MA in Social and Political Thought, Optional Course

HEGEL

MA in Social and Political Thought, optional course

Spring Term 2008

Andrew Chitty

Abbreviations

# = essential readings for the seminar

+ = introductory

* = recommended

rph = photocopy in faculty reserve collection (behind desk in library)

[1807] = date of original publication

[4] = 4 copies in library

[sd] = available via Study Direct

[olj] = available via electronic library, online journals collection

[oso] = available via electronic library, Oxford Scholarship Online collection

[online] = freely available online

Readings are given in chronological order.

Bibliography

Please use this to supplement the reading list.

Texts to buy

Hegel [1807] Phenomenology of Mind, trans. Baillie (Dover Philosophical Classics)

Hegel [1821] Elements of the Philosophy of Right, trans. Nisbet (Cambridge University Press)

Short introductions to Hegel

Singer, P. (1983) Hegel, Pastmasters, reissued in 2001 as Hegel: A Very Short Introduction, also included in Scruton, R. et al. German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche [5]

Plant, R. (1997) Hegel, On Religion and Philosophy very short) [2]

Longer introductions

Soll, I. (1969) An Introduction to Hegel’s Metaphysics (exemplary for its clear-headed way of writing about Hegel)

Houlgate, S. (1991) Freedom, Truth and History: An Introduction to Hegel’s Philosophy, 2nd edition 2005 as An Introduction to Hegel: Freedom Truth and History

Beiser, F. ed. (1993) The Cambridge Companion to Hegel (a good collection of introductory essays on Hegel’s philosophy) [6]

Beiser, F.C. (2005) Hegel (recommended) [4]

More advanced books on Hegel’s philosophy as a whole

MacIntyre, A. ed. (1972) Hegel: A Collection of Critical Essays (a very good collection of essays)

Taylor, C. (1975) Hegel (a ‘metaphysical’ interpretation of Hegel that dominated Anglo-American readings of Hegel in until fairly recently) [7]

Berthold-Bond, D. (1989) Hegel’s Grand Synthesis: A Study of Being, Thought and History [1]

Inwood, M. (1992) A Hegel Dictionary (a very useful reference book for the difficulties of Hegel’s terminology and its sources, with an excellent introductory essay) [2]

Pippin, R.B. (1989) Hegel’s Idealism (a Kantian non-metaphysical reading, probably currently the most influential interpretation of Hegel, though now under attack) [4]

Stern, R. ed. (1993) G.W.F. Hegel: Critical Assessments, 4 volumes (an encyclopaedic anthology) [1]

Books on the nature of the Phenomenology

Marx, W. (1976) Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: Its Point and Purpose (a short interpretation of the whole book based on the Preface and Introduction) [1]

Westphal, K (1989) Hegel’s Epistemological Realism (on the Introduction and the method of the book) [1]

Forster, M. (1998) Hegel’s Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit [1]

Bristow, W.F. (2007) Hegel and the Transformation of Philosophical Critique [1, oso]

Commentaries on the Phenomenology

Hyppolite, J. [1946] Genesis and Structure of Hegel’s ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’ (a classic and highly influential commentary on the Phenomenology, but not an easy read) [4]

+Norman, R. (1976) Hegel’s Phenomenology (a good short guide, especially good on the Introduction) [11]

+Westphal, M. (1979) History and Truth in Hegel’s Phenomenology, 3rd ed. 1998 (a very useful source for identifying the targets of Hegel’s arguments, which are often unclear) [5]

Pinkard, T. (1994) Hegel’s Phenomenology: The Sociality of Reason(a tendentiously ‘communitarian’ interpretation, but good on Hegel’s historical references) [2]

Solomon, R. (1983) In the Spirit of Hegel: A Study of G.W.F. Hegel’s ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’ (provides useful historical contextualisation but has a highly relativist interpretation) [6]

Harris, H.S. (1997) Hegel’s Ladder, 2 volumes (a gargantuan interpretation of the Phenomenology, useful as a reference source on particular sections of the book) [1]

