Phenomenology of Spirit (Galaxy Books)

Book Description

This brilliant study of the stages in the mind's necessary progress from immediate sense-consciousness to the position of a scientific philosophy includes an introductory essay and a paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of the text to help the reader understand this most difficult and most
influential of Hegel's works.

Customer Reviews:

A Translation which could use more care.......2007-09-24

Unfortunately there is an oft repeated caution when approaching any translated text, but I might argue it is a particularly pernicious problem in the case of Hegel. Much of what Hegel is attempting to accomplish in this piece is break down Kantian categories and give them new dimensionality. In the German, for instance, Hegel uses the word "sein" (being) in various constructions brilliantly woven together to help the reader pick at the different linguistic formulations of what it means "to be". Unfortunately, Miller has given no clues to the reader to get to Hegel's meaning in the German, and instead often come across as bizarre instead of piercing.

Hegeling it up.......2007-09-11

Hegel starts with the scepticism of Hume and the phenomenology of Kant's critique, and then claims that neither went far enough with their probings into knowledge and truth.

A dubious landmark.......2007-09-06

Before you get overawed by his reputation, its worth remembering that a healthy portion of philosophers, especially in the English speaking world, think that Hegel wrote a lot of nonsense, and its historical influence, in my opinion, is not overwhelmingly positive. I've been suspicious of it ever sense I wrote what I thought was a fairly dubious paper on its first section and yet still got an A on it. A lot of the prose reads like some sort of Burroughs-esque prank. Most contemporary analytic philosophy thinks early philosophers were too ambitious in gaining elaborate knowledge through reason alone, but Hegel seems to think they basically weren't ambitious enough. Essentially, if you channeled the rationalists through a megalomaniac, you might get something like this.

Take my pulse, please.......2007-03-15

Phenomenology of Spirit is not a book to be tossed aside lightly; it should be hurled with great force.

Utterly worthless drivel.

Written first but should maybe be read last.......2006-07-04

Okay, so it isn't literally the first thing Hegel wrote, but it is indisputably the work of the young Hegel. I've read this book through twice and have given detailed readings of it in papers, etc. But if I had to do it over again, I would recommend starting with the "mature" Hegel of the encyclopedia - this is a three volume set: the Encyclopedia Logic, i.e. "the little logic", the philosophy of nature, and the philosophy of spirit/mind/geist (not to be confused with the phenomenology). Why start there? For one thing Hegel goes to great lengths to define his method, the dialectic, to situate his work in the history of thought, and to spell it all out in a consistent format. Basically these books resemble legal constitutional writings, with addenda that, in an engaging way, critique "ordinary" thinking on the most basic and enduringly relevant matters. But if you have to start here, savor the preface, it's slow going after that. Also you might want to consider reading Sophocles' Antigone and Rameau's Nephew by Diderot, I was pleasantly surprised the first time I read this by the extent to which he close reads these texts. Someone else mentions Plato's Parminedes, but that is really more relevant to the Logic than to this.

Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit (Agora Paperback Editions)

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Excellent introduction to Hegel
apostrophes
A Brief Note on Tactics
Four and a half stars, Five reserved for Hegel
A brilliantly lucid, if not 'purist', guide to Hegel

Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit (Agora Paperback Editions)
Alexandre Kojève
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Phenomenology of Spirit (Galaxy Books)
Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)
Genesis and Structure of Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" (SPEP)
Hegel
The Philosophy of History (Great Books in Philosophy)

ASIN: 0801492033

Customer Reviews:

Excellent introduction to Hegel.......2007-04-18

My kid nicked it from my library and learned much at about the age of 14. He said subsequent, "Dad is engaged in a Fight to da Death for Pure Recognition".

apostrophes.......2006-07-27

To the previous reviewer:
The possessive form of it is its -- it's means it is.

A Brief Note on Tactics.......2006-07-24

This book, an 'Introduction to the Reading of Hegel', is a collection of transcripts and notes collected and edited by Raymond Queneau, that is the true beginning of the contemporary 'End of History' debate. But can there ever be a final reconciliation between the innumerable factions of human history? "...[H]e [i.e., Hegel] definitely reconciles himself with all that is and has been, by declaring that there will never more be anything new on earth. ('Introduction', p 168.)" Hegel, according to Kojeve, thought that History had come to an end; but the question of course is - exactly what does history 'think' - i.e., do? And that boils down to the question: what exactly is humanity doing? There is a not minor problem with making predictions in public that I would like to mention in this short note; these predictions become but another factor in human interactions. Kojeve, of course, is quite well aware of this; he regarded his 'philosophy' as little more than propaganda for the Hegelian position. This is no modesty, btw, in our posthistoire one can only make propaganda. (Briefly, according to Kojeve, 'History' properly understood ended with Hegel. We live today in a post-history that is nothing but the actualization of Hegelian philosophy throughout the World. When this actualization is complete the Universal Homogenous State then rises.) Thus Kojeve regards (correctly, given his premises) all 'philosophy' today as propaganda. But he has, in my humble opinion. spoken too soon.

Stanley Rosen, a student of Kojeve, alludes to this possibility in the title essay of 'Hermeneutics as Politics': "Had he remained silent, he could never have been refuted." How does one end History, possess the final knowledge - and then change ones mind? (On Kojeve's changing his mind see, for instance, the enigmatic 'Note to the Second Edition' in the 'Introduction to the Reading of Hegel'.) But there is more to the problem than that. By revealing the 'necessities' of History long before its final consummation (i.e., the rise of the UHS) he has allowed all enemies of the ongoing globalization to rally to any opposed cause, no matter how ephemeral. But it may turn out that these short-lived oppositional movements are well-nigh innumerable. ...So, exactly what should Kojeve, given his intentions, have done? He should have worked in the French Ministry (Kojeve is the true architect of the European Union, a building block of the World State), brought out the unjustly ignored, and posthumously published, 'Outline of a Phenomenology of Right', and told Queneau precisely where he could stick his class notes. By publishing the technical, legal and economic 'Outline' and keeping his philosophical speculations permanently to himself he could have (perhaps!) prevented his followers from squabbling over issues that cannot even be decided until the UHS rises...

For as Kojeve admitted in a letter to Leo Strauss, "Historical action necessarily leads to a specific result (hence: deduction), but the ways that lead to this result, are varied (all roads lead to Rome!). The choice between these ways is free, and this choice determines the content of the speeches about the action and the meaning of the result. In other words: materially history is unique, but the spoken story can be extremely varied, depending on the free choice of how to act." (On Tyranny, p 256). Thus the propaganda (i.e., 'the spoken story', theory) is not essential, and here Kojeve remains true to his (peculiar) Marxism, what is crucial is 'material' History. By this Kojeve means the technical, economic and legal forces that inexorably (or so it seems) drive us towards the World State (i.e., UHS). Thus Kojeve's propaganda and predictions, best embodied in the 'Introduction', were always secondary. ...Would we be closer to the UHS if the 'Introduction' never saw the light of day? Of course we will never know. But this possibility can never be discounted either.

