STRUCTURE AND STRUGGLE: a new reading of the master and slave dialectic

The life-and-death struggle in Hegel’s master–slave dialectic is often seen as a direct conflict between two individuals with the highest stakes. This “duel view” is common among scholars who differ in their broader interpretations of the dialectic. However, this perspective separates the struggle from essential elements, particularly its connection to self-consciousness, and portrays the motivation to engage in it as external, not intrinsic to self-consciousness. This article critiques the duel view and proposes an alternative, the “double solitary struggle view,” where individuals do not confront each other but engage in personal struggles to assert independence from external objects and life. Mutual recognition of success in this struggle is necessary for self-consciousness to achieve self-realization. Thus, the double solitary struggle view shows that the struggle’s nature and motivation are immanent to the structure of self-consciousness.