Stewart, J. ed. (1998) The Phenomenology of Spirit Reader (a collection of essays on different sections of the Phenomenology, that adds up to a collective commentary) [3]

Stewart, J. ed. (1998) The Phenomenology of Spirit Reader (a collection of essays, some very good, others less so, on sections of the Phenomenology) [1]

Stewart, J. (2000) The Unity of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: A Systematic Interpretation [1]

Stern, R. (2001) Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit, Routledge Philosophy Guidebook [4]

On the Philosophy of Right

Wood, A. (1990) Hegel’s Ethical Thought [3]

Hardimon, M. (1994) Hegel’s Social Philosophy: The Project of Reconciliation [1]

*Franco, P. (2000) Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom [1]

Neuhouser, F. (2000) Foundations of Hegel’s Social Theory: Actualizing Freedom [2]

Knowles, D. (2002) Hegel and the Philosophy of Right, Routledge Philosophy Guidebook [13]

Pippin R. and Höffe O. (eds.) (2004) Hegel on Ethics and Politics [1]

1. Introduction: Hegel’s early development

This will be a short introductory session on Hegel’s development from 1793 to 1807.

2. The Spirit of Christianity and its Fate

Why does Hegel see domination and atomisation as connected? What are the fundamental differences between the ancient Judaic outlook and that of Jesus, according to Hegel? Can we see him using the former as a stand-in for the outlook of the society of his own time? Why was Jesus a failure? What is Hegel's implicit conclusion about the kind of religion is that is needed now?

#Hegel [1798-1800] The Spirit of Christianity and its Fate, sections 1, 2, 4, 5 [sd]

#Hegel [1800] ‘Fragment of a system’ [sd]

Both in Hegel, Early Theological Writings, ed. T. Knox

From Hegel’s early writings:

Hegel [1796] ‘How Christianity conquered paganism’, in Early Theological Writings [sd]

Hegel [1797] ‘Two fragments of 1797 on love’, Clio 8(2) [sd]

Hegel [1802] Faith and Knowledge, Introduction and Conclusion [sd]

On Hegel’s development:

Lukács, G. [1948] The Young Hegel, part 1 ch. 1 (and the rest of part 1) [sd]

Pinkard (2000) Hegel: A Biography, ch. 4

Wright, K. (1983) ‘Hegel: the identity of identity and non-identity’, Idealistic Studies 13 [rph]

Ormiston A. (2004) Love and Politics: Re-Interpreting Hegel, ch. 1

Beiser, F. (2005) Hegel,chs. 1-2 and pp. 124-139

3. Phenomenology Introduction and ch. 1: the dialectical method

What is the problem of the criterion? How does Hegel propose to solve it? What does Hegel mean by ‘consciousness’, ‘determinate negation’, ‘experience’ and ‘dialectic’ in the Introduction? Is sense-certainty a kind of knowing or a theory of what knowing is? How does ch. 1 illustrate the method described in the Introduction? Does Hegel’s argument against sense-certainty rely on the assumption that knowledge must be expressible in language?

#Phenomenology, Introduction, ch. 1

#Feuerbach, L. [1839] ‘Towards a critique of Hegel’s philosophy’ in L.S. Stepelevich ed. The Young Hegelians 1983, see pp. 113-116; or in Stern ed. G.W.F. Hegel: Critical Assessments vol. 1, see pp. 116-118 [sd]

On the Introduction and the method of the Phenomenology:

Norman, R. (1976) Hegel’s Phenomenology,ch. 1

Forster, M.N. (1998) Hegel’’s Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit , ch. 3 ‘Justifying Hegelian science’

Beiser, F. (2005) Hegel,ch. 7 ‘The dialectic’

Horstmann, R.-P. (2006) ‘Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit as an argument for a monistic ontology’, Inquiry 49(1) [sd]

‘Hegel’s phenomenological method, Wikiversity [online]

On ch. 1:

Westphal, M. (1979) History and Truth in Hegel’s Phenomenology, ch. 3

Pippin, R.B. (1989) Hegel’s Idealism,ch. 6 sec. 1 [sd]

