With a Grain of Salt

If we phenomenologists are to follow consciousness through its frustrations, as well as comprehend the master and slave dialectic, must we inevitably resign ourselves to Hegel’s racist ideals that he later confirms in his Lectures on the Philosophy of History and his lectures on anthropology from Encylopaedia [sp] of the Philosophical Science? Before we agree to just let conscious run it course (and us simply follow again, as Hegel suggest), one must analyze where his grand project led and see if it was worthwhile. While Hegel would celebrate the entire process of consciousness, some his conclusions that arise from PS (especially in the context of the master-slave dialectic) towards race are simply unacceptable, and might lend to regarding parts of the endeavor worthwhile and not the entire process.

In his anthropology, Hegel states that rationality is implicit in mankind allowing for equal justice, but this does not keep Hegel from making prescribing how to rank the “races” he has created (39). He grants all humans rationality, yet on the next page he prescribes that “Negroes are to be regarded as a race of children who remain immersed in their state of uninterested naïveté. They are sold, and let themselves be sold…(40)” This seems contradictory, as well as just blatantly wrong and bigoted. It is no surprise that Caucasian Europeans represent the highest manifestation of culture and Reason. Of course Hegel is a product of the times, but for someone who identifies with Kantian sentiments, one could project that eventually someone would stir the ship of equality in right direction. Kant was equally as blinded towards the intricacies of concept of race, but given his insistence upon never treating others as mere means to a desired result, or end, it is surprising that Kant would justify slavery. I guess Hegel was doomed to repeat the same concessions in his philosophy given that Kant clearly did the same.

That is not to say that phenomenology is a worthless endeavor, but one must take it with a grain of salt given Hegel’s whole body of work, much like one must read Aristotle and Plato with discretion on their views on females in society. However, is this grossly racist conclusion, which arises especially in the context of Hegel’s master-slave dialectic, a reason to disregard the PS in general? I would hope that the Phenomenology can be salvaged, much like the Kant remains in tact with regards to epistemology (unless you are Rorty) despite his egregious writings on race and justifications of slavery. So proceed with caution, fellow phenomenologists.

Works cited- Bernasconi, Robert, and Tommy L. Lott, eds. Idea of Race. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 2000. Print.