Clear, concise, and approachable, which is everything Hegel himself is not. Singer cozies up to this notoriously difficult author by starting with his philosophy of history, and this is really smart. Once you see how Hegel views the progress and culmination of history you can see how he employs this method in the march toward "absolute idealism." Hegel is very formalistic; ultimate understanding is a kind of rational structure which humanity gradually builds in an almost predetermined sort of wa...

Hegel: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions #49), Peter Singer Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher and an important figure of German idealism. No philosopher in the nineteenth or twentieth century has had such an impact on the world as Hegel, it is more difficult to understand his writings than any other philosopher. Over the past century and a half, all of world thinkers, have been directly or indirectly influenced by Hegel's thought.تاریخ نخستین خوانش: یکی از

I don't know about this one. I of course liked that it's a quick read and easy to understand, but a huge red flag for me was the fact that Singer uses the 'thesis-antihesis-synthesis' model to explain Hegel's dialectic - which is notoriously wrong. As the German-American philosopher Walter Kaufmann writes: Fichte introduced into German philosophy the three-step of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, using these three terms. Schelling took up this terminology. Hegel did not. He never once used

Hegel is by far one of the worst writers in philosophy. This is a common opinion, amongst all philosophers. He simply can't explain ideas in an intelligible way. Peter Singer does it beautifully and illustratively. He excites the reader with the contextual relevance of Hegelian philosophy and introduces him to Hegel's brilliant philosophy of history which inspired Karl Marx, to change the world as he did. Thus, we might say the most influential philosophers in modern history are Karl Marx and th...

That Hegel does pose a challenge is undeniable. Commentaries on Hegel are studded with references to the ‘Himalayan severity’ of his prose, to his ‘repulsive terminology’, and to the ‘extreme obscurity’ of his thought. …another (commentator), Richard Norman, deals swiftly with this section, saying: ’since I find large parts of it inaccessible, I shall say little about it. Peter Singer lays out his principal aim in the preface – reader comprehension. To that end, he skips vast swathes of Hegel’s

I'm writing an essay on Hegel; as it's been a while since I read him, I figured I'd turn to this Oxford Very Short Introduction to refresh my memory concerning Hegel's general thought. Additionally, the fact that Peter Singer – an interesting philosopher in his own right – wrote this piece on Hegel, made it all the more inviting.Of course, one cannot even begin to do justice to Hegel's thought within the span of 120 pages. As Singer points out on the preface, the scope of his introduction is lim...

5* of its kind: thoroughly lucid, illuminating, even entertaining: you couldn't ask for more, except more, and then it wouldn't be AVSI, would it? Its procedure is to take you through H's thought on history (and Freedom), mind (and Mind's revelation of itself to itself), and then logic (the dialectic) so that you can see that each element fits into a majestic Whole, like all the limited aspects of Mind itself (incl. us, folks). Religion and (alas, for my purposes) aesthetics are largely sideline...

In Reverse Gear Peter Singer in this VSI has decided to limit his discussion primarily to one aspect of Hegel’s philosophy: His conception of progress and about his idea of its endpoint. To this end Singer starts with The Philosophy of History and discusses it in some detail. He then introduces us to The Philosophy of Right to show us how Hegel uses his historical conception of mankind’s consciousness-evolution to arrive at the ‘Right’ or ‘Recht’ or in more prosaic terms ‘Laws’.All this while

This is only the second book I’ve read in the Very Short Introduction series. But I must say, I’m extremely impressed. The first was Michael Inwood's book on Heidegger, which tackled the mammoth task of summarizing Being and Time, and did so admirably. Peter Singer does just as good a job with three of Hegel’s books: The Philosophy of History, The Philosophy of Right, and The Phenomenology of Spirit. Singer is a charming guide on this whirlwind tour through the mind of one of history's most dif...

Does what it says on the tin!However, reading this should encourage you to actually read the primary texts and not push them aside. The only problem with this text is that it focuses on Hegel's historiography and notion of Geist, leaving out Hegel's ideas on aesthetics.

Of the books that I've read in the Very Short Introduction series up till now, I think this one is probably the best. Peter Singer does a great job in breaking up the work of Hegel and making it digestible. That is no easy feat. Beginning with The Philosophy of History, and moving through The Philosophy of Right and then Phenomenology of Spirit, Singer succinctly summarises the propositions of each book, all the while showing in which ways they are connected.Hegel is much more sort of hippie tha...

Author is well versed in Hegel and translates his most seminal ideas coherently and clearly for approach by a beginner.Now the foundations are set I can read more complex texts!

History of Western philosophy can be described by writings of three extraordinary philosophers- Socrates, Descartes and Hegel- All other philosophers had mostly spent their life proving them wrong.After Hegel's death, his followers were split into two camp- conservative (which produced no serious thinker) and the other camp of young men with radical leaning known as Young Hegelians who believe in radical vision of resolving the conflicts through synthesis. My hero Karl Marx was from this camp- w...

First of all, wow, what a great introduction. Peter Singer did a very good job of summarizing Hegel, who is probably rightly considered as one of the most difficult philosophers in history. Second of all, Hegel’s influence, not only on philosophy, but on history, culture, literature, and politics can’t be understated. All of late 18th to mid 19th century could be described as a Hegelian era, in which his thoughts influenced intellectual and political circles across Europe, for better or worse (s...

About as concise a overview of G.W.F. Hegel can get, and quiet readable. While Singer doesn't cover the entirety of Hegel work, he does give a comprehensible summary of Hegel's most influential ideas (i.e. progress of history, Hegelian ethics and metaphysics). He also tries to explain ideas of Hegel's main works as best he can, which by itself is worthy of praise since Hegel work is among the most difficult in the history of all philosophy. What makes Singer's introduction more impressive is tha...

"The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history ". "The history of the world is nothing but the development of the idea of freedom ". Hegel . "A philosophy like Hegel"s is a self-revelation of the physic background and , philosophically , a presumption . Psychologically it amount to an invasion by the unconscious ". - Carl G. Jung .

This is a strikingly effective and entertaining introduction to otherwise obscure and difficult literature of Hegel. From the very initial paragraphs not only was I extremely intrigued into this book but also to the thoughts of Hegel. This book would serve as a starting point for anybody who wants to delve deeper into Hegel's philosophy at some point. Also, he has provided a recommendation for necessary further readings on Hegel including Hegel's own books in a chronological manner which will he...

I'm not a fan of Singer's thought, but that doesn't mean he's not a smart guy. This is a succinct and clear guide to Hegel's thought that almost fooled me into thinking I could read Hegel myself. Singer does a great job of showing the multiple interpretations of Hegel's ideas, while sticking to the common thread that ties them together.According to Singer, Hegel's main idea was that the universe (and more specifically, humanity) is constantly progressing through different stages of understanding...

I picked this book up to get an overview of Hegel's thought to broaden and deepen my understanding of Stirner and to help in my translation of Stirner's Critics. When I noticed that the author was Peter Singer, best known for his book Animal Liberation and promoter of an expanded version of utilitarian ethics, I had my fears that he would twist his reading of Hegel to fit his ideas. There is no question that he brings his ideas in, and sometimes annoyingly, but I didn't notice anywhere that he s...

I've had a love-hate relationship with the VSI series in the past, but Peter Singer hit this one out of the park. For him to have so clearly and effectively encapsulated the thinking of one of the most opaque yet influential philosophers in European history within the confines of such a short volume is an astonishing achievement. Major kudos to Professor Singer. After a brief biography of Hegel, Singer wisely begins his discussion of Hegel's thought by taking us through his Philosophy of History...