Hegel: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #049

by Peter Singer

Hegel is regarded as one of the most influential figures on modern political and intellectual development. After painting Hegel's life and times in broad strokes, Peter Singer goes on to tackle some of the more challenging aspects of Hegel's philosophy. Offering a broad discussion of Hegel's ideas and an account of his major works, Singer explains what have often been considered abstruse and obscure ideas in a clear and inviting manner.

About the Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Biography, Politics, Audiobook, Academic

131 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Peter Singer is sometimes called "the world’s most influential living philosopher" although he thinks that if that is true, it doesn't say much for all the other living philosophers around today. He has also been called the father (or grandfather?) of the modern animal rights movement, even though he doesn't base his philosophical views on rights, either for humans or for animals.


In 2005 Time magazine named Singer one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute ranked him 3rd among Global Thought Leaders for 2013. (He has since slipped to 36th.) He is known especially for his work on the ethics of our treatment of animals, for his controversial critique of the sanctity of life doctrine in bioethics, and for his writings on the obligations of the affluent to aid those living in extreme poverty. 


Singer first became well-known internationally after the publication of Animal Liberation in 1975. In 2011 Time included Animal Liberation on its “All-TIME” list of the 100 best nonfiction books published in English since the magazine began, in 1923. Singer has written, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 50 books, including Practical Ethics; The Expanding Circle; How Are We to Live?, Rethinking Life and Death, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), The Point of View of the Universe (with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek), The Most Good You Can Do, Ethics in the Real World and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction. His works have appeared in more than 30 languages.

Singer’s book The Life You Can Save, first published in 2009, led him to found a non-profit organization of the same name. In 2019, Singer got back the rights to the book and granted them to the organization, enabling it to make the eBook and audiobook versions available free from its website, www.thelifeyoucansave.org.



Peter Singer was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1946, and educated at the University of Melbourne and the University of Oxford. After teaching in England, the United States and Australia, he has, since 1999, been Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. He is married, with three daughters and four grandchildren. His recreations include hiking and surfing. In 2012 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, the nation’s highest civic honour.

Reviews

[فؤاد · Rating 3 out of 5]

"من" برای خودآگاهی نیازمند یک "جز-من" است تا در تقابل با آن، خود را بشناسد. یک "منِ" بی حد و مرز هرگز نمی تواند به خودآگاهی برسد، بلکه محتاج محدودیت است، محتاج چیزی است که او را متعین کند تا بتواند تصویری از هویت و جایگاه خود داشته باشد.
اما "من" علاوه بر میل به خودآگاهی، میل خواهندگی هم دارد. یعنی همواره می خواهد "جز-من"ها را تملک و متعلق به خود کند و در نتیجه، از "جز-من" بودن دگرگونشان کرده، به "من" تبدیل کند.

این جا بین این دو میل، تعارضی رخ می دهد:
برای ارضای میلِ خودآگاهىِ "من"، باید "جز-من"ـی مستقل و بیرون از ذات او وجود داشته باشد.
و برای ارضای میلِ خواهندگىِ "من"، باید "جز-من" تبدیل به "من" شود و جزئی درون ذات او شود.
در نتیجه ی این تعارض، "من" همیشه نسبت به اعیان خارجی ناراضی است. میل به کسب بیشتر و بیشتر دارد، اما با تملک هر چیز، آن را دگرگون می کند و از "جز-من" بودن در می آورد و تبدیل به جزئی از "من" می کند. در نتیجه دیگر نمی تواند هویت خود را با آن بشناسد و حرص ارضا ناپذیر به تملک "جز-من" پیوسته گسترش می یابد.

راه جمع بین این دو میل متعارض، راه پایان دادن به این نارضایتی ابدی، "عشق" است. طی عشق، "من" نه با یک عین خارجی، بلکه با "من"ـی دیگر تقابل دارد.
این "منِ" دیگر، همواره از من مستقل است. مستقل می اندیشد، مستقل می خواهد، حتّی اگر در تملک من باشد و من او را جزئی درون ذات خودم به حساب بیاورم. در نتیجه، در آن واحد "من" و "جز-من" است. به خاطر خصوصیت استقلالش و "جز-من" بودنش، میل من به خودآگاهی را ارضا می کند. و به خاطر خصوصیت عدم استقلالش و "من" بودنش، میل من به خواهندگی را ارضا می کند.

