Phenomenology of Spirit [Paperback]

It doesn't make any sense to rate this work at anything less than 5 stars, since it's one of the most influential works of the last 200 years. It was written in 1806, and it is Hegel's attempt to demonstrate the systematic way in which human experience develops, from its simplest roots in sensory life to its highest fulfilment in scientific, political and religious experience. This was a work that took Kant's revolutionary insights and produced a new philosophy of the human person that prefigured the developments of Marx, Freud, existentialism, deconstruction and so on. Human experience is here understood in a rigorously anti-reductive way: Hegel will not allow meaningful dimensions of human experience to be ignored in the way that they typically are in too-facile theories of experience (like sense-data empiricism, physicalist reductionism, possessive individualism, etc.). Experience is also understood dynamically: because of its own internal reason, experience develops into progressively more complex forms. It is a masterful work, and it takes years of serious study to master this book. It is a very difficult book to work with, because it is written in a very daunting manner, which means it is not realistic to imagine reading it outside of a university course in which someone can lead you into the reading of Hegel's phenomenology. This translation by Miller is also imperfect. This translation was meant as an improvement to the older Baillie translation but, while this one is marginally more "literal," it does not do as good a job as Baillie at communicating the sense of what's being said. If you can only have one translation, this is probably the better choice, but if you are studying the book seriously, I highly recommend hunting down a copy of Baillie's translation as well.

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit is doubtlessly one of the most influential works of philosophy ever compiled. Briefly summarized, Hegel 'retraces' (so he says) the dialectical movement of consciousness from mere sense-perception, through reason and into Spirit; and he makes significant analogies to the history of philosophy, religion, and indeed history itself.

It is hard to understate the influence of this book. Hegel offers a rather compelling and imaginative account of the development of collective human thought, particularly beliefs, values, and ideas; and his notion of history as teleological has inspired many thinkers, revolutionaries, and reformers who proceeded him.

I have several warnings. First, it's far too enthusiastic to call this the 'be all and end all' of philosophy. I strongly warn against getting carried away by Hegel's ideas. Hegel is guilty of making enormous leaps in logic, of obscurantism, and of syncretism. You must approach this with criticism, otherwise you'll earn nothing. Further, you shouldn't take his historical analogies as bare evidence - I don't think even Hegel meant them as such - for they aren't linear or even very accurate. They're better thought of as illustrations, not evidence. And, again, you shouldn't get caught up in Hegel's mystical language. Hegel wasn't a mystic but a true believer in reason, although reason brought him to some pretty strange places.

I must say, however, that this translation left me a little disappointed. I recommend you get a German copy and refer to it regularly. No translation is perfect; but there are many things wrong with this one. The translator rarely explains what words he is translating in footnotes or brackets, although there are many, many instances where they would help greatly, e.g., as an indication of what certain pronouns - which are gendered and thus more recognizable in German - refer to. Further, I was very much annoyed by his rendering of 'Begriff' as 'Notion': although it may be translated as such, I find it far too mystical and fuzzy and I think 'Concept' would suit it far better. Its one advantage over the older translation is its rendering of 'Geist': the latter renders it as 'mind,' the former (more correctly) as 'Spirit.'

In the end, I definitely recommend you read this book; but I warn you that it'll be one of the hardest you'll ever read, especially if you're not acquainted with philosophy. I suggest you also get a guide book of sorts: I found several at the library and used them all heavily. And, again, I recommend you get a German copy (if you can understand it) for cross-reference.

Hegel's famous and difficult 45-page Preface to his Phenomenology of Spirit requires intensive study, but will reward the serious reader with nothing less than a cognitive enlightenment.

By loosening our grip on our rigid habit of self-conceptualizing and by releasing our self from our self-concepts, we begin to master our cognitive process and know ourself as this self-moving process. By this fluid detachment we gain the power to think, and without fear of being attached to our thoughts. We can, if we desire, more easily detach ourselves from being role-bound and tasked. We more easily live, and become, and recognize some of our fears as of our own making. And we are not so readily mediated by outside agencies, such as we have and are surrounded by in the 21st Century.