Hegel’s Selbst (self) means self-motion, not self-mastery — automaton, autos, not autocracy.

Evidence

Abrogation, or letting-go, works by itself (aus sich selbst), but through an automatic and not an autocratic movement. The terms ‘Self’, and ‘itself’ are translations of the Greek α τ. α τµατς means the self-moving, that which goes, comes, and acts propelled by its own motion. Self, or Selbst, appears in Hegel’s concepts of Selbstbewegung, self-motion, Selbstbestimmung, self-determination. By employing these terms, Hegel draws attention to a law of composition and a process of synthesis which are self-initiating and self-causing. For this automatism to function it requires the principle of self-distribution and self-classification. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 1085

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes Selbstbewegung/Selbstbestimmung as self-initiating synthesis (automatism) against self-mastery’s autocratic reading — exactly the nuanced definition the reader needs for plasticity.
• XREF: The automatic-vs-autocratic distinction between Selbst and mastery is the conceptual nerve of Malabou’s whole plasticity thesis and her later work on neuronal plasticity (What Should We Do With Our Brain?) — freedom as self-modification rather than self-command. — connects to: Self-abrogation is self-moving automatism, not a sovereign self’s autocratic decree; Hegel’s automatism is not a simple deterministic machine excluding free choice — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1096

Broader Connections

• Self-abrogation is self-moving automatism, not a sovereign self’s autocratic decree #corroborates (0.95)
• Hegel’s automatism is not a simple deterministic machine excluding free choice #expands (0.85) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 1096