[د.سيد (نصر برشومي) · Rating 4 out of 5]

لايمشي الفيلسوف وحيدا، هو خلية لغوية تتشابك مع تطور الفكر البشري، هيجل يلمس تاريخ الوعي، والعقل الكوني الذي يشارك فيه البشر وهم ينطلقون من تحقيق وجودهم الفردي المحدود إلى صياغة الوجود الكلي للإنسانية، وظاهرة العقل التي نرى فيها جوهرنا المدرك من خلال تجلياته في مواضيع إدراكه، والمجتمع العضوي الذي تتشابك فيه المصالح ولايمكن لأحد أن يضحي بوجود الآخر لأنه يكتمل به ويتعالق معه، ويستحضر ثنائية السيد والعبد في احتياج كل منهما للآخر، وانطباع هوية العامل فيما يصنع بصرف النظر عن اضطراره للعمل أو حصوله على الكفاف من ناتج عمله، ويستعيد الرواقية الإغريقية لتتخلص الذات من إحساسها بالظلم الاجتماعي وتحيا في حالة من التنازع بين الرضا ببناء نفسها بعيدا عن كل سيطرة استبدادية من ناحية ومعاناتها لتحفيز إمكانات هويتها الروحية واستثمارها داخل منجز أفعالها المادية التي تخدم الحياة من ناحية أخرى
نوع من المثالية الفكرية التي تحاول أن تتجاوز الثنائيات الضدية بالجمع بينهما في تكوين جدلي يمكن أن يحقق التآلف بين الذهني والتجريبي، والمعنوي والمادي، والشكل والمحتوى، والحرية الفردية والاتساق المجتمعي، ولكن الإنسان لا يستطيع في كل الأحوال أن يكون مثاليا في تصوراته التي يبني عليها استراتيجيات خطابه ومنظومة سلوكياته التي يمكن أن تكون أداة للوصول إلى مقصدياته، لذلك ستسير فلسفة هيجل بعده في ثلاثة محاور: الماركسية بطابعها المادي الذي ينحو إلى التأثير المجتمعي الكلي، والوجودية التي ستقف إلى جانب الفردية على طول الخط، والظاهراتية التي ستحاول أن تفيد من النزعة العقلانية المدركة لتطور الوعي في إدراك العالم وفهمه

[Riku Sayuj · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 we are only told about Man’s consciousness progressing towards an idea of Freedom. Conceptually it is all very easy (relatively!) to grasp because none of Hegel’s core complications are brought into the visual field of the reader yet! Singer has held all that back so that the reader can have the comfort of grasping at something at least before plunging into those torrents.

In the last part of the book Singer gradually unveils some of those complications. First he lets us know that until now we have discussed only the manifestation of progress, but not the causation of it, not the theory behind it. This is, of course, the key component. Finally we have entered The Phenomenology of Mind, and here we are introduced to the dialectic process, and the consciousness encountering the Other, thus developing self-consciousness and gradually pulling itself by its own shoestrings towards Phenomenology itself.

This bootstrapping process too leads towards the Idea of Freedom which we had already been shown was where history was headed anyway. Thus we have arrived back at The Philosophy of History, after going in reverse gear for so long (starting from later works and moving towards the earliest and then backing up again), but this time with an understanding of why the process works the way it was illustrated there. Also, the concept of Spirit is kept camouflaged all this while (Singer prefers ‘Mind’) and is introduced only at the last possible stage. So any reluctance towards the concepts due to an implied religious coloring is also avoided in this way.

Overall, I believe this was a very interesting way to present things. It allows the reader to grasp the concepts in a much more intuitive way — since first he is shown how things are, and then he is asked to tag along as Hegel deconstructs why things work out the way they do. (Kant prolegomena analytic synthetic include?) Singer has done a good job in making hegel accessible in his choice of books and in his order of their presentation. It also shows the reader the best approach to take towards Hegel as a whole too.

[امیر لطیفی · Rating 4 out of 5]

درباره‌ی کتاب
چنان ساده نوشته شده که تقریباً هر خواننده‌ای بدون پیش‌زمینه می‌تواند آن را در دست بگیرید و با رضایت قابل قبولی به پایان برساند. از طرفی همین سادگی کتاب را به فروکاست‌گرایی مشکوک می‌کند.

