Part 2 of our discussion of G.F.W. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, covering sections 178-230 within section B, "Self-Consciousness." Part 1 is here. First, Hegel's famous "master and slave" parable, whereby we only become fully self-conscious by meeting up with another person, who (at least in primordial times, or maybe this happens to everyone as they grow up, or maybe Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Episode 36: More Hegel on Self-Consciousness
This is a 32-minute preview of a 1 hr, 32-minute episode.Buy Now Purchase this episode for $2.99. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes; exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020; and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat Continue Reading …
Kojève on Hegel: “The Concept” is Time itself
Having read many commentaries on and interpretations of Hegel's Phenomenology, I've found Alexandre Kojève's Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spiritto be the best written and most helpful. The language is terse, direct, powerful, fresh, and compelling. It's always struck me as an example of how philosophy ought to be articulated, and I Continue Reading …
Žižek on Hegel on Identity
One public intellectual who has made much hay of Hegel's continued relevance is Slavoj Žižek, who begins one of his jazz-session-like lectures on Hegel’s concept of identity here: Watch on youtube. It’s not clear to me whether Žižek is properly interpreting Hegel, mostly because I find both Žižek and early Hegel incomprehensible. Z's been accused of mis-reading Hegel, and Continue Reading …
Lawrence Cahoone on Hegel’s Phenomenology
Here's an audio-only lecture by Lawrence Cahoone: Listen on youtube. Cahoone here emphasizes very different themes than we talked about on the episode, specifically the theistic themes (he characterizes "Spirit" as "pantheistic" or "panentheistic," both of which have been used to describe Spinoza; the former means everything is God, while the latter means everything is Continue Reading …
Episode 35: Hegel on Self-Consciousness (Citizens Only)
Discussing G.F.W. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), Part B (aka Ch. 4), "Self-Consciousness," plus recapping the three chapters before that (Part A. "Consciousness"). This is discussion one of two: here we only get as far as "The Truth of Self-Certainty," i.e. sections 166-177. This is plenty, though, as this may be the most difficult text in the history of Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Episode 35: Hegel on Self-Consciousness
This is a 30-minute preview of a 1 hr, 28-minute episode.Buy Now Purchase this episode for $2.99. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes; exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020; and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat Continue Reading …
Clare Carlisle’s Spinoza Walk-Through (via The Guardian)
I just stumbled across an 8 part series on Spinoza (discussed by us here), completed today and begun here on 2/7/11, written by U. of Liverpool lecturer Clare Carlisle, who I see has written some books on Kierkegaard,which will give you some idea where she's coming from. I've not read the whole series, but it seems pretty clear and cogent, and will remind you (or fill you in Continue Reading …
Topic for #35: Hegel on Self-Consciousness
We will at last be breaking open the most notoriously obscure, fantabulous work of philosophy ever: Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.This is the early Hegel: anti-metaphysical and historicist, as opposed to the later Hegel previously discussed in our philosophy of history episode and ripped on by Kierkegaard and Schopenhauer. It's a frickin' acid trip, this book is. We'll Continue Reading …
Debating Individual vs. Environmental Forces in History (or, Lord Bragg Loses his Bearing!)
Among my favorite podcasts is the BBC Radio 4 show In Our Time. IOT is usually a genteel forum dedicated to discussing "the history of ideas." Topics and tone range from Oxbridge middlebrow to Oxbridge highbrow, but I always walk away learning something. I almost swerved the car, however, when tempers flared on last week's episode. IOT's host, Lord Melvyn Bragg, just about Continue Reading …
Episode 15: Hegel on History
Discussing G.W.F Hegel's Introduction to the Philosophy of History. Though he didn't actually write a book with this name, notes on his lectures on this topic were published after his death, and the first chunk of that serves as a good entrance point to Hegel's very strange system. How should a philosopher approach the study of history? Is history just a bunch of random Continue Reading …
Episode 15: Hegel on History
Discussing G.W.F Hegel's Introduction to the Philosophy of History. Though he didn't actually write a book with this name, notes on his lectures on this topic were published after his death, and the first chunk of that serves as a good entrance point to Hegel's very strange system. How should a philosopher approach the study of history? Is history just a bunch of random Continue Reading …