Phenomenology of Spirit: 569 (Galaxy Books)

Do not ever believe anyone who describes this book as 'impossible', 'impenetrable', 'obscurant', 'nonsensical', 'badly written' or other such dumb terms. It is true that this may be the most challenging read you ever tackle, even for a trained philosopher, however this does NOT mean that it makes no sense. This is simply the claim of people (Schopenhauer included) who have failed to understand it and refuse to accept their failure.On the other hand, know that this is not a quick read. If you think you can flick through this and get some quick nuggets of insight, you need to forget it. You cannot read this book on your holiday. If you want to understand it you are going to need to invest some serious time and patience to 'study' it as a serious project. Know that people have spent decades in this pursuit.But most importantly, do not believe that you are incapable of it. If you are looking at this then chances are that you already have the inquisitiveness and the interest to tackle it. If you also have the patience you are more than capable. Here is some guidance:1 - Background. You do not need a philosophy degree. People with philsophy degrees have simply read a lot of philosophy (I know because I have a philosophy degree). You can do the same. In my opionion you should make the following the focus of your preparatory reading: Spinoza, Kant, post-Kant (by which I mean the philosophers which came between Kant and Hegel: Jacobi, Reinhold, Novalis, Fichte, Schelling etc - you can read summaries of this period rather than the source texts). It also helps to have a good grasp of Aristotle and, if you are new to philsophy, Descartes. This background reading can be a huge undertaking in itself, but remember I never said this was going to be quick or easy.2 - Guide texts. Often guide texts can do more harm than good, as you really need to be making your own interpretation. However with this book it helps occasionally to get unstuck with someone else's view. The Routledge Guidebook by Robert Stern and the Reading' by Russon are in my opinion the best.3 - Translation. None of the existent translations are perfect, and know that the German is also extremely difficult to read. than 1 translation in tandem. Don't underestimate how helpful this can be.4 - Study. Do not 'read' this book; make notes, summarise its sections in your own words; write down your own thoughts; think about its relevance today; unravel its meaning for yourself. You will find that this is itself an important implication of Hegel's philosophy.The rewards of all this are massive. Hegel, rather than being an obscurant, is probably one of the most innovative and original philosophers of modern times. When you truly 'get' this book you will be very glad you took the time and effort. It also makes it much easier to move onto the likes of Heidegger; also very difficult but not in comparison to Hegel.

Certianly discombobulating 😆, albeit a true masterpiece! This is probably the most conceptually dense philosophcal tome of the lot.

Not an easy read but with the help of online lectures I'm getting there.

An ace read! Everything you ever wanted to know about the master slave dialectic from the master himself!

A much better English translation than the JB Baillie one, especially for readers who don't speak German well.The book itself is the basis for most of today's critical theory so you must read it

This text provides a great, relatively accessible translation with a helpful paragraph-by-paragraph analysis to guide readers through it. The reason I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 is that the analysis section doesn't quite go far enough. I feel a glossary would have been welcome to explain the unique and somewhat slippery ways Hegel uses terms, such as 'Notion' for example. This is one of the most daunting texts in philosophy and I feel the publisher could have included more material to orientate the reader with some extremely alien concepts.Dense as anything, if you give it the time and effort it's extremely rewarding. Don't jump into it straight away though - I recommend Stern's excellent guidebook and free articles on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as great ways of getting to grips with the text.

I liked the depth of the book.

...for anyone who, reading Zizek and other contemporary philosophers, finds it necessary to visit the Hegel page of Wikipedia several times a day. After months of such exercise, one finally realises it might pay to go to the source.