متن روان است و ترجمه نیز.

درباره‌ی هگل
اولین چیزی‌ است که در این حجم، اختصاصی در مورد هگل می‌خوانم. در نتیجه نظرم می‌تواند پخته نباشد و موقت.

معرفت‌شناسی هگل بر کانت سوار است، ولی تصور می‌کنم، چندان راه به جایی نبرده و چیزی به آن نیفزوده است. از ظرف زمان و مکان و مقولات کانت در تبیین تجربه و فهم چشم پوشیده ولی جایگزین قابل قبول‌تری ارائه نکرده است. ایده‌آلیسم استعلایی کانت به مراتب پخته‌تر، متواضعانه‌تر و خودبسنده‌تر از ایده‌آلیسم مطلق هگل است. تواضع کانت نه یک ژست اخلاقی زائد که روشی است آگاهانه نسبت به ضعف‌های بشری. ایده‌آلیسم مطلق هگل فاقد چنین تواضعِ منطقی و آگاهی است.

آزادی مثبت، جامعه‌ی اندواموار و بهشت
این دو بند مربوط یاداشت کوتاهی‌ست که برای یادآوری شخصی ضمن خوانش نگاشتم:
جامعه‌ی اندواموارِ هگل جایی است که در آن خواسته‌های ناظر بر آزادی مثبت با آثار عقل عملی محض و امر مطلق کانت منطبق‌اند. از طرفی اخلاقِ چنین جامعه‌ای دو ایرادی که هگل به عقل عملی وارد می‌کند می‌رهد. ایراد اول مبنی بر بی‌محتوا بودن قانون‌های کلی عقل عملی محض که با تزریق محتوا توسط دولت چنین جامعه‌ای برطرف می‌شود. در چنین جامعه‌ای، دولت به هر کس می‌گوید چه وظیفه‌ای دارد. افزون بر این، در جامعه‌‌ی مذکور تمایلات فرد و جامعه در تعارض نیست. از این طریق ایراد دوم مبنی بر تعارض حل‌نشده‌ی تمایلات فردی و طبیعی در تقابل با وظیفه‌ی کانتی حل می‌شود.

به نظر می‌آید جامعه‌ی انداموار تنها جامعه‌ای است که آزادی در آن بدون تضاد و تعارض محقق می‌شود. پیتر سینگر معتقد است حتی اگر ایده‌ی این جامعه هم به آزادی‌ نرسد، همچنان ایرادی به طرح هگل وارد نیست و دیگران می‌تواند این راه را ادامه دهند. شاید نتوان امکان تصور چنین جامعه‌ای را به صورت ذهنی، یا به قول امروزی‌ها روی کاغذ رد کرد، ولی با شناخت انسان، و آگاهی از اینکه تلاش وی برای ساختن عملی کردن چنین رویایی، می‌تواند به قیمت ساختن جهنم تمام شود، پروراندن چنین ایده‌ای را نه تنها غیرموجه، شاید بتوان گفت غیراخلاقی می‌نماید.

پی‌نوشت: چیز دیگری می‌خوانم که به هگل اشاراتی داشت و من آن‌ها را نمی‌فهمیدم. بیش از پیش مجاب شدم که این کتاب هگل را فروکاسته.

[Roy Lotz · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 difficult, frustrating, obscure, and opaque philosophers. He manages to condense Hegel’s sphinx-like ideas into crystal-clear prose, provides some illuminating examples, and gives thumbnail sketches of the pertinent biographical and historical information.

Writing for this series must be a kind of creative challenge. If the author is up to it, they are pushed to the most extreme economy of language. The end-result is a kind of intellectual journalism, both punchy and informative. Singer’s and Inwood’s books are both exemplary in this high and mysterious art.

