The purely warlike attitude of the Master does not vary throughout the centruies, and therefore it cannot engender a historical change. Without the Slave’s Work, the “first” Fight would be reproduced indefinitely: hence nothing would change in Man, through Man, for Man; the World would remain identical to itself, it would be Nature and not a human historical World. 51
Quite different is the situation created by Work. Man who works transforms given Nature. Hence, if he repeats his act, he repeats it in different conditions, and thus his act itself will be different. After making the first ax, man can use it to make a second one, which, by that very fact, will be another, a better ax. Production transforms the means of production; the modification of means simplifies production; and so on. Where there is Work, then, there is necessarily change, progress, historical evolution. 51
And since it was he (the Slave rt) who changed the World, it is he who changes himself, whereas the Master changes only through the Slave.
Therefore, the historical process, the historical becoming of the human being, is the product of the working Slave and not of the warlike Master. To be sure, without the Master, there would have been no History; but only because without him there would have been no Slave and hence no Work. 52
Therefore … thanks to his Work, the Slave can change and become other than he is, that is, he can —finally— cease to be a Slave. Work is Bildung, in the double meaning of the word: on the one hand, it forms, transforms the World, humanizes it by making it more adapted to Man; on the other, it transforms, forms, educates man, it humanizes him by bringing him into greater conformity with the idea that he has of himself, an idea that —in the beginning— is only an abstract idea, an ideal. If then, at the start, in the given World the Slave had a fearful “nature” and had to submit to the Master, to the strong man, it does not mean that this will always be the case.
Thanks to his work, he can become other; and, thanks to his work, the World can become other. And this is what actually took place, as universal history and, finally, the French Revolution and Napoleon show. 52
Man is not a Being that is: he is a Nothingness that nihilates through the negation of Being.