Rating: 
Summary: The Gathering Storm over the "New' in Philosophy:
Review: Will Phenomenology and Logic ever agree?
Hegel has many a story to tell in this most amazing book. The most important, at least for our era, is the story of a final and complete reconciliation between all members of the human family. How could that, given the almost countless differences between myriad human groups, ever be achieved? Hegel achieves it by arguing (and dialectically showing) that everything partial, ambiguous and irrational in history is burned away in the process of that history until ...what? Until all that remains is all that could possibly (Hegel means theoretically and practically, logically and existentially) remain. There are, as you might guess, several non-trivial difficulties with a position as profound as this.
To begin, until the promised 'utopian' end-state finally and completely arrives different people interpret this end state differently. This is why Hegel reminds us that philosophy can only equal Science (of Wisdom) at the end of this phenomenal and historical process. Until then, and this is important, each and every understanding of Hegel necessarily remains mired in partiality, ambiguity and irrationality. (- This is also true, I would argue, of the ones that base themselves on (Hegel's) Logic.) But this, the ambiguity of speculative or dialectical Logic & Phenomenology, leads to other difficulties. For instance, this end state has been taken by `Hegelians' in either a religious or atheistic manner. But until world history catches up to the `necessities' of the Logic, whatever they may be, even something as fundamental as this necessarily remains ambiguous. Another problem, is Hegel himself at the end of this process (at least as far as Logic/System are concerned) or is he the beginning of the end of this process?
In fact, one can say, with perhaps only a little exaggeration, that the Logic itself waits, or seems to wait, on human history to turn the final page. But that is the problem with this `biography of Spirit' - does the hand that turns the page also write `new' pages? Is the Logic (and System, the full account of reality) changed too by the (seemingly endless) `phenomenological' ruses of human history? For if the `new' occurs in this sense (Logically) then there is no System at all. If you object that the Logic (or the Hegelian System) forbids the new (at least in Logic & System) then you will find yourself in the uncomfortable position of explaining how Hegel himself could introduce a new operator (the speculative or, if you prefer, the dialectic) into Logic.
For, while the `new' in history can be explained (or so Hegelians maintain) by the Logic, by the self-contained Circularity of the System, all this collapses, or so one suspects, if the new can also happen in the Logic. ...How does (or could) one explain, from within the System, the irruption of the new within the Logic? One cannot. This is why Kojeve (correctly and, from his point of view, necessarily) reminded us, in his great commentary on the Phenomenology, that Hegel "definitely reconciles himself with all that is and has been, by declaring that there will never more be anything new on earth." It is this `declaration' by Hegel that is the great stumbling block of the System. Did the new come to an end in Jena almost 200 years ago? Is the Logic the only thing that no longer develops in the Hegelian System? We all need to read the Phenomenology and the Logic together, each in the light of the other, again.
To reiterate all this in a different manner; for Hegel, one can indeed say that the System never encounters anything new. There is indeed only this great circularity of the Concept. But this is only correct from the standpoint of the Logic. From the standpoint of the Phenomenology (and History) the new does indeed emerge out of the ruins of the old. The `new' can perhaps be best understood as what's left after as much of the superfluous (the partial and ambiguous) and the unreasonable are subtracted (or burned away in the Golgotha of Spirit, the hell of history) as possible. It is only at the end of this process, the beginning of that end is the publication of the Phenomenology, that Logic and Being are precisely the same. Or, to put it yet another way, the only thing that doesn't change in Hegel is the System. Everything else, possibly even the Logic understood as the schematics of Spirit, moves. For Kojeve (and possibly Hegel) when movement finally stops (the End of History) one has the System entire. ...This is perhaps why Merleau-Ponty, in the Adventures of the Dialectic, calls this position of Kojeve an `idealization of death.'