[E H · Rating 1 out of 5]

sad how many 4 and 5 star reviews i see of this book. the low hanging fruit for a critique of singer would simply be to point out that he is an analytic and not continental philosopher, so therefore his opinion on hegel would either invalidate analytic philosophy or hegel, neither of which is all too good for someone who just wants to get into hegel and not have to understand what the schism between analytic and continental is.
i’m not too keen on going down that route since it is the low hanging fruit, instead i want to point out my gripes with this book.
dialectics, logic, aufhebung, barely any of this is actually touched on in this book, and whatever mention they do have is invariably going to make the reading experience for future readers difficult. it isn’t just that thesis-antithesis-synthesis isn’t a good way of describing dialectics, it also isn’t that helpful whatever later reading of hegel. when i first started reading i had this exact mindset, and when i was going through the encyclopedia i was looking for whatever trace of it i could find so i could try to understand it, nothing was there for me to find.
the translations are very poor as well, translating hegel is a struggle of its own, actually so much so that there is a book made specifically about how difficult it is to do. but hegel has been translated, hundreds of times even, which makes it all the more questionable as to why singer didn’t just use the academically accepted translations for certain phrases in the book. “geist” he translated as mind, geist is notoriously difficult to translate, but it is most often accepted to be spirit, the translation of mind is very confusing and old fashioned even for hegelian standards.

if you are looking for actual primers on hegel i suggest any the following:

GWF Hegel - The Essential Writings
Kaufmann - Hegel Reader
Vieweg - The Philosopher of Freedom
Sullivan - Hegel and Revolution
Harris - Hegel: Phenomenology and System
Hyppolite - Genesis and Structure
Houlgate - Hegel on Being
Pinkards biography of Hegel



Good Hegel scholars are shockingly hard to come by within the english speaking world. You might notice that, bar the biographies (which I find to be important to read to understand the context of Hegel’s work and the impact of his contemporaries), the rest are either commentaries on Hegel or explanations of certain parts of his System, which is because for Hegel the only true good secondaries are the ones which are meant to be read alongside his original Texts, not as supplements.

[Steven R. Kraaijeveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 limited; some works are not or only very minimally discussed (the ones glanced over are the Lectures on Aesthetics, the Lectures on the History of Philosophy, the Lectures on Philosophy of Religion, and The Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in particular).

Singer begins with the most concrete and least abstract part of Hegel's thought; that history possesses meaning and significance, and that the history of the world is the progress of consciousness of freedom. He focuses here on Hegel's Philosophy of History. Singer follows up Hegel's views on history with his political philosophy as found in his Philosophy of Right, after which he proceeds to discuss the themes of consciousness and freedom as elaborated in the Phenomenology of Spirit. The final main section focuses on Hegelian logic and dialectics. The introduction opens with a good account of Hegel's life and the spirit of his times, including the philosophers that influenced him (particularly Kant, Fichte, and Schiller). It ends with a nice summation of the aftermath of Hegel's thought, with special attention paid to Marx.

As he indicates in the preface, Singer's selection is influenced by three factors:

1) What is central to Hegel's thought.
2) What is intelligible to general readers within the volume's length.
3) What remains interesting and important today.

As such, the introduction definitely succeeds. It covers a great deal without being superficial (within the limits of short introductions, of course), and it offers plenty of entry-points into Hegel's work both through the ideas covered in the text and via Singer's suggestions for further reading.

[Norah · Rating 4 out of 5]

من الصعب جداً فهم فلسفة هيجل ولكن بمساعدت بيتر سينجر لن تضيع في قراءة الكتاب
بسط بيتر سينجر فلسفة هيجل في كل فصل من الكتاب
ما اشد اعجابي حقاً في فلسفة هيجل عندما تحدث عن الحرية وعن الإله ففي نظر هيجل كل شي في العالم وفي الكون كله جزء من الإله وكذلك عندما تحدث عن الحرية حيث لايصبح الإنسان حراً عندما يفعل مايحلو له فالحرية هي في العقل وليس في الأفعال الحرية هي المعرفة الحرية هي ان تجد ذاتك وان تعرف هويتك ..
يقول هيجل :
"إن جوهر هذا الوعي هو أن تصبح حرًّ؛ سواء أكنت معتلياً العرش أم مقرَّناً في الأصفاد"
فقد يكون المرء مثقفاً بينما هو قابع في زنزانة طاغية، وقد يكون آخر يعيش بحرية تامة على جزيرة استوائية وهو جاهل على نحو تام بكل العلوم والسياسة والفلسفة. فيظل المقرَّن في الأصفاد حرًّ؛ لأنه لا يُلقى للأصفاد بالاً؛ فهو يحرر نفسه من جسده ويلوذ بعقله..