Four and a half stars, Five reserved for Hegel.......2005-04-19

What has really been puzzling so many readers of the Introduction is the so-called `Japanization' note (p 159) added to the second edition of the Introduction. It is this perplexing note that I would like to address in this review. This note is where Kojeve first admits that posthistory, as he originally conceived it, was contradictory, that if "Man becomes an animal again, his arts, his loves, and his play must become purely natural again." Humans would "construct their edifices and works of art as birds build their nests and spiders spin their webs, would perform musical concerts after the fashion of frogs and cicadas, would play like young animals, and would indulge in love like adult beasts."

Truly frightening. -Men as beasts! It reminds one of the myth of Plato's (269bff) Reversed Cosmos in the Statesman; men living as contented animals, growing ever more ignorant under the care of the gods/who Kojeve would say equal nature. But it gets worse! ""The definitive annihilation of Man properly so-called" also means the definitive disappearance of human Discourse (Logos) in the strict sense." After comparing the ruins of language (in posthistory) to the language of bees Kojeve says "[W]hat would disappear, then, is not only Philosophy or the search for discursive Wisdom, but also that Wisdom itself. For in these post-historical animals, there would no longer be any "[discursive] understanding of the world and of self."" The Wisdom gained for humanity by the correct understanding of the ruses of History - Hegelianism/w Kojeve - would be lost forever. Thus there would be no Sages contemplating the History that could only (perhaps!) have led to them.

Then he goes on to say that this view was mistaken, he came to realize (1948-1958) that posthistory was already here and that Americans(!) most closely embodied it. By posthistory he means that all history, since the publication (1806) of the Phenomenology, has simply been the activity of `backward' nations becoming more like what Hegel envisioned for them (embodying the laws/institutions of the French Revolution) and various anachronisms (in all states) being gradually eliminated. Obviously, since 1806, Logos (discursive understanding) has not disappeared entirely from the face of the earth - even in America! (Kojeve appears long after 1806, and he has American readers, and Kojeve is indeed a Sage. ...Whew!) "I was led to conclude from this that "the American way of life" was the type of life specific to the post-historical period, the actual presence of the United States in the world prefiguring the "eternal present" future of all humanity. Thus Man's return to animality appeared no longer as a possibility that was yet to come, but as a certainty that was already present." The problem and contradictions of his first understanding seem to be solved with this second (Americanization) understanding. Discursive understanding endures, the Sages will come, the Circularity of the Whole will be comprehended (if only by the Sages) and Kojeve will be remembered. - Problem solved.

...But he doesn't end the note with that. He next speaks of Japanization - but why? His `contradictory' understanding has been corrected by the above. The possibility of discursive understanding remains; the Hegelian/Kojevean Sages can continue to discuss the History that leads to Them and Their Understanding. So why does Kojeve continue his note? He doesn't exactly tell us why. We need to ferret it out. "Now, the existence of the Japanese nobles, who ceased to risk their lives (even in duel) and yet did not for that begin to work, was anything but animal." But he had just shown, thanks to the `Americanization' thesis, that, strictly speaking, animality would not occur. Why is the `Japanization' Thesis necessary?

...Hmmm. The Japanese had experienced the End of History by isolating themselves for 300 years. But they kept a nobility! America hasn't done that. (Is this why Japanization is superior to Americanization? It keeps a nobility? Is this merely a sop to 'exceptions' + sophists that will not become Sages? But why even bother with a concession? Can History actually be restarted - remember, according to the `Americanization' Thesis History has already ended - again?) How did Japan keep a nobility? Through snobbery! Kojeve says there is no Religion, Morals, Politics in the European or historical (by this he means the dialectically expansive Hegelian) sense in Japan. Are we to understand by this that there is "Religion, Morals, Politics" in some non-European, non-historical sense?

The last sentence made us pause; the next sentence makes us stop. "Bur Snobbery in its pure form created disciplines negating the "natural" or "animal" given which in effectiveness far surpassed those that arose, in Japan or elsewhere, from historical Action - that is, from warlike and revolutionary Fights or from forced work." What exactly does Kojeve mean here by effectiveness? How could Snobbery surpass in effectiveness the "historical Action" so unforgettably understood in Hegel's Phenomenology? ...Examples of Snobbery (which are "peaks equaled nowhere else") listed by Kojeve, which one would hope answer our question about effectiveness, are Noh Theater, the tea ceremony and the art of flower display!

I do not mean to sound like a Snob :-) but all this (Noh Theater, etc) does seem to somewhat lack the drama and import (to say the least!) of Hegel's Phenomenology or even Kojeve's commentary. ...So, what is the effectiveness that Kojeve speaks of? He continues by saying that "all Japanese without exception are currently in a position to live according to totally formalized values-that is, values completely empty of all "human" content in the "historical" sense." What Kojeve is indicating is that some form of humanity (values) is still possible after history ends, after no one any longer Fights or risks their life. There still is perfectly gratuitous suicide - hari-kari - but as Kojeve points out, this suicide "has nothing to do with the risk of life in a Fight waged for the sake of "historical" values that have social or political content."

Again, we ask, why does Kojeve find all this so effective? Japanization seems, if anything, thanks to its ahistorical nature, to be the exact opposite of effectiveness from a Hegelo/Kojevian perspective. Kojeve continues, "This seems to allow one to believe that the recently begun interaction between Japan and the Western World will finally lead not to a rebarbarization[!] of the Japanese but to a "Japanization" of the Westerners (including the Russians)." We need to be more than surprised when Kojeve refers to the Westernization of Japan as a rebarbarization. The rebarbarization that Kojeve is speaking of is the bringing of Japan into line with the Hegelian/Kojevean History. ...One is left wondering if Kojeve believed his theory as little as Leo Strauss did.

...Or perhaps only the human consequences of his theory are what troubled Kojeve, not its correctness. "Now, since no animal can be a snob, every "Japanized" post-historical period would be specifically human." But how can the animal Man, as Snob, remain Human when he no longer Fights or Works? Kojeve, in the penultimate sentence of this note says, "To remain Human, Man must remain a "Subject opposed to the Object," even if "Action negating the given and Error" disappears." For the Sages there is no longer Error in posthistory because there is no more historical change. (Man does not live temporally any longer, now, at the End of History, he lives spatially, he is only another piece of nature.) But how can man live non-temporally?

Kojeve ends this note thusly; "This means that, while henceforth speaking in an adequate fashion of everything that is given to him, post-historical Man must continue to detach "form" from "content," doing so no longer in order actively to transform the latter, but so that he may oppose himself as a pure "form" to himself and to others taken as "content" of any sort." This then, of course, is what Kojeve means by the "effectiveness" of `Japanization.' The Sages keep their discursive understanding of the Circularity of the Concept while the `nobility' (exceptions, sophists) unfortunate enough to live at the End of History will continue to struggle, but fundamentally only with(in) themselves. There will be exactly zero Historical import to these struggles. History has ended but the struggle for recognition, in an entirely non-Historical sense, continues thru Snobbery. Thus we have Absolute Knowledge and (a rather peculiar) Humanity at the same time. Kojeve thus sets the table, in the `eternally present future' of the End of history, for us to always have our cake (our Humanity) while eating it (Knowing this Humanity in a complete, absolute, unchanging and adequate manner) too. ...This is what Kojeve is pleased to call `effectiveness'.

