n d w i t h o u t r e f e r e n c eto i ts re la t ions h ip to a ny f ina l goa l. I t i s th i s aspec t o f the d ia lec t ica l r igort h a t c o n c e r n s u s h e r e .

To take th i s v iew i s no t to d en y tha t t e leo log ica l exp lan a t ion p lays ani m p o r t a n t r o l e i n t h ePhenomenolog y.T h e a t t e n t i o n w h i c h m o s t c o m m e n t a -t o rs , n o t t o m e n t i o n H e g e l h i m s e l f , h a v e p a i d t o t h a t a s p e c t o f t h e d i a l e c ti c issuff ic ien t to a t t es t to i ts s ign i ficance . Whe re , then , do es tha t s ign i f icance l ie?I t i s to be f ou nd s imply in the fac t tha t the t e leo log ica l exp lan a t ions cons t i -t u te a h i g h e r l ev e l o f c o m p r e h e n d i n g t h e d e v e l o p m e n t s o f c on s ci o us n e ss ,the r i chness o f wh ich cons i s t s in i t s re la t in g each s tage of the d ia lec tic no ton ly to wh at has p re ce de d i t bu t to w hat i s to fo llow as wel l. See in g ap a r t i c u l a r s t a g e o f c o n s c i o u s ne s s f r o m t h is s e c o n d s t a n d p o i n t y i e ld s a v i e w o fi t w h i c h a c q u i r e s, a s i t w e r e , a n a d d e d d i m e n s i o n ; i t b e c o m e s f u l le r, m o r ec o n c r e t e , i n t h e s a m e w a y th a t t h e s c e n e s o f a d r a m a a t t a i n a d e e p e r s i g ni fi -c a n c e w h e n t h e s p e c t a t o r s e es n o t o n l y h o w t h e y d e v el o p o u t o f e a c h o t h e rb u t , k n o w i n g h o w t h e p l a y is to e n d , r e c o g n i z e s t h e i r u n i q u e r e l a t i o n t o t h e

Werner Marx, Hege l's 'Phenomenology of Spirittrans. Peter Heath (New York: Harper &Row, 1975), 8a.

,s Gadamer, 61-69.

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s t o r y' s r e s o l u t i o n a s w e l l. T h i s s u g g e s t s , t h e n , t h a t t h e f o r u s c o m m e n t a r y

o n t h e e x p e r i e n c e o f c o n s c io u s n e s s d o e s n o t h a v e a s in g le , u n a m b i g u o u sf u n c t i o n b u t p l a y s , r a t h e r, a t l e a st tw o d i st i n c t ro l e s , b o t h o f w h i c h , h o w e v e r,a r e s c i e n t i f i c , a s o p p o s e d t o p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l .

L e t u s n o w s e e w h e t h e r t h e r e i s a ri g o r t o th e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f r e co g n i t io nw h i c h m e e t s t h e s a m e r e q u i r e m e n t s w e s et u p i n o u r s e a r c h f o r a d e d u c t i o no f d e s i r e. W e h a v e j u s t r e j e c t e d t h e m o s t o b v i o u s a t t e m p t t o l e g it i m i z e t h en e e d f o r r e c o g n i t i o n ( s e e i n g it as a r e s u l t o f a f o r w a r d - m o v i n g d i a l e c ti c ) a sn o t m e e t i n g o u r s t a n d a r d s o f n e c e s si t y u n l e ss s o m e p u r p o s e o r f in a l g o a l isa p p e a l e d t o. T h e n e x t s t e p i n o u r s e a rc h s h o u l d b e to a sk w h e t h e r o r n o tr e c o g n i t i o n - - a s i n t h e c a s e o f d e s i r e - - m i g h t b e c o n t a i n e d i m p l i c id y a s an e c e s s ar y c o n d i t i o n o r p r e s u p p o s i t i o n i n o n e o f t h e e a r l ie r s t a g es o f t h ed i a l e c t i c . Tw o p o s s i b i l i t i e s c o m e t o m i n d , w h i c h d i f f e r f r o m o n e a n o t h e ra c c o r d i n g t o w h i c h s t a g e o f t h e d i al e c ti c e a c h e n v i s i o n s as a l r e a d y i m p l i c i d yp r e s u p p o s i n g t h e n o t i o n o f r e c o g n i t io n . T h e f i rs t a l t e r n a t i v e i s t o s e e k th eo r i gi n o f t h e n e e d f o r r e c o g n i t i o n i n t h e s t a g e i m m e d i a t e l y p r e c e d i n g i t - -w i t h i n t h e c o n c e p t o f d e s i r e i t se l f.

