Samozavedanje, ki se kot živeče samozavedanje najde le z drugimi samozavedanji, »samostojni podobi, pogreznjeni v bit življenja« (str. 104, 193), nima še nobene resnice – mora se predočiti kot »čisto zasebstvo tj. kot samozavedanje«, da bi se dokazalo v boju na življenje in smrt. Vzajemnost sistema časti, ki smo jo predstavili zgoraj, je primerna za spoznanje, da ta 'predočitev' ne more sestojiti le iz tega, da poskuša samozavedanje uničiti neko drugo obstoječe, temveč tudi, da se mora dvigniti preko svojega določenega obstoja, svoje »privezanosti na življenje«.

It is impossible to deny that for Hegel formative labour has a pronounced liberating aspect. However, if it is formative, it is more so of its subject than of its object. Its primary function is rather to exemplify the reality check, i.e. the physical pain, self-restraint and perseverance that is in general characteristic of labour, but is equally needed for thinking As there is a “digestive philosophy” describing ognitive process in terms of desire, there is a kind of “manual hilosophy” describing it in terms of labour. 

Da bi delo utemeljilo resnično samozavedanje, mora temeljiti na zavesti, ki sem jo zgoraj imenoval 'zavest zmožnosti', in ki bi imela »oblast nad občim in moč nad vsem predmetnim bistvom« (str. 109, 203). Hegel to svobodo zmožnosti razvije na način, da pri formiranju podčrta odpravljanje dane bivajoče forme. »Toda ta predmetni negativum je ravno tisto tuje bitje, pred katerim je trepetala« (str. 108, 203). To je drzna teza, ki jo velja razložiti. Brez dvoma je smrt izkušnja zadnje odvisnosti bivanja, proti kateri se v svoji v svojem zasebstvu neposredno upre.

Hlapčevska zavest se uspe izviti iz odvisnosti, v katero ga je odrinila gosposka zavest – to » postavi sebe kot takšno [negativno]v element trajnosti« (PhG: §196, slo 203), preko delovanja, v pomenu katerega je prisoten obet smrti.

v John McDowell: The Apperceptive I and The Empirical Self

The master on the other hand was not prepared to make such sacrifice. She remained stubborn, chained to the particular content that she fancied to be hers. “Since the entire contents of her natural consciousness have not been shaken to the core, she is still attached in herself to determinate being; her having mind of her own is merely stubbornness, a freedom that remains bogged down within the bonds of servitude.” (§196) Master can have opinions, even “interesting ideas”, but think she cannot.