Taylor, C. (1975) ch. 4 sec. 2 (a slightly longer version of this is published as ‘The opening arguments of the Phenomenology’, in A. MacIntyre ed. Hegel)

4.Phenomenology ch. 4: desire, master and servant, unhappy consciousness

What is the argument from self-consciousness to desire? What is the problem with desire? Why does he introduce ‘life’ at this point? Why must a self-conscious being eventually seek out another one? What is Gadamer’s explanation of why it seeks recognition from the other? Is he right? Why do the two selves enter into the life and death struggle? Why do the two combatants fall short of fighting to the death? Is the master-servant (lord-bondsman) relation constituted by coercion? Why is this relation unsatisfactory from the point of view of the master? Why is it from the point of view of the servant?

#Phenomenology, last few pages of ch. 3 (beginning ‘From the idea, then, of inversion which constitutes the essential nature ...), all of ch. 4

#Hegel [1809] Doctrine of consciousness, translated as ‘Hegel’s summary of self-consciousness from the ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’, L. Rauch and D. Sherman, Hegel’s Phenomenology of Self-Consciousness: Text and Commentary, pp. 47-51 (Hegel’s version of the dialectic of self-consciousness in a handbook for his high-school students) [sd]

Hegel [1817] ‘Self-consciousness’ in Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences, §§344-359 (revised in 1830 as §§424-437 of Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjective Spirit or Hegel: The Berlin Phenomenology or Hegel: Philosophy of Mind)(Hegel’s brief summary in his mature system of the argument of ch. 4) [online]

On self-consciousness, desire and life:

Hyppolite, J. [1936] ‘The concept of life and consciousness of life in Hegel’s Jena philosophy’, in his Studies on Hegel and Marx, tr. 1969 [sd]

Neuhouser, F. (1986) ‘Deducing desire and recognition in the Phenomenology of Spirit’, Journal of the History of Philosophy 24(2)

On the struggle for recognition and the master-servant relation:

Kojève, A. [1947] Introduction to the Reading of Hegel ‘In place of an introduction’ (an immensely influential interpretation for that least 60 years but now heavily criticised)

Inwood, M. (1992) A Hegel Dictionary, entry on ‘recognition and acknowledgement’

*Houlgate, S. (2003) ‘G. W. F. Hegel: The Phenomenology of Spirit’, in R. Solomon and D. Sherman (eds.) The Blackwell Guide to Continental Philosophy [online]

Beiser, F. (2005) Hegel,ch. 8 ‘Solipsism and intersubjectivity’

Chitty, A. (2007) ‘Identitarianism in Hegel’s dialectic of recognition’ [sd]

On stoicism, scepticism and the unhappy consciousness:

Wahl, J. (1951) Le malheur de la conscience dans la philosophie de Hegel, pp. 119-147, translated in Stern ed. G.W.F. Hegel: Critical Assessments vol. 2

Hyppolite, J. (1971) ‘Hegel’s phenomenology and psychoanalysis’, in W.E. Steinkraus ed. New Studies in Hegel’s Philosophy

Butler, J. (1997) The Psychic Life of Power, ch. 1 ‘Stubborn attachment, bodily subjection: rereading Hegel on the unhappy consciousness’

5.Phenomenology, ch. 6A: ancient ethical life and its breakdown

Is there any difference between the ‘universal self-consciousness’ and ‘ethical substance’ of the introduction to ch. 5B and the ‘spirit’ of the introduction to ch. 6? What features does Hegel associate with ancient Greek Sittlichkeit (ethical order or ethical life)? What do the figures of Antigone and Creon respectively represent for Hegel? Why is ancient Greek ethical life doomed?