I f, f o r e x a m p l e , d e s i r e p r e s u p p o s e d t h e d r i v e fo r r e c o g n i ti o n i n t h e se n s et h a t t h e f o r m e r w a s c o n c e p t u a l l y i n c o h e r e n t w i t h o u t p o s i ti n g r e c o g n i ti o n a st h e u l t i m a t e o b j e c t o f t h a t d e s i r e , t h e n e a c h p a r t i c u l a r d e s i r e w o u l d b e am a n i f e s t a t io n o f th e d e m a n d t o b e re c o g n i z e d , a n d a d e d u c t i o n o f d e s i r ew o u l d b e a t t h e s a m e t i m e a d e d u c t i o n o f s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s ' d e s i r e f o rr e c o g n i t i o n . W e c o u l d i m a g i n e , f o r e x a m p l e , t h a t t h e s e x u a l d r i v e i s n o tr e a l l y a d e s i r e f o r p h y s i c a l g r a t i f i c a t i o n b u t r a t h e r a d e s i r e f o r a s i t u a t i o n i nw h i c h t h e o t h e r c h o o s e s t o e x i s t f o r m e a n d I i n t u r n f o r i t - - i n o t h e rw o r d s , a d e s i r e f o r r e c o g n i t i o n . T h i s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n b e c o m e s l e ss p l a u s i b le ,h o w e v e r , w h e n w e c o n s i d e r a d e s i r e su c h a s h u n g e r , t h e i m m e d i a t e o b j e c t o fw h i c h i s n o t a n o t h e r p e r s o n . I n t h i s c a s e w e m i g h t t r y t o s e e h u n g e r n o t as ad e s i r e f o r f o o d b u t r a t h e r a s a d e s i r e t o g o o n l i v i n g , t o p a r t a k e i n t h es e l f -i d e n t it y, t h e s c l f - c o n t a i n e d n e s s t h a t i s c h a r a c t e r i s ti c o f l i f e - - t o b e r e c o g -n i z e d a s a li v i ng b e i n g . B u t t hi s s e n s e o f r e c o g n i t i o n w o u l d b e q u i te f a rf r o m w h a t H e g e l h a s i n m i n d , f o r i t l a c k s a s p e ci f ic f e a t u r e e s s e n t i a l t or e c o g n i t i o n , n a m e l y, t h e i n v o l v e m e n t o f a n o t h e r s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s . A t m o s t ,d e s i r e i m p l i e s t h e r e c o g n i t i o nErkennung)tha t one pa r t i c ipa tes in l i f e ; i tf a l l s s h o r t , h o w e v e r, o f t h e H e g e l i a n s e n s e o f r e c o g n i t i o nA~k~nung)w h i c h i s n e c e s s a r i l y a r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h a n o t h e r s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s b e i n g .G i v e n t h e e x i s t e n c e o f d e s i r e s w h i c h a r e n o t e s s e n t i a ll y s o c i a l - - h u n g e r i sc o n c e p t u a l l y p o s s i b l e f o r a s i n g l e c o n s c i o u s n e s s - - - i t i s d i f f i c u l t t o i m a g i n eh ow. d e s i r e c o u l d p r e s u p p o s e t h e n e e d f o r r e c o g n i t i o n i n th i s p a r t i c u l a rm a n n e r.

A n o t h e r v e r s i o n o f t h e s a m e s t r a te g y o f d e d u c i n g t h e n e e d f o r re c o g n i-

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tion from desire alone would be not to see the former as conceptually de-

pendent upon the latter, but rather to make the claim that desiring is possi-ble only for a being which also feels the nee d for recognition. Her e the claimwould be not that all desires have to do directly with recognition, but ratherthat the need for recognition furnishes the being with some feature thatmakes animal desire possible. This relationship might be conceived of asanalogous to the one between shame and the other. It is not the case thatshame always involves the other directly--I can be ashamed of an action thatis totally private---but shame is not possible for a being which has had noexperienc e o f the other ; being in a world with others is a necessary conditionfor the phe nom eno n of shame. Even wi thout filling in the details of how thisrelationship might look, however, we can reject it as improbable because ofthe problem it would pose in accounting for animal desire. Given that ani-mals also relate to objects on the basis of desire, this view would force us toadmit that they too possessed the need for recognition. But attributing this

hum an characteristic to animals seems, at best, far-fetched. While specula-tion about the nature of animal consciousness is hardly a firm foundationupon which to reject a philosophical position, the point here is more one ofinterpretati on than of argument ation. It is not that this view of the relation-ship between desire and recognition is necessarily an untenable position;rather, it seems unlikelymbecause of its implications for animal conscious-ness (and because there is no reason to think that Hegel would have foundthese implications less fantastic than we do)---that Hegel saw desire andrecognition as relating to each other in this manner.