As an aside I want to point out that the earlier mention of Kojeve should remind us of his great sparring partner, Leo Strauss, the great explicator of the esoteric. The political esoteric he writes about (and demonstrates in his commentaries on Plato, Al-Farabi, Maimonides, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Spinoza, Nietzsche) is the only real methodological rival of Dialectics, at least for political philosophy. By way of comparison I will briefly say that Esotericism excludes nothing; everything comes back. There is no progress or change, not even through some exclusion of the negated. There is, of course, the hidden - but the hidden always returns, as the greatest modern esotericism, the one we find in Nietzsche, affirms. In esotericism the 'negated' (or hidden) remains, indeed, if it didn't remain esotericism would have no reason for continuing in its esoteric manner. This esoteric says there never was anything fundamentally new while the Hegelian Dialectic teaches that the new emerges until, and only until, Logic and Phenomenology are exactly the same. All that the esoteric requires is (exoteric) myth; all that the dialectical requires is Science. Each particular myth dies, but the necessity of myth is unending; while Science (in the Hegelian sense) seemingly can never reach birth. ...This is the impasse that the great methodological war of our time has brought us to: undying myths vs. unreachable Science.
There is so much more to say about this book and the vistas it has opened to philosophy. I will say only this, the Phenomenology is easily one of the most important texts in the history of philosophy; read it at your peril.
Rating:
Summary: concerning Hegel
Review: A professor once told me that nearly every major work of philosophy since the time of the Greeks could be pared down to one small pamphlet. The rest is filler. He said this with the exception of Hegel. I disagreed with him about a few more exceptions but I very much agree about Hegel. His works are long and complex but they are digesting a subject that is in itself long and complicated. The nature of human existence(metaphysics) is one that cannot be trimmed down neatly or explained in the language of a children's book. Hegel is very difficult to read, I understand that very well. Hegel himself said that only one person ever understood what he had to say. The works of Joyce, Faulkner and Woolf are also difficult to digest at times but what a sad state literature would be without them. Anyone who dismisses this work without regard is simply stating that they cannot understand it. And rather than say that, they mask their ignorance by attacking the book. Every major new artistic and philosophical movement was approached this way by those who were in the status quo. I had trouble the first time I read this book, but it was more than worth that trouble. Dialectics is one of the most fascinating and important philosophical movements that has ever come along. Most people skip straight to Marx who took Hegel's philosophy and created his own theories. I would however, highly recommend that you read this first and then move on to Marx. Hegel's solving of classical problems in philosophy is outstanding and this book is a must read for anyone interested in philosophy. Don't listen to those who guise their ignorance with attack at this book. It is well worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: A very significant book
Review: A very significant book This book was a turning point for me in my personal quest. Up until this point each philosopher I learned about in class was torn apart by the next philosopher. Hegel approached things differently and made it possible for me to learn what "sublated" means. Those philosophers were not being "torn apart" by their successors. Instead, the history of thought can be seen as the logical interplay of ideas gradually creating better ideas. The previous ideas are incorporated in an ever more mature view. This is how we view history. This is why sociology seems to be the philosophy of our day - the sociality of reason.
But this book is deeply embedded in a historical context itself and makes sense only with a good guide. For an interesting way to do this look at Hans Kung's description of his experience of Hegel in his memoirs. For an excellent guide I recommend Pinkard or Kaufmann. My own thesis is on Hegel's Geist.
