Hegel on labor and freedom
Hegel provided a powerful conception of human beings in the world and a rich conception of freedom. Key to that conception is the idea of self-creation through labor. Hegel had an "aesthetic" conception of labor: human beings confront the raw given of nature and transform it through intelligent effort into things they imagine that will satisfy their needs and desires. Alexandre Koj�ve's reading of Hegel is especially clear on Hegel's conception of labor and freedom. This is provided in Koj�ve's analysis of the Master-Slave section of Hegel's Phenomenology in his Introduction to the Reading of Hegel . The key idea is expressed in these terms: The product of work is the worker's production. It is the realization of his project, of his idea; hence, it is he that is realized in and by this product, and consequently he contemplates himself when he contemplates it.... Therefore, it is by work, and only by work, that man realizes himself objectively as man. (Koj...