At this point some minor observations may be in order. This note we have been considering is an addendum to a note that began on page 157. The paragraph that the first (or original) note attempted to clarify had at least one remarkable statement (p 156) in it: "The Real resists Action not Thought." If this is true (and I believe it is) we see another example of the effectiveness of the `Japanization' thesis. While material/institutional History may End exactly as Hegel/Kojeve say it will end it would seem there is more than one way to `discursively understand' this End.

Kojeve had indicated something similar to this in an earlier letter to Strauss (Sep 19 1950) that says:

"Historical action necessarily leads to a specific result (hence: deduction), but the ways that lead to this result, are varied (all roads lead to Rome!). The choice between these roads is free, and this choice determines the content of the speeches about the action and the meaning of the result. In other words: materially history is unique, but the spoken story can be extremely varied, depending on the free choice of how to act."

The similarity between this note (in a letter) to Strauss and the remark quoted above is that material history is unique (because the Real resists Action, erroneous action is purged by the very Real process of History) but the difference is that in this letter Kojeve seems to be insisting that speech follows the (material) results of Action. This is in fact contradicted by the statement: The Real resists Action not Thought. This says, for those that have ears to hear, that even though (or if) History ends exactly as Hegel/Kojeve say it must end there is no guarantee that the discursive (ahem) `understanding' of this unique and necessary End will be `correct' - by `correct' I merely mean Hegelo-Kojevean.

This is perhaps where the `effectiveness' of the `Japanization' Thesis really lies. Whatever `chatter' arises - after the unavoidable Unique + Necessary End of History in the Hegel/Kojevean sense - among the non-Sages can be understood as a form of Snobbery! Even a non-historical Religion/Politics/Morals, as Kojeve indicates in the Note (P 161) to the Second Edition, would seem to be possible! Thus the Japanization Thesis is not merely a concession to the exceptions/sophists that cannot (or will not) become Sages; it is also (more profoundly) a concession necessitated by the fantasy-like nature of thought itself. The material (and institutional) End of History, as envisioned by Hegel/Kojeve, may well be unavoidable and unique but, given the fact that the Real doesn't resist Thought, exactly anything can be said (or thought, which inevitably becomes speech) of this unavoidable End. And the Sages, at the end of this Unique History, point to the chattering sophists/exceptions and they say - Snobbery! The only unanswered question these Sages now face is can these thoughtful fantasies, when spoken, restart History? Or to put this another way, is it thru these thoughtful snobbish dreams that Mastery, in the Historical sense, re-enters the world?

A brilliantly lucid, if not 'purist', guide to Hegel.......2003-02-05

As noted by other reviewers, this reading of Hegel is a post-Nietzsche, post-Marx, post-Heidegger one (meaning it incorporates or synthesizes these post-Hegel, though influenced-by-Hegel, strains of thought). It is therefore scorned by some Hegel 'purists' like Mr. Trejo below. However, having read quite a few commentaries on and interpretations of the Phenomenology I can say that this one is the most well-written, in the sense that it illuminates some very difficult Hegelian concepts (like "Spirit" itself) in a searingly direct manner. I have also never read another writer so convincing in their argument as to Hegel's essential rightness in his description of the Concept which brings closure to the riddle of Western metaphysics.

I would agree with the 'purists' in not taking this book as the 'definitive' interpretation of Hegel - it can't excuse not reading Hegel in the original, or other commentaries - but I would call it essential within the spectrum of Hegelian thought.

Interestingly, this book shows Hegel, though famously critical of Kant, to be essentially the extender of the Kantian philosophy to it's logical conclusion which is the completion of the Concept of Experience, identified as Time itself (ZeitGeist). That is, Human Time, initiated by the emergence of specifically Human Desires (i.e.; for recognition), as the Absolute Subject which constructs itself rationally via reflection on it's Object-negating or given-negating activity or creativity, not in the classical notion of a rational Time as existing somehow outside or independently of a Subject).

Kojeve's reading however, though convincing in it's demonstration of anthropologically necessary Historical development toward Hegelian 'harmony' between the Subject and it's Object, leaves out Hegel's attempt at the absolute identity of the Object itself. This can be read in two ways that Kojeve touches on. First, in the truer-to-Hegel sense that the Object is necessarily different from the Subject to ensure the ability of the Subject to realize itself as Self, as free Subject of Object-negating, creative, activity. Another way to read this is as simply Kojeve's dismissal of Hegel's Philosophy of Nature and it's more cosmic attempt at spiritualizing the notion of matter. Either way, as many Hegel commentator's have noted, one is left, though undoubtedly further enlightened regarding the nature of subjectivity, with a sense that there is still something 'out there' and unknown, ala Kant's 'thing-in-itself'. This can be understood as the Heidegger-influenced side of Kojeve's reading.

My own conclusion at the moment is that both Hegel and the existentialist school following him can be understood as essentially philosophers of subjectivity in the Western tradition who have rationally illuminated, but also thoroughly exhausted the questioning of the Self about it's nature.

Hegel's Preface to the "Phenomenology of Spirit"

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Looks like a great tool.

Hegel's Preface to the "Phenomenology of Spirit"
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Phenomenology of Spirit (Galaxy Books)
Genesis and Structure of Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" (SPEP)
Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit (Agora Paperback Editions)
Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)
Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Hegel and The Phenomenology of Spirit (Routledge Philosophy Guidebooks)

ASIN: 0691120528

Book Description

This is a new translation, with running commentary, of what is perhaps the most important short piece of Hegel's writing. The Preface to Hegel's first major work, the Phenomenology of Spirit, lays the groundwork for all his other writing by explaining what is most innovative about Hegel's philosophy.

This new translation combines readability with maximum precision, breaking Hegel's long sentences and simplifying their often complex structure. At the same time, it is more faithful to the original than any previous translation.

The heart of the book is the detailed commentary, supported by an introductory essay. Together they offer a lucid and elegant explanation of the text and elucidate difficult issues in Hegel, making his claims and intentions intelligible to the beginner while offering interesting and original insights to the scholar and advanced student. The commentary often goes beyond the particular phrase in the text to provide systematic context and explain related topics in Hegel and his predecessors (including Kant, Spinoza, and Aristotle, as well as Fichte, Schelling, Hölderlin, and others).

The commentator refrains from playing down (as many interpreters do today) those aspects of Hegel's thought that are less acceptable in our time, and abstains from mixing his own philosophical preferences with his reading of Hegel's text. His approach is faithful to the historical Hegel while reconstructing Hegel's ideas within their own context.

Customer Reviews:

Looks like a great tool........2006-05-30

Perused this in the real-world bookstore two nights ago. Half the book is Yovel's introduction, the other half is his commentary on the Preface.

The commentary not only identifies allusions to Schelling et al., but does a good job of identifying Hegelian terms of art (like "immediacy") and explaining them. Yovel also discusses places he disagrees with Miller's translations of terms or phrases.