No philosopher since has ever torn apart another philosopher in my view even if they try to deconstruct them.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Work of Philosophy
Review: For over 180 years students have complained that Hegel's best-known book of philosophy, the PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIND (alias PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT), is too difficult to read. A few have tried to summarize Hegel's book, and often their summaries were longer than the original, and just as difficult to read. The PHENOMENOLOGY OF MIND is a study of appearances, images and illusions throughout the history of human consciousness. More specifically, Hegel presents the evolution of consciousness. Hegel traces the evolution of consciousness from savage and barbaric forms. Hegel's aim was to set forth a philosophical system so comprehensive that it would encompass the ideas of his predecessors and create a conceptual framework in terms of which both the past and future could be philosophically understood. Such an aim would require nothing short of a full account of reality itself. Thus, Hegel conceived the subject matter of philosophy to be reality as a whole. This reality, or the total developmental process of everything that is, he referred to as the Absolute, or Absolute Spirit. According to Hegel, the task of philosophy is to chart the development of Absolute Spirit. This involves (1) making clear the internal rational structure of the Absolute; (2) demonstrating the manner in which the Absolute manifests itself in nature and human history; and (3) explicating the teleological nature of the Absolute, that is, showing the end or purpose toward which the Absolute is directed. The logic that governs this developmental process is dialectic. The dialectical method involves the notion that movement, or process, or progress, is the result of the conflict of opposites. Traditionally, this dimension of Hegel's thought has been analyzed in terms of the categories of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. The goal of the dialectical cosmic process can be most clearly understood at the level of reason. As finite reason progresses in understanding, the Absolute progresses toward full self-knowledge. Indeed, the Absolute comes to know itself through the human mind's increased understanding of reality, or the Absolute. Hegel analyzed this human progression in understanding in terms of three levels: art, religion, and philosophy. At the time of Hegel's death, he was the most prominent philosopher in Germany. His views were widely taught, and his students were highly regarded. His followers soon divided into right-wing and left-wing Hegelians. The extensive and diverse impact of Hegel's ideas on subsequent philosophy is evidence of the remarkable range and the extraordinary depth of his thought, this book is a masterpiece!
Rating: 
Summary: On Signs Of Being *Au Fait* With The Derive Of Relatives
Review: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's *Phenomenology of Spirit* is the single most important book of philosophy ever published, surpassing the *Critique of Pure Reason* in influence by means of Jean Hyppolite's French translation in the 1930s. Roughly speaking, this book is an "autobiography of the human race". Consisting of three sections (on perception, reflexivity, and "intersubjectivity"), it os an attempt to depict various "stages of spirit", milestones in the development of human thought: not "as it is" (PRIVATE VICE COP TELLS ALL) but *as they are* -- to fully account for the role *theoria* plays in the *praxeis* of history, in "transits" great and small. As previously mentioned, the *Phenomenology* "discloses a world" in both the jargon of contemporary academic philosophy. And although better things are on offer (fans of the good old roundabout need not be scared this fellow's reputation for unclarity) this book maintains its lustrous prose style today only outside of this, the most competent translation yet published. So, much as Schopenhauer once warned Germans not to take the word of others concerning the first Critique's contents, I will encourage assiduous-readers-of-the-Miller-translation to read portions *en face* (if necessary with the free, unmodernized etext available from Gutenberg2000), and for the most part to read the lexeme "Hegel" in accordance with the man's perennial draw as a font of noble and stimulating thoughts -- i.e., both an entertainment for the easily entertained and a guide for the *seriously* perplexed. *Sui generis*.
Rating:
Summary: Western Cognitive Enlightenment
Review: Hegel's famous and difficult 45-page Preface to his Phenomenology of Spirit requires intensive study, but will reward the serious reader with nothing less than a cognitive enlightenment. By loosening our grip on our rigid habit of self-conceptualizing and by releasing our self from our self-concepts, we begin to master our cognitive process and know ourself as this self-moving process. By this fluid detachment we gain the power to think, and without fear of being attached to our thoughts. We can, if we desire, more easily detach ourselves from being role-bound and tasked. We more easily live, and become, and recognize some of our fears as of our own making. And we are not so readily mediated by outside agencies, such as we have and are surrounded by in the 21st Century.