#Phenomenology, ch. 5B first six paragraphs (ending ‘... consist in living in accordance with the customs of one’s own nation.’), ch. 5C last two paragraphs (beginning ‘ Spiritual reality (das geistige Wesen) is thus, in the first place ...), ch. 6Aa-b

Universal self-consciousness, ethical substance and spirit:

Beiser, F. (2005) Hegel,ch. 5 ‘The realm of spirit’

Solomon, R.C. (1970) ‘Hegel’s concept of “Geist”‘, Review of Metaphysics 2, reprinted in MacIntyre ed. Hegel

Hardimon, M.O. (1994) Hegel’s Social Philosophy, ch. 2 sec. 1

On the ancient Greek world and its breakdown (ch. 6Aa-b):

Hyppolite [1946] Genesis and Structure of Hegel’s ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’, part 5, introduction

Shklar, J. (1971) ‘Hegel’s Phenomenology: an elegy for Hellas’, in Pelczynski ed. Hegel’s Political Philosophyreprinted in Stern ed. G.W.F. Hegel: Critical Assessments vol. 3

Inwood, M. (1984) ‘Hegel, Plato and Greek “Sittlichkeit”‘, in Z. A. Pelczynski ed. The State and Civil Society

Finlayson, J.G. (1999) ‘Conflict and reconciliation in Hegel’s theory of the tragic’ Journal of the History of Philosophy 37(3)

6.Phenomenology ch. 6B-C: self-alienated spirit and the community of forgiveness

What is the connection between the ‘condition of right’ and the unhappy consciousness? What is self-alienated spirit? What is the connection between individuals’ alienation from their collective spirit and a transcendent concept of God? Why does self-alienation lead to the ‘disenchantment of nature’? What is the basic cause of the French Revolution for Hegel? Is he in favour of it or against it? What is the difference between the community of forgiveness at the end of ch. 6 and the universal self-consciousness of the introduction to ch. 5B? Why does Hegel talk of an ‘appearing God’ at the end of the chapter?

#Phenomenology, ch. 6Ac ‘The condition of right’, ch. 6B introduction (on the idea of self-alienated spirit), ch. 6B2 ‘The Enlightenment’, ch. 6Cc ‘Conscience, the beautiful soul, evil and its forgiveness’

On the Roman world (ch. 6Ac):

Hegel [1796] ‘How Christianity conquered paganism’, in Early Theological Writings [sd]

Hegel [1820s] Lectures on the History of Philosophy, tr. Haldane and Simson, vol. 3, ‘Greek Philosophy section 3: The Neo-Platonists’, pp. 374-387

On self-estranged spirit:

Schacht, R. (1971) Alienation, ch. 2

Inwood, M. (1992) A Hegel Dictionary, entry on ‘alienation and estrangement’

*Hardimon, M.O. (1994) Hegel’s Social Philosophy, introduction, pp. 95-122, conclusion

On the enlightenment:

Hegel [1820s] Lectures on the History of Philosophy, part 3 introduction and section on ‘French Philosophy’

Stern, R. (1993) ‘General introduction’, to Stern ed. G.W.F. Hegel: Critical Assessments, vol. 1 pp. 1-20

On the French Revolution:

Ritter, J. [1956] ‘Hegel and the French Revolution’, in his Hegel and the French Revolution, tr. R. Winfield 1982

Habermas, J. [1963] ‘Hegel’s critique of the French Revolution’, in his Theory and Practice, tr. J. Viertel 1973

Nusser, K. [1970] ‘The French Revolution in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, in Stewart ed. The Phenomenology of Spirit Reader

+Taylor, C. (1975) Hegel pp. 403-421

On the community of forgiveness:

*Stern, R. (1998) pp. 178-182

Sembou, E. (2003) ‘Hegel’s idea of a struggle for recognition: the Phenomenology of Spirit’, History of Political Thought 24(2) [olj]

On the politics of the Phenomenology:

Marcuse, H. (1941) Reason and Revolution, ch. 4 ‘The Phenomenology of Mind’

Franco, P. (2000) Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom, ch. 3 ‘The moral and political ideas of the Phenomenology of Spirit’

Patten, A. (2001) ‘Social contract theory and the concept of recognition in Hegel’s political philosophy’, in R.R. Williams (ed.) Beyond Liberalism and Communitarianism: Studies in Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

7.Phenomenology, chs. 7-8, Preface: religion, absolute knowing, Hegel’s metaphysics

What does religious consciousness essentially consist in, for Hegel? How does the concept of the divine change from primitive Christianity to later Christianity? What is the difference between the final form of Christianity and Hegel’s own philosophy? What does Hegel mean by saying that absolute knowing brings time to an end? Why does the chapter on absolute knowing consist largely in a recapitulation? Why should the stages of the Phenomenology correspond to the stages of the Logic? What does Hegel mean by saying that the true is ‘not only substance but also subject’, and that ‘the true is the whole’ in the Preface?