With Yovel under your belt, you are surely much better prepared to tackle the "Phenomenology."

Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.9 Part 2)

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A great book on many levels for many audiences
Follow up to Archetypes of the Collective Unc.
Christian Symbolism and Equilibrium of the Self
One of his greatest works
Jung At Heart, CW9, Part 2

Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.9 Part 2)
C. G. Jung , Gerhard Adler , and R. F.C. Hull
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.9 Part 1)
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Symbols of Transformation (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.5)
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ASIN: 069101826X

Book Description

Aion, originally published in German in 1951, is one of the major works of Jung's later years. The central theme of the volume is the symbolic representation of the psychic totality through the concept of the Self, whose traditional historical equivalent is the figure of Christ. Jung demonstrates his thesis by an investigation of the Allegoria Christi, especially the fish symbol, but also of Gnostic and alchemical symbolism, which he treats as phenomena of cultural assimilation. The first four chapters, on the ego, the shadow, and the anima and animus, provide a valuable summation of these key concepts in Jung's system of psychology.

Customer Reviews:

A great book on many levels for many audiences.......2006-09-13

This is a must own book for any student of Carl Jung. It covers the basic concepts of his psychological topology in his own words in a brief space and goes into a much deeper dive on the Self. This exploration of Self goes deeply into Christian symbolism and the structure and dynamics of the Self.

Like much of Carl Jung's writing, some of this is very tough going for people new to Jung. It is not a bedside book and the average reader will need to look a lot of things up. However, it is indispensable in terms of the concepts.

There are many good books that can provide commentary on this book and you can find them easily. I would highly recommend that you pick up one of these books about Aion in addition to the text itself. This is a book that has many layers and one which you must be patient with.

If you are merely looking for an introduction to Jung, then I would go with Jung's Map of the Soul by Murray Stein. This is the BEST introduction I know of and quotes Aion a lot. Aspects of the Faminine is also very good for those who want to know more about the anima/animus and a more readable version of Jung's thoughts on marriage, the feminine, etc.

The Viking Portable Jung is also good to get a cross section of Jung's most important thought. However, you will eventually want to read Aion for its depth and extensive elaboration on the nature of the Self.

Follow up to Archetypes of the Collective Unc........2006-06-06

As usual, this is another discerning, but difficult to read Jung book. It focuses on Christian imagery as related to Jung's model of consciousness. This model includes 3 layers vs. Freud's 2-layered approach--by adding a meta-layer which Jung termed the Collective Unconscious. Part 1 of volume 9 of the collected works addressed this layer & its denizens, the archetypes. It is very useful to read that volume prior to this one. This one provides additional information on good vs. evil. The socialization process of each civilization or nation attempts to reify acceptable behavior into children. The down side of this is that parts of the child's psyche is split off--or repressed. The conglomeration of these split off parts form the individual's shadow complex. The initial step in individuation is to reclaim & integrate these parts back into consciousness. Such repressed parts, if not brought back to consciousness, slowly gain energy & can affect people negatively--"not being myself" or Freudian slips. Jung found that alchemy depicted much of his psychological discoveries--giving him a relieving confirmation of his views. In another work, he also mentions that the great Hasidic leader, the Great Maggid of Mezerich, described the bulk of Jungian psychology centuries before. Jung looks for image parallels throughout history & all over the planet (similar to Joseph Campbell's quest). The 2nd phase of individuation is recalling anima or animus projections from other people--a topic far too complex for this review--see Schwartz-Salant & Stein's "Gender & Soul in Psychotherapy."

However, Jung had issues with his Christian upbringing (see his autobiography "Memories, Dreams, Reflections), but he finds extensive parallels within Christianity, especially Catholicism herein. His analysis will probably have an upside & a downside for both Christians & non-Christians alike--though perhaps differently. One can find similar parallels in other religions as well. For a good overall exposition of Jungian principles by a Christian theologian, see Hans Schaer's "Religion & the Cure of Souls in Jung's Psychology" & read CW11, Jung's "Psychology of Religion..." I liked these better than "Aion" (& I'm more interested in Buddhism). Jung's split with long-time friend Father Victor White was over Jung's view of evil as an entity vs. White's Catholic view of the "privatio boni"--evil as the absence of good (per Jung's "Letters"). I suggest reading M. Scott Peck's "People of the Lie" for more on this issue.

As in all but one of his books (i.e. "Answer to Job"), Jung takes a Thinking, scientific stance, saying (~Vajrayana Buddhism), "Emotion incidentally is not an activity of the individual, but something that happens to him." This is not my favorite Jung book, but it's worth reading.

Christian Symbolism and Equilibrium of the Self.......2004-03-07

I found a lot of this book formidably dense. Recently I read an introductory book on Jung by psychoanalyst Anthony Storr that sheds some light, even though Storr never specifically mentions AION. Storr observes a tendency in Jung's thinking to describe the psyche as a self-regulating mechanism, like the human endocrine system. For example, extraverted activity in the unconscious compensates for introverted activity in the conscious (or vice versa). Also, a neurosis may be the unconscious's way of compensating for overly one-sided thinking in the conscious. Similarly, a schizophrenic delusion may be the psyche's (unsuccessful) attempt to restore a lost mental balance.

Examples of this balance/compensation principle in AION:
(1) The Christ symbol. It's a symbol of the Self (like most of the symbols and archetypes discussed in the book), but it lacks a Shadow or inferior component; consequently, the early Christians were compelled to generate the Anti-Christ symbol. However, since the Christ and Anti-Christ are separate entities in traditional Christian thinking, the Western worldview has become highly dualistic and Manichaean, good vs. evil.
(2) The God archetype. As Western thinking has become increasingly secular over the centuries, the God-image has become repressed into the unconscious, where it emerges in savage political forms such as fascism, a worship of the State. (Jung wrote this a few years after World War II.)
(3) Leviathan and Behemoth. "God's monstrous antagonist produces a double because the God-image is incomplete..." (pg. 120).
(4) Sons of God in Catharist legend: Satanael the elder son, Christ the younger son. Similar to the Christ/Anti-Christ dichotomy.
(5) The "higher" and "lower" Adam figures in some Gnostic legends. The higher Adam represents higher states of consciousness; the lower Adam, the unconscious.
(6) The two thieves crucified with Christ. One is destined for heaven (higher consciousness), the other for a warmer climate (unconscious).

Of course, there's more to the book than this equilibrium-of-the-Self aspect. But that aspect ties in with the main theme, the process of individuation (or ascending to a higher state of consciousness) in the Western mind.

Jung really assaults the reader here with his encyclopedic knowledge of religion and alchemy. A lot of his later work deals with esoteric subjects (alchemy, gnosticism, hermeticism, kabbalah). I found a few of the religious subjects, like the medieval "Holy Ghost" movement, to be pretty interesting in themselves, but unfortunately Jung discusses only those elements that relate to his psychological theories.

One of his greatest works.......2003-05-28

_Aion_ is part 2 of volume nine of Jung's collected works. Although _Aion_ is unquestionably a stand-alone work, ideally it should be read after part 1, which is _Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious_.

