In the Lectures on the Philosophy of History, the problem deepens. Hegel speaks of sub‑Saharan Africans as lacking "self‑control," living in a state of "unbridledness," and therefore unable, in his view, to grasp any rational universal norms (LPH, 154). On this basis suggest that slavery, though unjust in itself, functioned as a moment of education for Africans and should therefore be abolished only gradually rather than immediately. (LPH,157)
Nevertheless, Hegel's philosophy exceeds his own verdicts. His famous master–slave dialectic, in which the enslaved consciousness achieves self-consciousness through labor and struggle, carries an emancipatory logic that some Black radical thinkers turned against Hegel's own Eurocentrism. In this reading group, we will focus on these readings—by thinkers such as Douglass, Du Bois, C. L. R. James, Fanon, and Davis—and examine how they relate Hegel's ideas of recognition, freedom, and self-consciousness to the concrete struggles of Black people against slavery and racism.
Prerequisite: General understanding of Hegel's philosophy
Conversation Language: English
Date and Time: 2:00-3:30 PM EST, 9:30 - 11:00 AM Iran Time
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3July 18, 2026 540 2