The second and more plausible alternative is to see recognition not aspresupposed by the concept of desire but rather as the necessary condition ofan even earlier stage o f the dialectic, namely, self-consciousness' initial view ofitself as the merely formal unifier of its representations. We have tried toshow that desire can be legit imately intr oduce d because it proves to be anecessary condition for the most un sophisticat ed kind o f self-awareness; nowwe are pro posing t hat re cognition, too, is a necessary condition for t hat state.This is not to a ban don the view that desi re is necessary for self-consciousnessbut only to carry this conclusion a step furth er by det erm ini ng more preciselythe nature of the desire which is required.

How, then, can this transition in the dialectic be seen as a transcendentalar gum ent which seeks to deduce recogniti on as a conditi on for the possibilityof the phenomenon of naive self-consciousness? Having already deduceddesire in general as one of those conditions, we can take the second sectionof Self-consciousness to be maki ng the claim that relating to the world ofnatural objects as mere desire is not sufficient to yield self-awareness. Thatdesire, r ather , must be of a specific kind: It must have as its object the willful

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self-negation of another self-consciousness. At this point, however, we re-

member that self-consciousness, even in its initial configuration, does in facthave a stable, though incomplete, picture of itself, and since recognition hasbeen shown to be a necessary condition for that kind of self-conception, wecan con clude that even in this version of self-consciousness more than justanimal desire is at work; it is also a r e c o g n i z e d being.

This sketch of t he t ransit ion shows in general outl ine how the move that isbeing made can be construed as a transcendental argument; now we musttur n o ur at tenti on to its details. Th e a rgum ent can be seen as two-fold. It mustestablish, in the first place, that the experience of relating to natural objectsalone lacks a certain feature which is necessary for self-consciousness and,secondly, that this missing requirement can only be fulfilled through thenegatio n of an oth er self-consciousness. In the de duct ion of desire we saw thatit was only in contrast to some thin g other than itself that the T could attainself-consciousness and that this contrasting involved not only awareness ofthe ot her but its supersession as well. The force of this argum ent , however, isto show tha t supe rsession for the merely desiring self-consciousness is a con-ceptual impossibility: . . . self-consciousness, by its negative relation to theobject, is unable to s uper sede it. T This seems to be paradoxical, given all thatwe have said earli er about desire destroyi ng its object, but this destructivenessis precisely the point. The other has been destroyed but not truly supersededor a u f g e h o b e n . Desire attempt s to make its object for it but in doing sodestroys it; in eliminati ng the othe r's being in itself, it also eliminates anychances of its being for self-consciousness. Desire vacillates between twoequally unsatisfactory states: the point before cons umpt ion when its object isnot yet for it and the point afterwa rds when the object is no more at all.Supersession, like the self-consciousness it makes possible, must be an endu r-ing state, not a series of isolated moments.

True supersession, then, seems to demand the impossible: that the otherbe both independent---otherwise it would not be truly oth er --a nd for self-consciousness at the same time. Ther e is, however, one kind of being whosestructure permits the fulfillment of such a contradictory demand. This beingis, of course, self-consciousness, whose essence, the unity of inner differ-ences, makes possible a simultaneous independence and self-negation. (Life,too, possesses this inner contradiction but, not being aware of itself as such,cannot initiate its own negation; it cannot recognize. ) Only anot her self-

consciousness, then, can play the role of the superseded other which is anecessary condition for consciousness' coming to an awareness of itself.

~4 Ph G 1 ~ 1. Das Selbstbewusstsein vermag also durch seine negative Beziehung hn nichtaufzuheben. Miller trans., lo 9.

