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Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit Will Be Essential Reading 32 for All Students of Modern Philosophy and All Those Coming to Hegel for the first Time

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Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit Will Be Essential Reading 32 for All Students of Modern Philosophy and All Those Coming to Hegel for the first Time Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hegel 7 8 and the Phenomenology of Spirit 9 10 11 12 13 ‘a very clear, accessible, philosophical introduction to Hegel’s 14 prodigious Phenomenology of Spirit . Stern’s interpretation is 15 distinctive, and yet accessible, useful, and stimulating for students and professionals alike . Stern’s new introduction is very 16 welcome indeed.’ 17 Kenneth R. Westphal, University of East Anglia 18 19 The Phenomenology of Spirit is Hegel’s most influential and famous 20 work. It is essential to understanding Hegel’s philosophical system and 21 why he remains a major figure in Western Philosophy. This GuideBook is a clear and accessible introduction to this complex text. It sets out 22 Hegel’s important notion of ‘dialectic’ and explores Hegel’s treatment 23 of the object, the subject, freedom, ethical life, faith and philosophy 24 itself. 25 Robert Stern discusses these topics in non-Hegelian language, 26 making Hegel’s work accessible to all readers of this GuideBook. He 27 provides a background to Hegel’s life and work and a careful explo- 28 ration of each section of the Phenomenology of Spirit. Stern sheds light 29 on Hegel’s method, aims and philosophical ambitions, and assesses the 30 continuing importance of his work to contemporary philosophy. 31 Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit will be essential reading 32 for all students of modern philosophy and all those coming to Hegel for the first time. 33 34 Robert Stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. 35 He is the author of Hegel, Kant and the Structure of the Object (1990), 36 and editor of G. W. F. Hegel: Critical Assessments (1993). 37 Folio 1 Routledge 2 m Philosophy 3 GuideBooks 4 5 Edited by Tim Crane and Jonathan Wolff 6 University College London 7 8 Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit 9 Robert Stern 10 Berkeley and the Principles of Human Knowledge 11 Robert J. Fogelin 12 Aristotle on Ethics Gerard J. Hughes 13 14 Hume on Religion David O’Connor 15 Leibniz and the Monadology Anthony Savile 16 The Later Heidegger George Pattison 17 18 Hegel on History Joseph McCarney 19 Hume on Morality James Baillie 20 Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason Sebastian Gardner 21 22 Mill on Liberty Jonathan Riley 23 Mill on Utilitarianism Roger Crisp 24 Wittgenstein and the Philosophical Investigations 25 Marie McGinn 26 27 Plato and the Republic Nickolas Pappas 28 Locke on Government D. A. Lloyd Thomas 29 Locke on Human Understanding E. J. Lowe 30 31 Spinoza and the Ethics Genevieve Lloyd 32 33 34 35 36 37 LONDON AND NEW YORK Folio ROUTLEDGE Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hegel 8 9 10 and the 11 12 13 Phenomenology 14 15 of Spirit 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 I Robert Stern 37 Folio First published 2002 British Library Cataloguing in by Routledge Publication Data 11 New Fetter Lane, A catalogue record for this book is London EC4P 4EE available from the British Library Simultaneously published in Library of Congress Cataloging the USA and Canada in Publication Data by Routledge Stern, Robert, 1962– 29 West 35th Street, Routledge philosophy guidebook to New York, NY 10001 Hegel and the Phenomenology of spirit/Robert Stern. Routledge is an imprint of p. cm. – (Routledge philosophy the Taylor & Francis Group guidebooks) This edition published in the Includes bibliographical references Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. and index. 1. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, © 2002 Robert Stern 1770–1831. Phaenomenologie des Geistes. I. Title: Hegel and the Phenomenology of spirit. II. Title. All rights reserved. No part of this III. Series. book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any B2929 .S65 2001 electronic, mechanical, or other means, 193–dc21 2001049064 now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, ISBN 0–415–21787–3 (hbk) or in any information storage or ISBN 0–415–21788–1 (pbk) retrieval system, without permission in ISBN 0-203-20504-9 Master e-book ISBN writing from the publishers. ISBN 0-203-20507-3 (Glassbook Format) Contents Chapter 1 1 2 3 4 Contents 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Preface and acknowledgements vii 18 Introduction xi 19 List of abbreviations xvii 20 21 1 The Phenomenology in context 1 22 23 Hegel and his times 1 24 The place of the Phenomenology in Hegel’s 25 life and works 4 26 Hegel’s system 11 27 The role of the Phenomenology 