The philosophy of Hegel PDF
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The Philosophy of Hegel Continental European Philosophy This series provides accessible and stimulating introductions to the ideas of continental thinkers who have shaped the fundamentals of European philo- sophical thought. Powerful and radical, the ideas of these philosophers have often been contested, but they remain key to understanding current philosophical thinking as well as the current direction of disciplines such as political science, literary theory, social theory, art history, and cultural studies. Each book seeks to combine clarity with depth, introducing fresh insights and wider perspectives while also providing a comprehensive sur- vey of each thinker’s philosophical ideas. Published titles The Philosophy of Derrida The Philosophy of Kierkegaard Mark Dooley and Liam Kavanagh George Pattison The Philosophy of Foucault The Philosophy of Merleau-Ponty Todd May Eric Matthews The Philosophy of Gadamer The Philosophy of Nietzsche Jean Grondin Rex Welshon The Philosophy of Habermas The Philosophy of Schopenhauer Andrew Edgar Dale Jacquette The Philosophy of Hegel Allen Speight Forthcoming titles include The Philosophy of Husserl The Philosophy of Sartre Burt Hopkins Anthony Hatzimoysis The Philosophy of Kant James O’Shea The Philosophy of Hegel Allen Speight First Published 2008 by Acumen Published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor and Francis Group, an informa business © Allen Speight 2008 This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notices Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. ISBN 978-1-84465-068-2 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-84465-069-9 (paperback) British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Designed and typeset by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong Contents Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations viii Introduction 1 1 German Idealism and the young Hegel 9 2 The Phenomenology of Spirit 27 3 The Logic and Hegel’s system 51 4 Ethics and politics 67 5 Hegel and the narrative task of history 87 6 Art, aesthetics and literary theory 101 7 Religion and philosophy 117 Notes 133 Guide to further reading 145 Bibliography 151 Index 161 v Page Intentionally Left Blank vi Acknowledgements For conversations that enriched this book, I am indebted to many friends and colleagues who share a philosophical interest in Hegel. I am grateful to Steven Gerrard for his encouragement of the project and to two anonym- ous readers for Acumen Publishing who offered helpful suggestions for improving both the style and content of the manuscript itself. I wish also to thank Margot Stevenson and Sarah Farkas, for their bibliographical and editorial assistance, and Hallie Speight, whose love and support I cannot sufficiently thank in print. vii Abbreviations Full bibliographical details of the works listed here are given in the Bibliography. Aesthetics Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art Enc The Encyclopedia Logic LPEG Lectures on the Proof of the Existence of God LPR Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion PhS Phenomenology of Spirit PR Philosophy of Right PWH Lectures on the Philosophy of World History SL Science of Logic viii Introduction Hegel is the first great philosopher to make modernity – in all its historical, cultural and philosophical complexity – his subject.1 And on whatever lines that modernity is to be explored by our own present generation – as a project that has failed, is discernible only in traces, or that has come to fruition in some ways crucial for our practices and commitments – the Hegelian construal of it remains essential for coming to terms with how we understand ourselves, as agents in and contemplators of a world with a number of characteristics that Hegel was either the first or the most arti- culate in calling attention to. The sort of characteristics I have in mind are some rather resilient facets of a world that can be said to embrace both Hegel’s day and our own, a world where the self and its awareness of its freedom is construed as an achievement, where the modern religious sense of a “death of God” has left a not entirely complete secularism and a seem- ingly irreducible plurality of religious perspectives in its wake, where the development of ethical and political institutions that “we” can in some sense be aware of “making” are nonetheless also subject to historical shifts and constraints, and where the realm of artistic expression has taken bold and inherently self-referential turns. The account of modernity that Hegel opens up in these areas is, so I shall make the case, neither a triumphalist recognition and extension of Enligh- tenment values into the present time nor a philosophical act of mourning for the contradictions of a world that is in decline. Hegel’s perspective – whether one looks at his ethics, politics, art, religion or philosophy – is one that is resolutely embracing of modernity in its oppositions, a stance that makes him neither Romantic, Enlightenment rationalist nor (I shall claim) any merely hybrid combination of the two. To cast an introduction to Hegel’s thought in terms of his interest in the problem of modernity is not immediately to take sides on what remains a contentious point at the moment among his most skilled and creative 1
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