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A t t h is p o i n t t h e r e a r e t w o o b s e r v a t i o n s to b e m a d e a b o u t o u r a t t e m p t t o

r e a d t h i s t ra n s i t i o n i n t h e d i a le c t ic a s a t ra n s c e n d e n t a l a rg u m e n t f o r t h ec la im tha t r ecogn i t ion i s a necessa ry cond i t ion fo r se l f -awareness . F i r s t , t h i sr e a d i n g s e e m s t o d i s r e g a r d a p e r v a s i v e f e a t u r e o f H e g e l ' s t e x t , n a m e l y, h i st e n d e n c y t o r e c o u n t t h e d i a l ec t i c o f s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s s i n t e r m s o f t h edevelopmento f a s e lf . T h u s , i t w o u l d s e e m f r o m t h is p e r s p e c t i v e t h a t t h e i n t e r p r e -t a t i o n d e v e l o p e d h e r e f a il s t o g iv e a d e q u a t e c o n s i d e r a t i o n t o H e g e l ' s s t a te -m e n t s t o t h e e f f e c t t h a t t h e T i n t h e o p e n i n g s c e n e s o f S e l f - C o n s c io u s n e s sc a n n o t y e t p r o p e r l y b e s a i d t o b e a 'f ul l s e l f ( c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y d e s i r e a n dr e c o g n i t i o n ) b u t o n l ybecomesa t r u e T i n t h e c o u r s e o f i ts e x p e r i e n c e a s ab e i n g m o t i v a t e d f i rs t b y d e s i r e a n d s u b s e q u e n t l y b y i ts q u e s t f o r r e c o g n i t i o n .

T h e r e is n o d e n y i n g t h a t H e g e l ' s n a r ra t i v e i s c o u c h e d i n d e v e l o p m e n t a ll a n g u a g e , b u t t h e r e a l t a s k o f i n t e r p r e t a t i o n is t o a s c e r t a in t h e i m p o r t o f t h isl a n g u a g e a n d t h e r e b y t o d e t e r m i n e w h a t is i n d a n g e r o f b e i n g l e f t o u t b y ar e a d i n g w h i c h s e e m s t o i g n o r e i t . To t h i s e n d , i t is i m p o r t a n t t o d e c i d e w h a ti t is t h a t H e g e l m e a n s b y sa y i n g t h a t t h e i ni ti a l T o f S e l f - C o n s c i o u sn e s s isn o t y e t t r u l y a n T b u t m u s t f i r s t b e c o m e o n e . I n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h K o j ~ v e ' sa c c o u n t o f t h e o r i g i n o f d e s i r e w e h a v e a l r e a d y r e j e c t e d t h e v i e w t h a t t a k e st h e s e e a r l y se c t i o n s o f S e l f - C o n s c i o u s n e s s t o b e d e s c r i p ti v e o f a c t u a l h i s-t o r i c a l e v e n t s , s i n c e i t i s i m p l a u s i b l e t o s e e H e g e l a s m a i n t a i n i n g t h a t d e s i r ea n d t h e n e e d f o r r e c o g n i ti o n j u s t o r i g i n a t e a t so m e p o i n t w i t h in h u m a nh i s to r y. T h e s t o r y t h a t H e g e l te l ls i n t h e s e o p e n i n g s e c t i o n s i s n o t m e a n t t od e s c r i b e h o w s o m e p u r e l y c o g n i t i v e T a c q u i r e s d e s ir e s f o r t h e f ir s t t i m e ,i n t e r a c ts w i t h t h e w o r l d u n d e r t h e d i r e c t i o n o f t h o s e d e s i re s a n d t h e n , h a v -i n g f a i l e d t o a c h i e v e r e a l s a t i s f a c ti o n , b e c o m e s a b e i n g i n n e e d o f re c o g n i -t i on , m o v i n g i n t h e p r o c e s s o n e s t e p c l o s e r t o b e c o m i n g a t r u e s e lf . U n d e ro u r i n t e r p r e t a t i o n H e g e l is m a k i n g t h e p h i l o s o p h i c a l p o i n t t h a t d e s i r e a n dr e c o g n i t i o n a r e b o t h n e c e s s a r y c o n d i t i o n s f o r a n y s e l f - c o n s c io u s n e s s a t al la n d , c o n s e q u e n t l y, t h a t t h e r e c a n b e n o s e l f - c on s c i o u s b e i n g w h i c h i s n o t a tt h e s a m e t i m e a b e i n g c h a r a c t e r i z e d b y d e s i r e a s w e l l a s t h e n e e d f o r r e c o g n i -t i on . T h e s t o r y o f h o w t h e T o f a n i m a l d e s i r e d e v e l o p s i n t o t h e T i n n e e do f r e c o g n i t i o n is t o b e t a k e n , t h e n , a s a v i v i d i l lu s t r a ti o n o f t h e p r i n c i p l e t h a tt h e f o r m e r i s i n a d e q u a t e t o p r o v i d e t h e s u b j e c t w i t h e v e n t h e m o s t a b st r a c tc o n c e p t i o n o f i ts e l f a n d t h a t o n l y t h e n e g a t i o n o f a n o t h e r s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e s sc a n f u l fi ll t h a t ro l e . B u t r e s t r ic t i n g o n e s e l f o n l y to t h e t e r m s o f t h is s t o ry o fd e v e l o p i n g s e l f -c o n s c io u s n e ss m u s t l e a d t o a c o n s i d er a b l e i m p o v e r i s h m e n t o ft h e p h i l o s o p h i c a l c o n t e n t o f t h ePhenomenology.Since the necess i ty o f i t se x p e r i e n c e s i s n o t a p p a r e n t t o s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s i t s e l f , s u c h a l i m i t a t i o nw o u l d p r e c l u d e a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f o n e o f H e g e l ' s m o s t i m p o r t a n t p r o je c t sh e r e - - a n e l a b o r a t io n o f t h e n e c e s s a r y re l a ti o n s t h a t h o l d a m o n g a v a ri e ty o fc h a r a c t e ri s t ic s ( r e p r e s e n t e d b y t h e d i f f e r e n t s t a g e s o f s e l f -c o n s c i o u sn e s s ' d e -