#Phenomenology, ch. 7 Introduction, ch. 7C ‘Revealed religion’, ch. 8 ‘Absolute knowledge’, Preface first half (up to ‘... nature of a so-called truth of that sort is different from the nature of philosophical truth.’)

On Hegel, religion and God:

Barth, K. (1972) Protestant Theology in the Nineteenth Century: Its Background and History, ch. on Hegel

Taylor (1975) Hegel, chs. 7, 18

Solomon, R.C. (1983) In the Spirit of Hegel, pp. 625-639 (argues that Hegel is an atheist)

*Plant, R. (1997) Hegel: On Philosophy and Religion, The Great Philosophers, esp. pp. 30-49

Beiser, F. (2005) Hegel, pp. 139-152

On absolute knowing:

Norman, R. (1976) Hegel’s Phenomenology,ch. 6

Westphal, K. (1989) Hegel’s Epistemological Realism,ch. 10

Houlgate, S. (1991) Freedom, Truth and History, pp. 69-74, 176-181

On Hegel’s metaphysics:

Hegel, Encyclopaedia Logic, §§7-12 and 18 (these paragraphs are part of the introduction to the Encyclopaedia as a whole)

Hegel, Philosophy of Nature, Introduction to end of §249 (Miller translation pp. 1-22)

Taylor, C. (1975) Hegel, chs. 3 secs. 1-6, repr. as Taylor’s Hegel and Modern Society ch. 1 secs. 1-6)

Pippin, R.B. (1989) Hegel’s Idealism,ch. 5

Beiser, F. (2005) Hegel,chs. 3-4

On the Phenomenology and history:

Hyppolite, J. [1946] Genesis and Structure of Hegel’s ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’, part 1 ch. 2 ‘History and phenomenology’

Lukács, G. [1948] The Young Hegel, part 4 ch. 3 ‘A synoptic view of the structure of the Phenomenology’

Forster, M. (1998) Hegel’s Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit, ch. 8 (also chs. 9-12)

On the structure of the Phenomenology:

Schmidt, J. (1981) ‘Recent Hegel literature: the Jena period and the Phenomenology of Spirit’, Telos 48, see pp. 125-130 (a survey of the debate on whether the Phenomenology has a unified structure)

*Stewart, J. (1993) ‘The architectonic of Hegel’s Phenomenology’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 55(4), reprinted in Stewart ed. The Phenomenology of Spirit Reader

8.Philosophy of Right, Preface and Introduction: the rational and the real, right and freedom

What does Hegel mean by saying that the rational is actual and the actual is rational? What does he mean by saying that the Owl of Minerva flies at dusk? Is there a tension between the Preface and the Introduction to the Philosophy of Right? What does he mean by saying that right is the existence of the free will? Is there a connection between this free will and Rousseau’s’ general will?

#Hegel, G. [1817-8] Lectures on Natural Right and Political Science, tr. J.M. Stewart and P.C. Hodgson, §§1-16 and the lecture notes at pp. 319-331 (This is a first draft of the Introduction to the Philosophy of Right, in many ways clearer than the published version) [sd]

#Hegel [1821] Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Preface, Introduction

Introductions to the Philosophy of Right:

Avineri, S. (1968) ‘Hegel revisited’, Journal of Contemporary History 3(2), reprinted in MacIntyre (ed.) Hegel 1972 (survey of interpretations of Hegel’s political philosophy)

Houlgate, S. (1991) Freedom, Truth and History, ch. 3

Hardimon, M.O. (1992) ‘The project of reconciliation: Hegel’s social philosophy’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 21 [olj]

Westphal, K. (1993) ‘The basic context and structure of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right’, in F.C. Beiser (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Hegel

