Phenomenology of Spirit – Fall 2005 Reading List   

Required Text:

G.F.W. Hegel. Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. A.V. Miller.

Oxford University Press, 1977.

 This is the most current translation and considered superior to the older Baillie translation. It includes a commentary and brief analysis of the text by J. N. Findlay.

The Phenomenology of Spirit is probably the most commented on book in the history of philosophy, with the exception of the venerable ancients Plato and Aristotle. Of the hundreds of secondary sources available that comment on Hegel in general or the P.S. in particular, I have found the following titles particularly useful in my own studies. They also have the merit of being readily available.  All the secondary readings are optional for this series but the reader may find some quite useful in helping to navigate through the shoals of the Phenomenology.  

Recommended Reading:

  General background on Hegel:

  [Very highly recommended]

Michael Inwood. A Hegel Dictionary. Blackwell Publishers.

  A valuable resource in helping the reader get through the thickets of Hegel's language. Contains many useful explanations of common Hegelian terms such as 'in itself', 'for itself', 'bad infinite', and of course, 'Spirit'.  Also contains brief summaries of Hegel's chief works and much other useful information.

  [Very highly recommended]

Jon Stewart. Ed.  Hegel Myths and Legends. Northwestern University Press.

A series of articles that debunk most of the popular myths about Hegel that have circulated for decades, particularly in the English speaking world. Covers some of the following myths: Hegel as a worshipper of the State and a forerunner of modern fascism. This myth was spread by Karl Popper and Bertrand Russell among others. Kauffman's demolition of Popper is a particular masterpiece in this anthology. Hegel's views on the 'End of History', recently popularized in vulgarized form by Francis Fukuyama. Hegel as a conservative apologist, as associated with his statement 'The real is rational.' The myth that Hegel glorified war. The myth that Hegel denied the law of contradiction.

Alexandre Kojeve. Introduction to the Reading of Hegel. Cornell University Press.

  Kojeve provides a fascinating if somewhat tendentious interpretation of Hegel. Kojeve interprets Hegel as an atheist and as the first man to achieve the Socratic goal of Wisdom. In this interpretation, with Hegel having achieved the goal of philosophy, philosophy has nothing more to do. He influenced many of the founders of existentialism, including Sartre and Camus. He is also the source for the 'End of History' thesis of Fukuyama.  

Terry Pinkard  Hegel: A Biography (Cambridge University Press, 2000)

  A recent biography of Hegel.

Commentary on Phenomenology of Spirit:

  [Very Highly recommended]

Terry Pinkard  Hegel's Phenomenology (Cambridge University Press, 1994)

  The author untangles much of the historical background behind some of the obscure passages in the Phenomenology.  He also does an excellent job of correcting the often sloppy Miller translation of certain passages.

  Jon Stewart. Ed.  Phenomenology of Spirit Reader. State University of New York Press.

  An excellent series of interpretive essays about different themes from the P.S. A good source for those curious about what some contemporary philosophers make of Hegel.

  Jean Hyppolite. Gensis and Structure of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.

Northwestern.

  A justly famous book by one of the pioneering French interpreters of Hegel.  It was written before French philosophy was hijacked by deconstruction and post-modernism, when the ideas of Hegel and Marx were still important to the intellectual public.

  Quentin Lauer. A Reading of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. ( Fordham U Press.)

  A very detailed, almost line by line commentary.  The author provides a religious interpretation of Hegel.

  Robert Solomon  In the Spirit of Hegel (Oxford University Press, 1983)

  A serviceable explication of the Phenomenology using non-technical language.

Literature Discussed in the Phenomenology:

Sophocles: Antigone

Hegel’s discussion of traditional society and its contradictions owes much to his interpretation of this Greek tragedy.  Many of the feminist critiques of Hegel bring up Hegel’s reading of the Antigone as their point of departure. 

Denis Diderot: Rameau’s Nephew,  Penguin Edition

The only work that Hegel quotes at length. Although it only existed as an unpublished manuscript in an bowdlerized translation at the time, this work is key to Hegel’s critique of  the Ancient Regime, the Enlightenment and the self-satisfied intellectual.  It is a marvelous reading experience in its own right.