The Routledge Guidebook to Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

297 Pages·2013·1.567 MB·English

by  Robert Stern

Routledge Guides to the Great Books
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Robert Stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Robert Stern
Sheffield, UK. He is the author of Hegel, Kant and the Structure of the
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Routledge Guides to the Great Books
The Routledge Guidebook to
’
Hegel s Phenomenology of Spirit
The Phenomenology of Spirit is Hegel’s most influential and important work, and
unlockingthistextisessentialtounderstandingHegel’sphilosophicalsystem.The
RoutledgeGuidebooktoHegel’sPhenomenologyofSpiritexploresthemajorthemesin
Hegel’sclassicworkandaidsthereaderinunderstandingthiskeytext,examining:
(cid:1) ThecontextofHegel’sthoughtandthebackgroundtohiswriting
(cid:1)
Eachsectionofthetextinrelationtoitsgoals,meaningandsignificance
(cid:1)
Thereceptionthebookhasreceivedsinceitspublication
(cid:1) TherelevanceofHegel’sideastomodernphilosophy.
With an introductory overview of the text, end-of-chapter summaries and further
readingincludedthroughout,thisguidebookisessentialreadingforanyonewishing
togettogripswithHegel’scontributiontoWesternphilosophy.
Robert Stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, UK. He is
the author of Hegel, Kant and the Structure of the Object (1990) and Hegelian
Metaphysics(2009).
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Routledge Guides to the Great Books
The Routledge Guidebook to
’
Hegel s Phenomenology of Spirit
Robert Stern
FirsteditionpublishedintheRoutledgePhilosophyGuidebookseriesin2001
Thiseditionpublished2013
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Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex.
1.Hegel,GeorgWilhelmFriedrich,1770–1831.PhänomenologiedesGeistes.I.Stern,
Robert,1962–RoutledgephilosophyguidebooktoHegelandthePhenomenologyof
spirit.II.Title.III.Title:GuidebooktoHegel’sPhenomenologyofspirit.
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C
ONTENTS
Preface and acknowledgements vii
Series editor preface x
Author preface to the new edition xi
Introduction xiii
Abbreviations xviii
1 The Phenomenology in context 1
Hegel and his times 1
The place of the Phenomenology in Hegel’s life
and works 4
Hegel’s system 11
The role of the Phenomenology 22
Overview of the text 30
The Preface and the Introduction 37
Content summary 52
2 The dialectic of the object 54
Sense-certainty 54
Perception 62
Force and the Understanding 71
vi CONTENTS
The transition to self-consciousness 79
Content summary 82
3 The dialectic of the subject 85
Mastership and servitude 85
Stoicism, Scepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness 100
Content summary 112
4 The dialectic of Reason 114
Rationalism and idealism 114
Observing Reason 119
Active Reason 133
Practical Reason 143
Content summary 153
5 The dialectic of Spirit 156
True Spirit: ethical life 156
Self-Alienated Spirit: culture 168
Spirit that is certain of itself: morality 191
Content summary 205
6 The dialectic of religion 208
Natural religion 208
Religion in the form of art 211
The revealed religion 215
Content summary 220
7 Philosophy as dialectic 222
Absolute knowing 222
Content summary 225
Conclusion 225
8 The reception of the Phenomenology 230
Notes 242
Further reading 246
Bibliography 251
Index 268
P
REFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
‘A great man condemns posterity to the necessity of explicating
him’ (NA: 574). Written as an isolated aphorism, it is unclear
whether in making this claim, Hegel was thinking of himself or
others:butthereisnodoubtthatinhiscase,thisnecessitystillholds.
As a great thinker, Hegel continues to exert an enormous influ-
ence on our time; so in order to comprehend ourselves, we must
continually strive to come to terms with his thought, and to
understand it anew.
This book is a contribution to this process, intended to shed
light on the Phenomenology of Spirit for those who are approaching
this work for the first time, and who are looking for some way
through the labyrinth. I have therefore endeavoured to make my
commentary as clear as possible, and to relate it closely to the
text. Of course, as Hegel perhaps foresaw, a rich tradition of
interpretation has grown up around the Phenomenology, particularly
since the 1930s (see Chapter 8); but for reasons of space and
accessibility, I have not been able to reflect critically on other
interpretations in any detail here, although I have provided
references and further reading. I have also assumed that my
audience will primarily be English-speaking, so I have used
viii PREFACEANDACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
standard translations where available, making amendments when
necessary (see the Bibliography for further details).
I have been helped in this project by many individuals. I would
first like to thank Tim Crane and Jo Wolff for inviting me to
undertake it (and for waiting for me until I was able to do so). I
am particularly grateful to those members of staff and post-
graduates at the University of Sheffield who participated in a
reading group on the Phenomenology, accompanied by a draft of my
commentary, who led me to clarify my thoughts and writing in a
number of ways: Leif Wenar, Dominique Kuenzle, Mark Day,
and Kathryn Wilkinson were particularly helpful (and stalwart)
in this regard. I am also grateful to the two classes of students
who took my course on the Phenomenology, and who acted as a
testing ground for the suitability of my text for its intended
audience. Other individuals who have offered helpful comments
and guidance at various times include: Gary Browning, Matthew
Festenstein, Terry Pinkard, Nicholas Walker, Robert Wokler,
and Heather Worden. I owe an especially large debt to those who
acted as readers of the manuscript for Routledge: Fred Beiser,
Stephen Houlgate, Ken Westphal, and Jo Wolff. All of them
made a number of suggestions and constructive criticisms, which
have improved the final book (although, of course, not all dis-
agreements between us on matters of interpretation have been
settled, and none of them should be held responsible for the views
expressed here). Finally, Routledge also provided considerable
support on the editorial side, where Muna Khogali and Tony
Bruce were efficient and encouraging throughout.
Hegel may have anticipated the drive for explication that his
work would provoke; he certainly anticipated its dangers,
emphasizinginthePrefaceofthePhenomenologyhowhardfair-minded
explicationcanbe:
This concern with aim or results, with differentiating and passing
judgement on various thinkers is therefore an easier task than it
might seem. For instead of getting involved with the real issue, this
kind of activity is always away beyond it; instead of tarrying with it,
and losing itself in it, this kind of knowing is forever grasping at
something new; it remains essentially preoccupied with itself instead
ix
PREFACEANDACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
of being preoccupied with the real issue and surrendering to it. To
judge a thing that has substance and solid worth is quite easy, to
comprehend it is much harder, and to blend judgement and
comprehension inadefinitivedescription isthehardestthingofall.
(PS:§3,p.3)
As a thinker who has suffered more than most from superficial
criticism, Hegel was right to think that others would find it
easier to attack him than to take the trouble to understand him
fully; and as I can testify from personal experience, he was also
right to think that the ‘hardest thing of all’ is to succeed in doing
what any commentary such as this must try to do, namely to
‘blend judgement and comprehension in a definitive description’
(and, in my case, all within a limited compass). I am especially
grateful to my family (including its newest member), who have
helped make this difficult task so much easier.
The author and the publisher wish to thank Oxford University
Press for kind permission to reprint from: G. W. F. Hegel: The
Phenomenology of Spirit translated by A. V. Miller (1977).