Man is conscious of himself, his human reality, and his dignity. It makes him different from animals. He becomes conscious of himself when he says, ‘I am’ for the first time. The man who contemplates is absorbed by what he contemplates. Contemplation reveals the object, not the subject. The object shows itself in the act of knowing. Human reality can be formed and maintained only within an animal’s biological reality. If the animal desire is necessary for self-consciousness, more is needed. By itself, it constitutes only the sentiment of self. ‘Self-consciousness is desire itself, which can only attain its satisfaction in another self-consciousness.’ A person can only satisfy their desire through another person corresponding to the same consciousness.
Unlike the knowledge that keeps man in passive quiet, desire disquiets him and puts him into action. Action tends to satisfy it and can only do so by negation. This is the destruction or transformation of the desired object. For there to be self-consciousness, desire has to be directed toward a non-natural object, something that goes beyond the given reality. The only thing that goes beyond the given reality is desire itself. Desire is something essentially different from the desired thing, something rather than a thing than a static and given real being that stays eternally identical to itself.
For human desire, there must be a first multiplicity of animal desires. This reality must be essentially manifold for self-consciousness to be born from the sentiment of self or for human reality to come into being within the animal reality. Man can appear on earth only in a herd; hence, human reality can only be social. However, more than the diversity of desires is needed for the herd to become a society. The desires of each member must therefore be directed to the desires of the other members.
Human desire tends to satisfy itself through transforming and assimilating action. Man feeds on desire, just like an animal feeds on real things. For a man to be truly human, his human desire must win over his animal desire. Man’s humanity appears only if he risks his life for the sake of human desire. This risk creates human reality, thus the origin of self-consciousness. The human being is formed only when desire is directed toward another desire, that is, a desire for recognition. The human being can be formed only if at least two of these desires confront one another. Each being is endowed with such desire and willing to go to lengths to pursue satisfaction. Humanity is established through the ability of a person to confront the inner desire.