it's a lot
July 30, 2024 3:48 AM Subscribe
"Where did Hegel's idea of the relation between lordship and bondage originate?" ask the Hegel experts, repeatedly, referring to the famous metaphor of the "struggle to death" between the master and slave, which for Hegel provided the key to the unfolding of freedom in world history and which he first elaborated in The Phenomenology of Mind, written in Jena in 1805-6 (the first year of the Haitian nation's existence) and published in 1807 (the year of the British abolition of the slave trade). Where, indeed? [Hegel & Haiti, Susan Buck-Morss]
Incredible, thanks for sharing this. The confidence and clarity with which she summarises wide fields of scholarship is frankly awesome. I see Buck-Morss has a 2009 book of the same name (and plenty more besides). I wish I'd read this before now, but now is good too – it feels like an unlocking.
The conceptual relationship between Haiti, Hegel and freemasonry escapes me somewhat, I'm not sure I got a handle on the explanatory connection being suggested by that section. I suppose there's a two-fold point: that some lodges' embrace of mixed heritage former slaves as equal members of their fraternity demonstrates a way of seeing unity existing between individuals at the level of labour (or Agency), which may well have been another example available for Hegel to have drawn upon; and secondly that it's an(other) example of how some details can be considered more or less marginal in the development of a preferred historical / intellectual narrative. Was that it? I should go back and reread it.
posted by Joeruckus at 8:17 AM on July 30 [5 favorites]
The conceptual relationship between Haiti, Hegel and freemasonry escapes me somewhat, I'm not sure I got a handle on the explanatory connection being suggested by that section. I suppose there's a two-fold point: that some lodges' embrace of mixed heritage former slaves as equal members of their fraternity demonstrates a way of seeing unity existing between individuals at the level of labour (or Agency), which may well have been another example available for Hegel to have drawn upon; and secondly that it's an(other) example of how some details can be considered more or less marginal in the development of a preferred historical / intellectual narrative. Was that it? I should go back and reread it.
posted by Joeruckus at 8:17 AM on July 30 [5 favorites]
Interesting article. One of the problems I have when I read most philosophers is the way that they make grand universalizing statements when you know they're probably thinking about some single specific situation. Two situations at most.
It's something I like to do myself - heck, I'm doing it in this very comment - but it bugs me when other people do it, and especially when philosophers do it. A more honest conversation could've been had if Hegel had just said, "I was thinking about what's going on in Haiti, and I think it might have some universal applicability."
But if he had done that, I suppose we wouldn't still be talking about it 200 years later.
posted by clawsoon at 6:16 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
It's something I like to do myself - heck, I'm doing it in this very comment - but it bugs me when other people do it, and especially when philosophers do it. A more honest conversation could've been had if Hegel had just said, "I was thinking about what's going on in Haiti, and I think it might have some universal applicability."
But if he had done that, I suppose we wouldn't still be talking about it 200 years later.
posted by clawsoon at 6:16 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
Was that it?
Joeruckus, in addition to the ideas you summarize, Adrienne Rich's dream is part of the heart of this later exploration in the 2009 book, Hegel, Haiti, & Universal History, semiotically:
Joeruckus, in addition to the ideas you summarize, Adrienne Rich's dream is part of the heart of this later exploration in the 2009 book, Hegel, Haiti, & Universal History, semiotically:
no common language...no phonetic system of shared meanings. This was true among the African slaves as it was among the motley crew [footnote: Haitian creole, like other creoles, developed as a "contact language," as did the "pidgin" languages spoken by motley crews... Based primarily on French..., it contains elements from Fon (as ethnolinguistic substratum, Ewe/Anlo-Ewe, Wolof, Gbe, (all from the Niger region), as well as Bantu (from Kongo), and Arabic (via Islam).] ...Freemasonry thrived in this environment. The Masonic movement initiated a fascination with nonverbal means of communication, a search for universal human knowledge in signs, symbols, artifacts, and past architectural wonders... But generalizations prove difficult. ...Toussaint became a Mason, but so, allegedly, did Napoleon who destroyed him... Masonry, like other secret societies, created fictive kinship relations, providing mutual aid for brothers of the lodge (Cuban black lodges raised money to free slaves). [footnote: Benjamin Franklin, himself a Mason, wrote: "they speak a universal language and act as a passport to the attention of the initiated in all parts of the world . . . they have made men of the most hostile feelings, and the most distant religions, and most diversified conditions [Jews, Muslims, blacks, American Indians] rush to the aid of each other, & feel social joy and satisfaction that they have been able to afford relief to a brother Mason" (cited in Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood, 77) {120-123} [g³]posted by HearHere at 7:55 PM on July 30 [2 favorites]
Just finished reading, thank you so much for posting the article.
posted by 15L06 at 10:38 AM on August 1
posted by 15L06 at 10:38 AM on August 1
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I’ve only read the first two pages (out of… 46!), but am excited to read the rest. Thank you for sharing, HearHere!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 7:33 AM on July 30 [3 favorites]