That said, _Aion_ is one of Jung's greatest works and is one of the first three that anyone who is new to Jung should start with. The first part deals with Christianity, and the significance of the death of Christ. This is treated as a legitimate, factual historical event, yet it is also explained as a collective pschic phenomenon in the general sense. The middle part of the book deals with ancient alchemy, and the symbolic parallels between alchemy and modern conceptions of psychology. This might sound dull, but trust me - you will be surprised to see the uncanny symbolic parallels between ancient magical practices and the most modern, up to date theories of the psyche. This is discussed at length in the section on the "Two Fishes", which is one of Jung's greatest essays (although quite difficult). The final section deals with quaternity symbolism, and features a wide array of strange diagrams. About 200 pages in, these diagrams will become more frequent, and the reader might get frustrated trying to see the significance of these rudimentary drawings. Personally, my advice is to stop reading after 200 pages. All of the useful essays are contained within these first 200 pages, while the final 50 or so pages contains esoteric essays which can be considered, at best, curiosity pieces for the insatiable, die-hard Jungian. The editiors wisely confined this esoterica to final few pages of the book. This is not to take anything away from the book as a whole. Overall, _Aion_ is extremely profound and insightful, and is a must read for Jungians and non-Jungians alike.

Jung At Heart, CW9, Part 2.......2001-02-12

"In psychology one possesses nothing unless one has experienced it in reality." (Jung p. 33) In this volume Jung provides us with his experiences with the human psyche and conclusions about these experiences.

Jung suggests that humans have a psychological makeup that generally exceeds their ability to comprehend it. In this volume he defines and describes these "hidden" aspects of the human psyche, such as: the Ego, the Self, the Shadow, the Anima and others. Jung makes suggestions as to how modern Western humans can discover these unconscious aspects of themselves and how they can be integrated into human consciousness.

This volume hints at a process Jung called individuation, in which the personally unconscious aspects of a human being are united with their normal consciousness, and then this expanded consciousness becomes subservient to a new meta-consciousness, which he called The Self, and which transcends human comprehension, except as an experience. (It is beyond names and forms.) Jung spends a good deal of time describing The Self using Western religious metaphors to make his examples.

Most of Jung's theories have slipped into our collective Western unconsciousness, so that they are now part of our unconscious assumptions, (e.g. projection, shadow, denial, the unconsciousness of our faults) and if you would like to become conscious of these assumptions, a reading of this book might facilitate that experience.

If you are familiar with Jung's work, this will increase your understanding of his concept of the human psyche, its parts and the goal of unification of those parts.

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)
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A book on the easy absolute: we got him

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)
Martin Heidegger , Parvis Emad , and Kenneth Maly
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0253209102

Customer Reviews:

A book on the easy absolute: we got him.......2003-12-31

Here is another book of philosophy lectures with no index. The Contents has a lot of section number and titles, but the possibility of some confusion is already obvious in the title for section 3, "The significance of the first part of the system with regard to the designation of both its titles." (p. v, pp. 17-26). This still relates to the early part of the Introduction before "Preliminary Consideration" (p. v, pp. 32-42), which consists of section 5, "The presupposition of the Phenomenology: Its absolute beginning with the absolute." If this seems excessive in the substitution of words for whatever this series of lectures is supposed to be about, there is a little chart of the basic Phenomenology-system at the bottom of page 7 which shows how Part I of Hegel's philosophy, his book, PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT, is merely an introduction to the Encyclopedia-system, which Hegel originally called Part II, before it was written, but which was divided in three parts, Logic, Philosophy of Nature, and Philosophy of Spirit, in the Encyclopedia which included Phenomenology of Spirit as merely "The second section of the first part (subjective spirit)" (p. 7) of the three main divisions included "in the transformed system of philosophy." (p. 7). Heidegger admits that this is a very philosophical move:

"But should one not say then that Hegel already at the beginning of his work presupposes and anticipates what he wants to achieve only at the end? Certainly this must be said. Indeed, whoever wishes to understand anything of his work must say that again and again. The attempt to diminish this `fact'--as we would like to call it--show, furthermore, how little this work has been understood. . . . For it pertains to the essential character of philosophy that wherever philosophy sets to work in terms of its basic question and becomes a work, it already anticipates precisely that which it says later." (p. 30).

These lectures on Hegel's first major work "constitutes the lecture course given by Heidegger at the University of Freiburg during the winter semester of 1930/31. The German edition, edited by Ingtraud Goerland, was published in 1980 by Vittorio Klostermann Verlag." (p. viii). Normally publication dates matter little in philosophy, and the English translation did not appear until 1988, but the publication in German in 1980 might be considered an answer to specific questions raised by hotshot American philosopher and Princeton professor Walter Kaufmann, near the end of his life, who published a three-volume set in 1980 called Discovering the Mind, after some of the ideas were presented in 1974 and the first draft was completed in 1976, in which Hegel was considered too rushed to be considered philosophical: "especially in his first book he came to write at such a pace that he put fleeting thoughts and doubtful notions down on paper and then had to send them to the printer without any opportunity to rethink what he had written." (DM, V. I, pp. 255-256). Volume II made the same points regarding the publication of Heidegger's first original work, only half a system in which "Heidegger secularized Christian preaching about guilt, dread, and death, but claimed to break with two thousand years of Western thought." (DM, VII, p. xvi). Privately, in "an unpublished letter that Heidegger had written to Karl Loewith on August 19, 1921" (DM, VII, p. 170), Heidegger had written "but it must be added that I am no philosopher, and I do not imagine that I am doing anything remotely comparable; that is not my intention. . . . I am a `Christian theologian.' " (DM, VII, p. 171).

It should be obvious that Heidegger was capable of recognizing systems and identifying them quite easily. In HEGEL'S PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT, he has titles in his Contents that call out: "the System of Science," "1. The system of the phenomenology and of the encyclopedia," "2. Hegel's conception of a system of science," "b) Absolute and relative knowledge. Philosophy as the system of science," "4. The inner mission of the phenomenology of spirit as the first part of the system." Such an understanding of systems is entirely philosophical, and Heidegger's defense of his BEING AND TIME in the final few pages of these lectures is entirely philosophical in nature. He was not supposed to be writing about himself, but about the philosophical "problematic of `being and time' " (pp. 146-147) which previously flared up "for the first and only time, namely, in Kant--people refuse to see the problem and speak rather of my arbitrarily reading my own views into Kant. There is something peculiar about the lack of understanding in our contemporaries by virtue of which one can become famous all of a sudden, and indeed in a dubious sense." (p. 147). That he could complain about being famous as a philosopher already in 1931, before any notoriety from political scandals could make the picture as messy as a German mentality would be a few years later, tends to show that Heidegger had a better grasp of philosophical matters than any of his competitors, of whom only Karl Jaspers, the famous doctor-philosopher whose books include one on GENERAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, springs to mind as truly great.