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v e l o p m e n t ) w h i c h a r e e s s e n t i a l to t h e p h e n o m e n o n o f s e l f- a w a r e n e s s . I t i s

o n l y p h il o s o ph i c a l r e f l e c t i o n u p o n t hi s d e v e l o p m e n t w h i c h c a n d e m o n s t r a t et h a t th e s t o r y is m o r e t h a n a se r i es o f a c c i d e n ta l , l o o s e l y c o n n e c t e d e v e n t s ,a n d t r a n sc e n d e n ta l a r g u m e n t a t i o n - - p o i n t i n g o u t h o w o n e p h e n o m e n o l o g i -c a l s t a g e i n v o lv e s a w o r k i n g o u t o f th e p r e s u p p o s i t i o n s o f a n e a r l i e r o n e -- - iso n e o f t h e t o o ls a t t h e p h i l o s o p h e r ' s d i s p os a l .

O u r s e c o n d o b s e r v a t i o n c o n c e r n s t h e f a ct th a t t h e l a n g u a g e o f th i s s e c o n da r g u m e n t h a s r e m a i n e d q u i t e H e g e l i a n . I n v ie w o f th is , w e s h o u l d a s kw h e t h e r i t is a l s o p o s s i b l e t o c o n s i d e r t h e d e d u c t i o n o f r e c o g n i t i o n a s m a k i n ga p h i l o s o p h i c a l c l ai m w h i c h c o u l d b e a r t i c u l a te d a p a r t f r o m t h e c o n t e x t o ft h e PhenomenologyTo b e g i n , w e m u s t a s k e x a c tl y w h a t c o n c l u s io n s u c h a na r g u m e n t w o u l d a i m t o e s ta b li sh .

I t i s o f t e n e m p h a s i z e d t h a t t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f r e c o g n i t i o n i n t o t h e P h e -

