Hegel’s Phenomenology: The Sociality of Reason

The Phenomenology of Spirit is both one of Hegel’s most widely read books and one of his most obscure. The book is the most detailed commentary on Hegel’s work available. It develops an independent philosophical account of the general theory of knowledge, culture, and history presented in the Phenomenology. In a clear and straightforward style, Terry Pinkard reconstructs Hegel’s theoretical philosophy and shows its connection to ethical and political theory. He sets the work in a historical context and shows the contemporary relevance of Hegel’s thought for European and Anglo-American philosophers. The principal audience for the book is teachers and students of philosophy, but the great interest in Hegel’s work and the clarity of Pinkard’s exposition ensure that historians of ideas, political scientists, and literary theorists will also read it.

• Hegel is a major figure who exerts tremendous influence still - this is the most comprehensive interpretation of one of his most important texts available ,The Phenomenology of Spirit, showing its relevance to contemporary philosophy • All our books on Hegel have sold well e.g. Wood Hegel’s Ethical Thought, Pippin Hegel’s Idealism, The Cambridge Companion to Hegel

1. Why the Phenomenology of Spirit?; 2. The claims to self-sufficient knowledge: sense-certainty, perception, understanding; 3. The claims of self-sufficient agency: freedom and self-consciousness; 4. Modern life’s project of self-justification; 5. Modern life’s alternatives and modern life’s possibilities; 6. The self-reflection of the human community; 7. The essential structure of modern life.

‘It is a remarkable reconstruction indeed. Among other things, it is a model of lucid and disciplined philosophical writing … He takes Hegel’s seemingly disconnected discussions … and successfully weaves them together into a coherent argument.’

– Sally Sedgwick, Dartmouth College