In Phenomenology of Spirit

In Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel constructs the Notion of Recognition using self-consciousness. The basic foundation of this Notion of Recognition is demonstrated in the sentence above. According to Hume, for self-consciousness to exist “in and for itself,” meaning to be completely developed, it must be “acknowledged,” meaning recognized, by another self-consciousness. As an illustration, consider the example of two points, point A and point B; in order to say that point A exists, then point B should recognize point A. In this example, point A is the substance being “recognized,” and point B is the “recognizer.” In a similar manner, in the Notion of Recognition, there’s a self-consciousness that is “recognized or acknowledged” and there’s a second self-consciousness that acts as the “recognizer or acknowledger.” Hume’s purpose of this recognition/acknowledgment process is to show that one sees oneself through the gaze or the eyes of others. In this way, self-consciousness exists as a being “in and for itself,” as Sebastian Gardner puts it, “both at home with itself, and finding itself in the other.” Therefore, self-consciousness is the awareness of another’s self-consciousness in one’s self-consciousness. However, Hume does state later that there should be mutual recognition.