On Hegel’s philosophy of history:

Hegel [1820s] Introduction to the Philosophy of History tr. Rauch, chs. 2-3 and pp. 67-82 (also translated as Reason in History, tr. Hartman, chs. 2-3 and pp. 78-95; and as The Philosophy of History tr. Sibree, pp. 9-53 and 63-79) (For a fuller version of the same material see Lectures on the Philosophy of World History: Introduction, tr. Nisbet, pp. 25-101, 138-151)

Plamenatz, J. (1971) ‘History as the realisation of freedom’, in Pelczynski (ed.) Hegel’s Political Philosophy

Taylor, C. (1975) Hegel, ch. 15

Houlgate, S. (1991) Freedom, Truth and History, ch. 1

+Chitty, A. (1997) ‘The direction of contemporary capitalism and the practical relevance of theory’, Review of International Political Economy 4:3 (see pp. 440-442)

On the Doppelsatz (the rational is actual and the actual is rational):

*Hardimon, M.O. (1994) Hegel’s Social Philosophy, ch. 2 sec. 2 ‘The Doppelsatz’

Patten, A. (1999) Hegel’s Idea of Freedom, ch. 1

Stern, R. (2006) ‘Hegel’s Doppelsatz: a neutral reading’, Journal of the History of Philosophy 44(2)

On right as the existence of freedom:

+Maletz, D.J. (1989) ‘Hegel on right as actualised will’, Political Theory 17

Hardimon, M.O. (1994) Hegel’s Social Philosophy: The Project of Reconciliation, ch. 3

Patten, A. (1999) Hegel’s Idea of Freedom, ch. 2 secs. 1-3

Franco, P. (2000) Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom, ch. 5

On Hegel’s free will and Rousseau’s general will:

Hegel [1817-30] Encyclopaedia Logic §163A

Hegel [1821] Philosophy of Right §§29R, 258R

Ripstein, A. (1994) ‘Universal and general wills: Hegel and Rousseau’, Political Theory 22(3)

Patten, A. (1999) Hegel’s Theory of Freedom, ch. 3 sec. 4 ‘Towards a resolution: the concrete universal’

Neuhouser, F. (2000) Foundations of Hegel’s Social Theory: Actualizing Freedom, ch. 2, pp. 52-54, 78-8

9.Philosophy of Right, Ethical life and the state

What is the essential feature of ethical life in the Philosophy of Right? How does it differ from the ancient ethical life of the Phenomenology? Is it implicitly based on mutual recognition? How does the state reconcile individuality and collectivity? Is Hegel’s critique of popular sovereignty compatible with his claim that right is the existence of freedom?

#Hegel [1821] Elements of the Philosophy of Right, §§142-157, 182-320

On ethical life in the Philosophy of Right:

Taylor, C. (1975) Hegel, ch. 14 ‘Ethical substance’

Wood, A. (1990) Hegel’s Ethical Thought, chs. 11-12

Hardimon, M.O. (1994) Hegel’s Social Philosophy, chs. 5-6

On ethical substance and mutual recognition in the Philosophy of Right:

Theunissen, M. [1982] ‘The repressed intersubjectivity in Hegel’s philosophy of right’, in D. Cornell et al. (eds.) Hegel and Legal Theory, 1991

On civil society:

Riedel [1962] ‘State and civil society: linguistic context and historical origin’, ch. 6 of his Between Tradition and Revolution, tr. W. Wright, 1984

*Ilting, K.-H. (1984) ‘The dialectic of civil society’, in Pelczynski (ed.) The State and Civil Society

Arato, A. (1991) ‘A reconstruction of Hegel’s theory of civil society’, in Cornell et al (eds.) Hegel and Legal Theory, slightly revised as J.L. Cohen and A. Arato, Civil Society and Political Theory, 1992, ch. 2, second section

On the state:

Avineri, S. (1972) Hegel’s Theory of the Modern State, chs. 5-9 [6]

Wolff, M. [1984] ‘Hegel’s organicist theory of the state’, in R. Pippin and O. Höffe (eds.) Hegel on Ethics and Politics, 2004