Hegel
Hegel
$60.00
USDOne of the founders of modern philosophical thought Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) has gained the reputation of being one of the most abstruse and impenetrable of thinkers. This first major biography of Hegel in English offers not only a complete, up-to-date account of the life, but also an overview of the key philosophical concepts in Hegel's work in an accessible style.
Terry Pinkard situates Hegel firmly in the historical context of his times. The story of that life is of an ambitious, powerful thinker living in a period of great tumult dominated by the figure of Napolean. Pinkard explores Hegel's interactions with some of the great minds of this period: Hölderlin, Goethe, Humboldt, Schelling, Novalis, the Schlegels, Mendelssohn, and others. Throughout, he avoids Hegal's own famously technical jargon in order to display the full sweep and power of Hegel's thought.
Terry Pinkard is professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University and is author/editor of five previous books, the most recent being ^UHegel's Phenomenology (Cambridge, 1996). He is honorary Professor of the Philosophy Faculty of TÜbingen University, Germany and serves on the advisory board for the Zeitschrift fÜr Philosophique Forschung.
- Offers a full account of life and a clear overview of his philosophical ideas
- Style is lucid so that even a non-specialist can be introduced to this most difficult of philosophers
- The historical context is fully presented
Reviews & endorsements
"Satisfying, well-written..." Magill's Literary Annual
"Pinkard does an incredible job of explaining Hegel's strictly philosophical ideas and largely overcomes the barrier of Hegel's notoriously obscure style." The New York Times Book Review
"[Pinkard] does a creditable job of explaining Hegel's strictly philosophical ideas and largely overcomes the barrier of Hegel's notoriously obscure style." The New York Times Book Review
"This is a magnificent book, conceived on a grand scale and executed with scholarship, wit, and a sense of drama." International Philosophical Quarterly
"Mr. Pinkard offers a moving account of a precarious and harried life, interspersing it with lucid and not unduly long accounts of the main arguments of Hegel's works....Mr. Pinkard has written engrossingly of a supreme instance of the life dedicated to thinking." Richard Velkley, The Washington Times
"By now it is clear that Terry Pinkard offers the most rounded, richly filled-out picture of Hegel, as both philosopher and man, that we have ever had in English. This will quickly become the standard biography of Hegel, and richly deserves to do so. In an age of fine Hegel scholarship, this is a towering achievement." Patrick Riley, Boston Book Review
"The publishers call his book 'the first major biography of Hegel in English,' and for once they are not exaggerating. They could in fact have gone further...this is the most rounded and reliable life of Hegel there has ever been... Pinkard has separated his interpretations of the thought from his descriptions of the life..." London Review of Books
"[Pinkard] offers readers a wider window on a period of tumultuous cultural and political innovation that bears more than one fleeting relevance for our own." George R. Lucas Jr., The Sun
"In clear and modest language, Pinkard fills the breach between Hegelian Bildung (humanistic education) and the average American adult. He concisely summarizes the philosopher's key works, placing them in the larger context of Hegel's life and times. Rich details of Hegel's own person - his Napoleonic haircut, wooden lecture style and 'very characteristic smile' - enrich a narrative of operatic scope, complete with mad poet friend (Holderlin), illegimate son (Ludwig Fischer) and philosophical nemesis (J.F. Fries). Hegel's philosophy, which finessed contradiction, mirrored the contradictions in his life. The portrait that emerges wins sympathy and understanding. Pinkard frees Hegel from the obscurity that unfairly clouds his memory and shows him, stunningly, for who he really was: an early modern version of ourselves." Publishers Weekly (April 10, 2000)
"Terry Pinkard's Hegel is one of the best introductions available to the philosophy of Hegel...Anyone who wants to know what Hegel had to say, and why it is still important, could do no better than begin with this biography." Political Affairs
Product details
June 2001Paperback
9780521003872
812 pages
228 × 153 × 42 mm
1.08kg
15 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on the text
- 1. Hegel's formation in Old Württemberg
- 2. The Protestant seminary in Tübingen
- 3. From Berne to Frankfurt to Jena: failed projects and fresh starts
- 4. Texts and drafts: Hegel's path to the Phenomenology from Frankfurt to Jena
- 5. The Phenomenology of Spirit: Hegel finds his voice
- 6. Life in transition: from Jena to Bamberg
- 7. Nuremberg respectability
- 8. From the Phenomenology to the 'System': Hegel's Logic
- 9. Heidelberg: coming into focus
- 10. Berlin: reform and repression at the focal point (1818–1821)
- 11. Hegel's Philosophy of Right: freedom, history, and the modern European state
- 12. Consolidation: Berlin, Brussels, Vienna (1821–1824)
- 13. Assertion: Berlin, Paris (1824–1827)
- 14. Thinking through modern life: nature, religion, art, and the absolute
- 15. Home:
- 1827–1831
- Notes
- Chronology of Hegel's life
- Hegel's works cited
- Works cited
- Index.
