Master-Servant Dialectic

Hegel's analysis of the one-sided relation of recognition. The master has himself recognized without recognizing in turn - and thereby undermines the value of the recognition he seeks: he is recognized by someone whose judgment he does not accept as valid. The point lies in the reversal: through labor, the servant gains a relation to the object that the master lacks. He shapes the object and recognizes himself in it; the master only consumes.