Heidegger pictures Hegel's first book as a process of creeping up on absolute knowledge. "Hence, the work ends with the short section DD, which is entitled `Absolute Knowledge.' " (pp. 32-33). This leads up to the main assignment:

"In this lecture course I presuppose such a first reading of the entire work. If such a reading has not taken place or does not take place in the next few weeks, there is no sense in sitting here: You cheat not only me but yourselves. However, the first reading is not a guarantee that with the second reading we really understand the work. Perhaps the first reading must be frequently repeated, which is only to say that the first reading is utterly indispensable." (p. 36).

Genesis and Structure of Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" (SPEP)
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Good companion to reading the Phenomenology of Spirit

An exceptionally lucid exposition of the Phenomenology

Genesis and Structure of Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" (SPEP)
Jean Hyppolite
Manufacturer: Northwestern University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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Logic and Existence (S U N Y Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

ASIN: 0810105942

Customer Reviews:

Good companion to reading the Phenomenology of Spirit.......2004-12-29

Like the other reviewer of this book, I would not suggest this as a replacement to the reading of Hegel's Phenomenology. It is, rather, a good thing to read after you have worked through the Phenomenology on your own, or while you are studying it in a class. It is not really an introduction to Hegel, and shouldn't be read first. This is mainly because Hyppolite stays very close to the text of Hegel. Often, when you want him to just say what Hegel means in a passage, Hyppolite ends up saying something that amounts more to a paraphrase than a literal explication in simpler terms. That is fine, though, if what you are interested in is discussing this rich text on its own terms with someone who has clearly spent a lot of time with it and who knows the Hegelian corpus intimately. In his refusal to simply say what Hegel means in terms other than the ones Hegel employs (or rather: in terms other than Hyppolite's own French translations of Hegel's German terms, that are for this text translated into English), Hyppolite appears to be responding to his contemporary Kojeve, who does sometimes take Hegel too literally, and -- while his readings are always incredibly illuminating and persuasive -- appears to put too much weight on some of the early moves of Hegel's self-consciousness chapter while failing to appreciate its later developments.

You should go to Hyppolite as to a very intelligent companion, who has spent a lot of time with a text that you also are interested in, not as a first source of instruction. I would never suggest you use commentaries as a way into Hegel's text without at least beginning to grapple with the text on your own -- since it's too easy to find yourself trapped by the seeming obviousness of one way of reading the text -- but I know first hand that if you try to do this with Hyppolite you won't get too far. Better companion texts for a first read would be Charles Taylor's "Hegel" (which is not always accurate and precise, but is always clear and gives a good general take on the various stages of Hegel's book that helps you not to be totally lost in the details), and John Russon's "Reading Hegel's Phenomenology" (which has the advantage of consisting of several relatively independent chapters that can each be read on its own as a commentary on the various sections of Hegel's book, and which does an exceptional job connecting up the themes of each chapter with themes that each of us must grapple with in our everyday life).

Hyppolite does identify several of the historical and literary references that Hegel has in mind, and amplify and expand on points that Hegel touches on briefly, and that can help to clarify a preliminary understanding of the text. His text's real worth, however, can only be appreciated when you've spent some time grappling with Hegel's text on its own.

An exceptionally lucid exposition of the Phenomenology.......2003-06-25

In his introduction to the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel himself says that "[the] road can therefore be regarded as the pathway of doubt, or more precisely as the way of despair." Though Hegel didn't intend for that sentence to relate to reading the Phenomenology, I'm sure many readers felt that way while making their way through that nearly inpenetrable and poorly translated text. Despite initial appearances, the Phenomenology does make sense, and there is no better guide to Hegel's difficult thought that Jean Hyppolite's Genesis and Structure of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Hyppolite looks at the Phenomenology section by section and illuminates and concretizes Hegel's thought without reducing it. I wouldn't substitute this book for an actual reading of the Phenomenology (though it would probably work), but rather suggest that this commentary be used as an introduction to Hegel's Phenomenology or read concurrently with it. Highly recommended.

The Spirit of Terrorism: And Requiem for the Twin Towers

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More Nonsense
The Spectacle is Real: Enantiodromia
Don't have to buy it. Read it at a bookstore

The Spirit of Terrorism: And Requiem for the Twin Towers
Jean Baudrillard
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1859844111

Book Description

In dealing all the cards to itself, the system forced the Other to change the rules of the game. And the new rules are ferocious, because the game is ferocious.

We have seen many world events, and recent years have been filled with any number of violent ones, from wars to genocides. But until September 11 we had had no symbolic event on a world scale that marked a setback for globalization itself. With the terrorist attacks we are confronted, says Baudrillard, with the pure event that concentrates in itself all the events which have never taken place. And we had all dreamt of this event because it was impossible not to dream of the destruction of American monopolistic power.

Continuing an analysis developed over many years, Baudrillard sees the power of the terrorists as lying in the symbolism of this slaughter. Not merely the reality of death, but a sacrificial death that challenges the whole system. Where the past revolutionary sought to conduct a struggle of real forces in the context of ideology and politics, the new terrorist mounts a powerful symbolic challenge, which, when combined with high-tech resources, constitutes an unprecedented assault on an over-sophisticated, vulnerable West.

'There is,' writes Baudrillard, 'no solution to this extreme situation.' As a response to it, conventional warfare is a non-starter, a non-event. It is merely 'the continuation of an absence of politics by other means.'

About the series: Appearing on the first anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, these series of books from Verso present analyses of the United States, the media, and the events surrounding September 11 by Europe's most stimulating and provocative philosophers. Probing beneath the level of TV commentary, political and cultural orthodoxies, and 'rent-a-quote' punditry, Baudrillard, Virilio, and Zizek offer three highly original and readable accounts that serve as fascinating introductions to the direction of their respective projects, and as insightful critiques of the unfolding events. This series seeks to comprehend the philosophical meaning of September 11 and will leave untouched none of the prevailing views currently propagated.

Customer Reviews:

More Nonsense.......2003-11-12

More postmodern nonsense from one of the usual suspects, the fellow who brought us "The Gulf War Did Not Take Place." As usual, the most craven appeasement is dressed up as some sort of profound philosophy. I wonder if it were Baudrillard's relatives who were murdered whether he'd be so quick to conclude that it is useless to fight back. But I fear the answer would be the same. God help the West if this is what we've come to. Is there anything we're willing to fight for?

