Name: Introduction to The Philosophy of History
ISBN: 9780872200562

G. W. F. Hegel

Leo Rauch

"An elegant and intelligent translation. The text provides a perfect solution to the problem of how to introduce students to Hegel in a survey course in the history of Western philosophy." -- Graham Parkes, University of Hawaii

With Selections from The Philosophy of Right

Introduction to The Philosophy of History

jack

the more coherent hegel becomes, the less i agree with him. 
i think this account of history is one that is immediately seductive. it is comforting to think of history as one long, necessary march that we are really really close to getting through. i think this way of thinking is the predominant one in contemporary western society. unfortunately this is unbelievably wrong! hegel asserts that 19th c germanic society is where spirit has come to a head. people would likely assert that about current society, which shows one flaw in a detail of hegel's thinking. but i do recognize that this doesn't disprove his larger project, though it does make me begin to question it.
the metaphor of spirit moving westward like the sun is really outdated (obviously), and is indicative of a larger problem in this work. despite hegel's acclaim for reason, this largely feels like a poetic, sentimental history. when read that way, it is occasionally beautiful and thought-provoking! but read as a genuine account of history, its implications are disgusting, reductive, and naive.
two works this reminded me of were voltaire's candide and dostoevsky's crime and punishment. the former because hegel seems to subscribe to the idea that our world, by virtue of existing, is the best and most reasonable of worlds. the latter because hegel's absolving of all guilt for problematic world-historical figures is an idea ruminated on in the character of raskolnikov. both of these texts show the illogic of hegel's account of history.

Donald

This is my first time really reading Hegel. I had tried the intro and preface to the Phenomenology, but I didn't get it. This time, I think I get it. The only part in this collection that I disliked was a brief thing about geography. Feel free to skip it.

Reading Marx's Grundrisse I've been struck by how Hegelian it is, and I'm excited to read The Philosophy of Right next year alongside Marx's Critique.

Wouldn't it be amazing to somehow be a Hegelian without Marx or Kojeve or Derrida or anybody? To really believe in the World Spirit? I wish I could do that.

Introduction to The Philosophy of History With Selections from The Philosophy of Right

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