Rating:
Summary: Hegel and his Phantom
Review: Hegel's _Phenomenology of Spirit_ is a very thought-provoking and intellectualy stimulating work. However, it is also very mentally taxing, and is probably not worth the time and effort required to get through. Nor is this an absolutely essential work with regards to historical importance; it should instead be demoted to the status of "historical curiosity". I recommend this book only to masochistic individuals who like to read books in order to prove their intelligence, or who seek out challenges just because they are challenging. It is unlikely you will actually benefit from a mental-health standpoint by reading this work. This is because Hegel seems to be playing mind games, obfiscating his sentences and forcing the reader to re-translate or paraphrase what has been said into something clearer and more intelligable. In the course of reading this book, I would often come across long, complicated, and infuriating sentences, and I would have to re-process and re-write the sentence in my head before I could make sense out of what Hegel was trying to say. After doing this, I would say to myself, "why didn't Hegel just write the sentence in the same way that I just paraphrased the sentence?" In conclusion, I firmly believe this book could have been written much more clearly without taking anything away from the profundity of the concepts contained therein. It quite simply should not have been so difficult to read. There is nothing about Hegel's ideas that are so intrinsically complicated to justify his virtually unreadable style. If you want to read a truly profound, complicated, and fascinating philosophical book from the same time period, I highly recommend _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_ by Soren Kierkegaard as an alternative. You will find that Kierkegaard is an exponentially better writer than Hegel, and is capable of conveying much more information to the reader with much less aggravation.
Rating:
Summary: wha
Review: If you're looking for easily-digested novels and neat, facile ideas that won't take much effort or time from your life, then don't pick up this book. Philosophy, and certainly Hegel, just aren't for you.
No profound idea can be expressed clearly and concisely. It takes discipline and love to fully attempt such a complex expression as this work. The written word of the best writers and thinkers is always attempting to step beyond the words that are being set down, to express the nerves and intangibles of consciousness in the purest form possible. Anything less is just platitudes and cliches...
Rating:
Summary: Transformative Text in the History of Philosophy
Review: It doesn't make any sense to rate this work at anything less than 5 stars, since it's one of the most influential works of the last 200 years. It was written in 1806, and it is Hegel's attempt to demonstrate the systematic way in which human experience develops, from its simplest roots in sensory life to its highest fulfilment in scientific, political and religious experience. This was a work that took Kant's revolutionary insights and produced a new philosophy of the human person that prefigured the developments of Marx, Freud, existentialism, deconstruction and so on. Human experience is here understood in a rigorously anti-reductive way: Hegel will not allow meaningful dimensions of human experience to be ignored in the way that they typically are in too-facile theories of experience (like sense-data empiricism, physicalist reductionism, possessive individualism, etc.). Experience is also understood dynamically: because of its own internal reason, experience develops into progressively more complex forms. It is a masterful work, and it takes years of serious study to master this book. It is a very difficult book to work with, because it is written in a very daunting manner, which means it is not realistic to imagine reading it outside of a university course in which someone can lead you into the reading of Hegel's phenomenology. This translation by Miller is also imperfect. This translation was meant as an improvement to the older Baillie translation but, while this one is marginally more "literal," it does not do as good a job as Baillie at communicating the sense of what's being said. If you can only have one translation, this is probably the better choice, but if you are studying the book seriously, I highly recommend hunting down a copy of Baillie's translation as well.
Rating:
Summary: Transformative Text in the History of Philosophy
Review: It doesn't make any sense to rate this work at anything less than 5 stars, since it's one of the most influential works of the last 200 years. It was written in 1806, and it is Hegel's attempt to demonstrate the systematic way in which human experience develops, from its simplest roots in sensory life to its highest fulfilment in scientific, political and religious experience. This was a work that took Kant's revolutionary insights and produced a new philosophy of the human person that prefigured the developments of Marx, Freud, existentialism, deconstruction and so on. Human experience is here understood in a rigorously anti-reductive way: Hegel will not allow meaningful dimensions of human experience to be ignored in the way that they typically are in too-facile theories of experience (like sense-data empiricism, physicalist reductionism, possessive individualism, etc.). Experience is also understood dynamically: because of its own internal reason, experience develops into progressively more complex forms. It is a masterful work, and it takes years of serious study to master this book. It is a very difficult book to work with, because it is written in a very daunting manner, which means it is not realistic to imagine reading it outside of a university course in which someone can lead you into the reading of Hegel's phenomenology. This translation by Miller is also imperfect. This translation was meant as an improvement to the older Baillie translation but, while this one is marginally more "literal," it does not do as good a job as Baillie at communicating the sense of what's being said. If you can only have one translation, this is probably the better choice, but if you are studying the book seriously, I highly recommend hunting down a copy of Baillie's translation as well.
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