The Spectacle is Real: Enantiodromia.......2003-06-24

Jean Baudrillard, perhaps the most aphoristic and clear writing (if not necessarily the most profound) of the postmodernists here wields his phallic pen to cut to the core of the twin tower destruction at the hands of Bin Ladenýs terrorists. He argues, straightforwardly and convincingly, that the power of terrorism is not contained by its Islamic wielders, but is also a kind of global self-destruction of the globalized American superpower. Anyone could recognize that media and imagery were at the heart of the terror in Manhattaný-that part of the terror was the effective use, far out of proportion to the expenditure made, of comandeering the media to call attention (e.g., the police prefix date, 911) to itself and the helplessness of a crisis for which there is no effective solution. As Baudrillard points out, calling the suicides "cowards" only underscored the inability to answer this realized desire to humiliate "civilization" (what has become of civilization) on the part of those who were willing to put their own death into play. Baudrillard cites Nietzsche with regard to martyrdom being the enemy of truth but in the same breath demonstrates that the terrorists' goal is not a final solution via biological or nuclear warfare so much as a confrontation, a dual that will make the west lose face. He suggests that WW III indeed already happened: it was the cold war. And that now we are in the midst of WW IV which is an anitbody-like reaction of Orwellian globalization against itself. He identifies terror with evil which he suggests tends to exist precisely in the fading of the boundaries between good and evil. An interesting analysis that never mentions, but links to the concept of "enantiodromia"ý-adopting the enemies tactics to defeat them. The Israelis did this in becoming nationalistic and materialistic to adopt a state, and the terrorists do it in using the media and its imagery to stage what amounts to a bad Hollywood movie whose extra horror owes to the fact that the spectacle is real.

Don't have to buy it. Read it at a bookstore.......2003-03-11

Short, easy to understand. Good enough not to miss it, but not good enough to own it.
After you read this essay, you will breifly grasp the ideas of why 'fight fire with fire,'which is the current policy on terrorism of the Bush government, will never work to fight against terrorism. Also you may find that collapsed twin towers not only represent the loss of economic Babel tower, but the failure of nostalgic fantasy of globalization in digital-information era.
If you have some time, go to local ..., and check out this interesting short essay. You will finish it before you finish Starbucks coffee. =)

Hegel's Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit

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An important book, lays to rest a number of myths about Hegel's project
Clarity!!

Hegel's Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit
Michael N. Forster
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
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ASIN: 0226257428

Book Description

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit has acquired a paradoxical reputation as one the most important and most impenetrable and inconsistent philosophical works. In Hegel's Idea of a Phenomenology of Spirit, Michael N. Forster advances an original reading of the work. His approach differs from that of previous scholars in two crucial ways: he reads the work, first, as a whole—not piecemeal, as it has usually been analyzed—and second, within the context of Hegel's broader corpus and the works of other philosophers.

The Phenomenology of Spirit emerges as an extraordinarily coherent work with a rich array of important and original ideas. These include a diagnosis of the ills of modernity in terms of its commitment to a series of dualisms, and a project for overcoming them; a sweeping naturalism; a deep rethinking of and response to problems of skepticism; subtle arguments for social theories of meaning and truth; and ideas based on the insight that human thought changes in fundamental ways over the course of history. Forster's unique and compelling reading unlocks the mysteries of Hegel's seminal work.

Customer Reviews:

An important book, lays to rest a number of myths about Hegel's project.......2006-10-22

This is a very important scholarly contribution to the literature on one of the most important works in philosophy. It is not, however, an introduction to Hegel, and presupposes a fairly clear grasp of the themes and methods of the Phenomenology of Spirit and of Hegel's systematic philosophy as a whole.

The project of the book is to clarify the project of the Phenomenology, its relation to Hegel's systematic philosophy as a whole and its abiding relevance today. Forster meticulously lays out the various different "official" and unofficial projects that Hegel set for himself in writing the Phenomenology of Spirit, and the ways in which these projects have been construed and misconstrued both by Hegel's contemporaries and by subsequent scholars. Throughout, his aim is not to demonstrate that Hegel's book fulfilled each of these tasks, but to show that the tasks make sense, that they are not in an essential conflict with each other, that they have historical precedents, that a case can be made for Hegel's having fulfilled these tasks, and that his various remarks about these tasks are both reasonable and coherent. His strategy here is a good one, since while it may be easy to pick holes in a particular interpretation of Hegel's text, it is hard to dispute Forster's demonstration that Hegel's various claims about the book are not obviously wrong or incoherent -- and that those commentators who have claimed they are have been unable to produce a convincing case for their contentions. The outcome of Forster's book is to pave the way for a new generation of scholars to approach Hegel's text charitably as at least potentially fulfilling the tasks that Hegel outlined for it. (I was surprised, for example, to find myself convinced by Forster's demonstration that a plausible case can be made for taking seriously Hegel's various suggestions that the first five chapters from sense-certainty to reason can be read as a roughly chronological history of the epistemology of consciousness -- from ancient Persian and Egyptian religious "epistemology" to German idealism -- in addition to their logical role in accounting with increasing sophistication for what actually takes place in cognition and experience).

Perhaps most importantly, he makes a strong case that while some of these tasks are relative to the period of time in which Hegel was writing (which explains why even Hegel himself put less emphasis on the importance of the work as he came to believe that some of its aims had already been fulfilled), at least one central project of the work remains a viable and important philosophical project even today: the task of demonstrating the viability of a Hegelian approach to systematic philosophy by demonstrating such an approach to emerge naturally from the contradictions implicit in alternative and natural but non-systematic approaches to understanding the world.

This is not the book to turn to as a newcomer to Hegel -- there are better introductions to Hegel (see Houlgate's Introduction to Hegel and Russon's Reading Hegel's Phenomenology), and in general the best place to start is in a class with an instructor who is generally sympathetic to Hegel and can talk you through some of the difficulties. Still, it might not be a bad place to start for an advanced student of philosophy whose reluctance to take Hegel seriously (or take a seminar on Hegel) stems from an inheritance of myths and prejudices that Forster helpfully analyses and challenges. It is, however, an enormously important contribution to Hegel scholarship that, along with many other recent works on Hegel that have helped create a "renaissance" of Hegel studies in the last twenty years or so, should help to lay to rest a number of artificial concerns and misconceptions about Hegel's project that stand in the way of a proper grasp of what is probably the most important and perennially relevant works of one of the most important and influential thinkers.

Clarity!!.......2001-08-14

It is amazing how someone can write so clearly about such and an obscure book. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit has unfortunatly been dismissed by many as simple foolishness. Forster's book, however, is excellent at destroying this view. Put Hegel's Phenomenology on one knee and this book on the other. When you read Hegel you forehead will crinkle up and you will stare blankley at pages. "Huh" Then reading Forster, your forehead will relax "Oh, I see" The combination of the two makes for a great journey into the realm of new and exciting ideas. Forster has allowed me to appreciate the great mind of Hegel that otherwise would have remained unknown to me. Outstanding book.

The Self and its Body in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Toronto Studies in Philosophy)

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Rigorous and readable account of the body in Hegel's thought
Russon on Hegel and the Body
An outstanding book on body, self and Hegel

The Self and its Body in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Toronto Studies in Philosophy)
John Russon
Manufacturer: University of Toronto Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802084826

Book Description

A major criticism of Hegel's philosophy is that it fails to comprehend the experience of the body. In this book, John Russon shows that there is in fact a philosophy of embodiment implicit in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Russon argues that Hegel has not only taken account of the body, but has done so in a way that integrates both modern work on embodiment and the approach to the body found in ancient Greek philosophy.