21 28 The Preface and the Introduction 30 29 30 31 2 The dialectic of the object 43 32 Sense-certainty 43 33 Perception 51 34 Force and the Understanding 59 35 The transition to Self-consciousness 66 36 37 v Folio CONTENTS 1 3 The dialectic of the subject 71 2 3 Mastership and Servitude 71 4 Stoicism, Scepticism, and the Unhappy Consciousness 85 5 6 4 The dialectic of Reason 97 7 8 Rationalism and idealism 97 9 Observing Reason 102 10 Active Reason 114 11 Practical Reason 124 12 13 5 The dialectic of Spirit 135 14 15 True Spirit: Ethical Life 135 16 Self-Alienated Spirit: Culture 147 17 Spirit That Is Certain Of Itself: Morality 168 18 19 6 The dialectic of Religion 183 20 21 Natural Religion 183 22 Religion in the Form of Art 186 23 The Revealed Religion 190 24 25 26 7 Philosophy as dialectic 195 27 Absolute Knowing 195 28 Conclusion 198 29 30 Notes 203 31 Further reading 207 32 Bibliography 213 33 Index 231 34 35 36 37 Folio vi Preface Chapter 1 1 2 3 4 Preface and 5 6 acknowledgements 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 ‘A great man condemns posterity to the necessity of 19 explicating him’ (NA: 574). Written as an isolated 20 aphorism, it is unclear whether in making this claim, 21 Hegel was thinking of himself or others: but there is 22 no doubt that in his case, this necessity still holds. As 23 a great thinker, Hegel continues to exert an enormous 24 influence on our time; so in order to comprehend 25 ourselves, we must continually strive to come to terms 26 with his thought, and to understand it anew. 27 This book is a contribution to this process, 28 intended to shed light on the Phenomenology of Spirit 29 for those who are approaching this work for the first 30 time, and who are looking for some way through the 31 labyrinth. I have therefore endeavoured to make my 32 commentary as clear as possible, and to relate it closely 33 to the text. Of course, as Hegel perhaps foresaw, a rich 34 tradition of interpretation has grown up around the 35 Phenomenology, particularly since the 1930s; but for 36 reasons of space and accessibility, I have not been able 37 vii Folio PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 to reflect critically on other interpretations in any detail here, although 2 I have provided references and further reading. I have also assumed 3 that my audience will primarily be English speaking, so I have used 4 standard translations where available, making amendments when 5 necessary (see the Bibliography for further details). 6 I have been helped in this project by many individuals. I would 7 first like to thank Tim Crane and Jo Wolff for inviting me to under- 8 take it (and for waiting for me until I was able to do so). I am 9 particularly grateful to those members of staff and postgraduates at the 10 University of Sheffield who participated in a reading group on the 11 Phenomenology, accompanied by a draft of my commentary, who led 12 me to clarify my thoughts and writing in a number of ways: Leif 13 Wenar, Dominique Kuenzle, Mark Day, and Kathryn Wilkinson were 14 particularly helpful (and stalwart) in this regard. I am also grateful to 15 the two classes of students who took my course on the Phenomenology, 16 and who acted as a testing ground for the suitability of my text for its 17 intended audience. Other individuals who have offered helpful 18 comments and guidance at various times include: Gary Browning, 19 Matthew Festenstein, Terry Pinkard, Nicholas Walker, Robert Wokler, 20 and Heather Worden. I owe an especially large debt to those who acted 21 as readers of the manuscript for Routledge: Fred Beiser, Stephen 22 Houlgate, Ken Westphal, and Jo Wolff. All of them made a number 23 of suggestions and constructive criticisms, which have improved the 24 final book (although, of course, not all disagreements between us on 25 matters of interpretation have been settled, and none of them should 26 be held responsible for the views expressed here). Finally, Routledge 27 also provided considerable support on the editorial side, where Muna 28 Khogali and Tony Bruce were efficient and encouraging throughout. 29 Hegel may have anticipated the drive for explication that his 30 work would provoke; he certainly anticipated its dangers, emphasizing 31 in the Preface of the Phenomenology how hard fair-minded explica- 32 tion can be: 33 This concern with aim or results, with differentiating and passing 34 judgement on various thinkers is therefore an easier task than it 35 might seem. For instead of getting involved with the real issue, 36 this kind of activity is always away beyond it; instead of tarrying 37 Folio viii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS with it, and losing itself in it, this kind of knowing is forever 1 grasping at something new; it remains essentially preoccupied 2 with itself instead of being preoccupied with the real issue and 3 surrendering to it.
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