nomenologyc o r r e s p o n d s t o t h e c l a im t h a t h u m a n e x i s t e n c e is e s s e n ti a l ly s o-c i a l , t h a t s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s c o u l d n o t e x i s t s i n g l y b u t o n l y i n a w o r l d w i t ho t h e r s e l f -c o n s c i o u s b e i n g s . T h i s c e r t a i n l y w o u l d c o u n t a s a p h i lo s o p h i c a lc l a im n o t t i e d i n s e p a r a b l y t o H e g e l ' s te x t , a n d , f u r t h e r m o r e , i t is n o t a ni n d e f e n s i b l e p o s i t i o n t o h o l d . W e m i g h t a rg u e , f o r e x a m p l e , t h a t h a v i n g ac o n c e p t o f s e l f - - o r a n y c o n c e p t , f o r t h a t m a t t e r - - i s p o s s ib l e o n l y f or a b e in gt h a t p o s s e s s e s l a n g u a g e a n d t h a t , i f t h e n o t i o n o f a p r i v a t e l a n g u a g e i sc o n c e p t u a l l y i n c o h e r e n t , l a n g u a g e i t s e l f i s p o s s i bl e o n l y w i t h i n a s o c ia l se t -t in g . I f w e t r y s o m e h o w t o r e c o n s t r u c t H e g e l ' s d e d u c t i o n o f r e c o g n i t i o n i n t oa n a rg u m e n t f o r t h i s p o s i t i o n , h o w e v e r, w e s e e t h a t m o r e i s i n v o l v e d t h a nj u s t t h i s c l a i m a b o u t s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s n e c e s s a r i l y b e i n g s o c i a l . T h e c l a i mw h i c h i s b e i n g m a d e h e r e - - a n d t h is i s o f k e y i m p o r t a n c e i f t h e d i a le c t ic is t od e v e l o p i n t o t h e o p p o s i t i o n o f m a s t e r a n d s l a v e -- i s n o t j u s t t h a t t h eexistenceo f t w o d i f f e r e n t c o n s c i o u s n e s s e s i s a c o n d i t i o n f o r t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f s e l f -c o n s c io u s n e ss b u t a l so t h a t a p a r t i c u l a r k i n d o f r e l a t i o n - - r e c o g n i t i o n - - m u s th o l d b e t w e e n t h e m .

A t t h i s p o i n t w e e n c o u n t e r a s e r i o u s d i f fi c u l ty w h i c h c o n s i s ts in f o r m u l a t -i n g w h a t p r e c i s e ly i s m e a n t b y ' re c o g n i t i o n ' o u t s i d e o f t h e c o n t e x t o f t h ePhenomenologyA t t h e s t a g e o f it s d e d u c t i o n w i t h in t h ePhenomenologyw eh a v e a f o r m a l c o n c e p t i o n o f w h a t t h e a c t o f r e c o g n i t i o n i n v o l v es : t h e b e i n gf o r s e lf - c o n s c i o u s n e s s o f a n o t h e r s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e ss w h i c h i s a t t h e s a m e

t i m e i n a n d f o r i t se l f. W e h a v e , h o w e v e r, n o p r e c i s e s e n s e f o r w h a t itw o u l d l o o k l ik e c o n c r e t e l y i n t h e w o r l d . W e c o u l d , o f c o u r s e , i m a g i n e i t i n a

v a r ie t y o f c o n c r e t e f o r m s - - a s l ov e , f o r e x a m p l e , o r a s t h e r e s p e c t i n g o f t h eo t h e r 's a b s t ra c t p e r s o n a l r i g h t s - - b u t i t w o u l d b e o d d t o a r g u e t h a t e i t h e r o ft h e s e i s a p r e r e q u i s i t e f o r s e l f -c o n s c i o u s n e ss . T h i s i s n o t , h o w e v e r, t o i m p l yt h a t H e g e l i s m e r e l y d e a l i n g w i t h e m p t y c o n c e p t s . A t t h i s p o i n t r e c o g n i t i o nh a s j u s t b e e n i n t r o d u c e d i n t o t h e d i a l ec t i c a n d , i n t h e c h a r a c t e r i st i c H e g e l i a n

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f a s h i o n , w i l l p a s s f r o m i t s a b s t r a c t s h a p e i n t o m o r e c o n c r e t e f o r m u l a t i o n so n l y b y m e a n s o f s e lf -c o n s c io u s n es s ' c o n t i n u e d e x p e r i e n c e . To e x t r a c t s o m ec o n c e p t i o n o f r e c o g n i t i o n f r o m a l a t e r s t a g e o f t h e a n a l ys i s a n d e m p l o y it i na n a t e x t u a l r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f t h e a r g u m e n t w o u l d b e a s d is a s t ro u s a s i tw o u l d b e f u t i l e , f o r t h e c o n c e p t a s it e m e rg e s a t t h e e n d o f t h e d i a l ec t i c i sa r t i c u l a t e d t o a f a r g r e a t e r d e g r e e t h a n a t i ts b e g i n n i n g a n d c o u l d n o t b eu n d e r s t o o d i n r e l a t i o n t o s e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s w i t h o u t t a k i n g i n t o a c c o u n t a sw e l l t h e d e v e l o p m e n t w h i c h t h a t c o n c e p t h as u n d e r g o n e m w i t h o u t , i n o t h e rw o r d s , w o r k i n g t h r o u g h t h e w h o l e o f t h e d i a le c t ic .

I f t h e