Although Russon approaches Hegel's Phenomenology from a contemporary standpoint, he places both this standpoint and Hegel's work within a classical tradition. Using the Aristotelian terms of 'nature' and 'habit,' Russon refers to the classical distinction between biological nature and a cultural 'second nature.' It is this second nature that constitutes, in Russon's reading of Hegel, the true embodiment of human intersubjectivity. The development of spirit, as mapped out by Hegel, is interpreted here as a process by which the self establishes for itself an embodiment in a set of social and political institutions in which it can recognize and satisfy its rational needs. Russon concludes by arguing that self-expression and self-interpretation are the ultimate needs of the human spirit, and that it is the degree to which these needs are satisfied that is the ultimate measure of the adequacy of the institutions that embody human life.

This link with classicism - in itself a serious contribution to the history of philosophy -provides an excellent point of access into the Hegelian system. Russon's work, which will prove interesting reading for any Hegel scholar, provides a solid and reliable introduction to the study of Hegel.

Customer Reviews:

Rigorous and readable account of the body in Hegel's thought.......2000-01-26

John Russon's ambitious aim in this book is twofold: (1) to identify the conception of the body that is implied by the argument of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, and (2) to provide a systematic argument that shows this conception of the body to be both comprehensive and compelling. Not only does the book make a good case for having succeeded in these aims, it also provides material for a very careful and provocative reinterpretation of Hegel's Phenomenology that should prove readable and insightful for both general readers with interests in the history of philosophy as well as trained philosophers.

Russon shows that the body that animates the forms of experience that Hegel studies in his text cannot be adequately conceived as reducible to the merely physical organism. In an important early chapter, Russon gives an account of the systematic way in which Hegel's philosophy challenges and overcomes the dualism of immaterial mind and physical body that stands at the heart of early modern philosophy and science. He argues that the body as we experience it is not merely a natural entity (physis), but is a construct of habit and institutions; our experience of the body is not one merely of nature, but of second nature, as Aristotle described the habitual formation of social dispositions (hexis). The final chapters of the text aim to show, moreover, that this "habit-body" should be conceived ultimately as emerging through communicative activity (logos), and that the ongoing process whereby we (non-arbitrarily) constitute ourselves and our world along with others is precisely what is thematized in Hegel's dialectical phenomenology.

Considering the difficulty of the topic, and the vast resources that the argument draws upon, the text is remarkably clear (and concise, at just 137 pages). You need not have spent several years poring over the details of Hegel's challenging and dense text in order to gain much benefit from reading Russon's book. In addition, the book has the merit of demonstrating (against a number of prejudices from a number of sources) that Hegel's philosophy can be a rich resource for thinking through a number of topics of contemporary concern. Russon's conclusions in fact converge nicely with recent efforts in a number of disciplines to draw attention to the embodied character of experience, cognition, and culture.

Russon on Hegel and the Body.......1999-12-23

Russson's book is nothing less than a re-organization of the *Phenomenology of Spirit*, one that makes explicit the conceptual commitment to embodiment that may have been concealed from many readers. This re-organization is accomplished with an all-too-rare philosophical sophistication, as Russon draws on a variety of sources and informs his reading with a strong command of 20th century phenomenology.

Among the book's strengths is a startlingly lucid and original reading of Hegel's text, a reading that illuminates many familiar passages and arguments in striking fashion. Russon's account of the master and slave, and his account of Sittlichkeit, re-animate texts often thought to have been exhaustively understood, revealing both the richness of Hegel's text and the power of a serious reader like Russon. But Russon is also adept at uncovering new insights in passages under-represented in the literature, and it is perhaps here that this book makes one of its strongest contributions. Russon on the reason chapter, and on the unhappy consciousness (the analysis of which is one of his central arguments), provides original and compelling arguments for the centrality of embodiment to the Hegelian understanding of self-consciousness.

But arguably the most significant contribution made by this book is that it reminds us that a Hegelian argument can and should be a philosophical argument. Rather than limiting himself to contributing to ongoing debates within Hegel circles, Russon has engaged philosophical inquiry itself, and shown how Hegel's text, at the hands of a keen reader, can speak, indeed argue successfully, to the broader philosophical community. This book is an argument for the complete understanding of phases of embodiment as conditions of self-consciousness, and thereby an argument that brings phenomenology and Hegel into the centre of important contemporary discussions.

An outstanding book on body, self and Hegel.......1999-12-14

I highly recommend John Russon's _The Self and its Body in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit_ to anyone with a philosophical interest in Hegel or the body: 1) It gives a compelling account of how Hegel would have to conceive body, and thus gives a new understanding of just what Hegel's phenomenology of spirit is concerned with, and what our bodies are. The latter is of central concern in much recent philosophy, and in everyday life in our political and technological culture. 2) It gives a lucid and convincing interpretation of Hegel's difficult book, one that proceeds through an engagement with historical positions in philosophy and science, and more important, through an engagement with the experience of trying to act responsibly in a situation, which experience haunts philosophy from the very beginning and is a most familiar element of life. Russon thus gets to the heart of Hegel's philosophy in a way that is illuminating for both the novice and the dedicated student of Hegel. And he thereby arrives at an important understanding of the body as that sphere of communicative and expressive existence which develops itself so as to enable responsible action in the first place. 3) The book's situation of Hegel in relation to ancient philosophy, transcendental argument and recent phenomenology invites a renewed engagement with Hegel, which is important given the role of Hegel in many current philosophical debates. In particular, Russon's discussion of the body and the unfolding of the Phenomenology of Spirit in terms of phusis (nature), hexis (habit) and logos (here meaning "expression") gives a very comprehensive and original way of grasping both the body and the Phenomenology. Likewise, his interpretation of Hegel's dialectic in terms of the relation of the empirical ego and transcendental ego and focus on recognition help clarify many crucial themes in Hegel. In general, Russon's elucidation of a concept of body in Hegel opens rich ways of thinking about our selves and our bodies.

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: New Critical Essays

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Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: New Critical Essays

Manufacturer: Humanity Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Modern | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Reading Hegel's Phenomenology (Studies in Continental Thought)
In the Spirit of Hegel
Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)
The Phenomenology of Spirit Reader: Critical and Interpretive Essays (Suny Series in Hegelian Studies)
Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit (Agora Paperback Editions)

ASIN: 1591020565

Book Description

Hegel's first major philosophical work is one of philosophy's true masterpieces. Despite its notorious difficulty, it is one of the most influential philosophical works ever written. The PHENOMENOLOGY is not only the first presentation of Hegel's system; it is also an account of the historical development of "Geist" (spirit or mind) from Greek tragedy to the triumph of philosophy as science in Hegel's own time.

This volume of essays offers an interpretation of the spirit of Hegel's PHENOMENOLOGY as well as a concise reading of the main text. It also discusses the historical and philosophical background of Hegel's main work and takes note of its reception. Since the essays were written by philosophers from different countries--both established Hegel scholars and promising young researchers--this volume presents the reader with an international overview of recent Hegel research.

The contributors include Christoph Asmuth, Klaus Brinkmann, Paul Cobben, Alfred Denker, Richard Findler, Jeffrey Kinlaw, Angelica Nuzzo, Tom Rockmore, Dale Snow, Michael Vater, Ludovicus de Vos, Robert Williams, and Holger Zaborowski.

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