جميل جداً أن تقرأ عن أشخاص غيرو أحداث هذا العالم وأحدثُ حركات ثورية فبفضل الهيجيلين ظهرت الحركة الشيوعية ..

[Bekhradaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

۴۴۱

هگل نمی‌خواست فلسفه‌ای اختصاصاً آلمانی و برای آلمانی‌ها تاسیس کند، اما معتقد بود هر ملت برای پیمودن مدارج ترقی و تعالی باید فرهنگ و ادبی به زبان خود داشته باشد

[محمد شکری · Rating 4 out of 5]

جایگاه هگل در فلسفه
هگل از آن دست فیلسوفان عجیبی است که اظهار نظر شتاب‌زده درباره او، به آبروریزی منجر می‌شود. نمونه‌های بزرگ این آبروریزی کارل پوپر و لویی آلتوسرند که اواخر عمر حرفه‌ای خود اعتراف کردند بسیاری از نقدهایشان به هگل (و مشخصا به فلسفه سیاسی او) کم جانبه و کم دقت بوده است؛ و البته نمونه های کوچک‌تر که الی ماشاءالله
یکی از عجایب این غول فلسفه، برآمدن شاخه های فلسفی از دل آن بوده‌است. جدای از رابطه ایجابی پدیدارشناسی و هرمنوتیک فلسفی با هگل، دو شاخه عمده فلسفه قاره‌ای، مارکسیسم و اگزیستانسیالیسم، به نحوی سلبی از دل او برآمده‌اند. اگر بخواهیم دو دشمن بزرگ برای هگل نام ببریم بی‌شک اولین نامزدها کارل مارکس و سورن کیرکگاردند. دو چهره‌ای که هیچ کجا از نقد هگل غفلت نکرده‌اند. ولی جالب اینجاست که کمتر شکی برای شارحین مارکس و کیرکگارد وجود دارد که این دو عمیقا تحت تاثیر اندیشه هگلی بوده‌اند. جالب‌تر از آن، تخاصم خود این دو رویکرد با هم است. شاید درک این تخاصم در بطن مارکس و کیرکگارد سخت باشد، اما اگر به بزرگترین وارثان هر دو توجه کنیم ماجرا روشن می‌شود. یکی از برجسته‌ترین وارثان مارکس مکتب فرانکفورت و به ویژه بنیان‌گذاران نسل اول آن یعنی هورکهایمر و آدورنو اند و یکی از بهترین شارحان و وام‌گیران کیرکگارد هایدگر است. برای کسانی که اندکی با زندگی نامه آدورنو و یا هایدگر آَشنایند، دشمنی این دو با هم به اندازه توجه مجدد هر دو به فلسفه هگل (برخلاف مارکس و کیرکگارد) آشکار است. این حقیقتا از نیروی شگفت آور فلسفه عملی هگل است که چنین گراف پیچیده‌ای از مخالفان و موافقان دارد. تمام این مسائل را با صرف نظر از استقبال روزافزون اخیر فلسفه تحلیلی به فلسفه هگل محاسبه کنید

جایگاه هگل نزد مترجم
عزت الله فولادوند عزیز، که حق بسیار زیادی بر گردن دوستداران فلسفه سیاسی در ایران دارد، آن چه را که به عنوان قوت و معجزه فلسفه هگل گفتم (که البته نه کشف من، بلکه ورد زبان پیروان طراز اول هگل مثل مارکوزه و شارحان درجه اول او مثل بایزر است) را به نقطه ضعف و طلسم شوم او تعبیر می‌کند. او البته برای این کار استدلال‌های فوق العاده‌ای نیاز ندارد: وقتی تا مارکس و کیرکگارد بیایید، یک قدم مانده تا دو قوای شوم در قرن بیستم را به گردن هگل بیندازید. وارث بزرگ کیرکگارد، هایدگر، با عضویت در حزب نازی و ابراز ارادت به هیتلر، و وارث بزرگ مارکس، لنین، با رهبری حزب کمونیسم و واگذاری آن به استالین، از دو سو به سربرآوردن منفورترین و نامشروع ترین فرزندان هگل منجر شدند. فولادوند که البته مترجم «جامعه باز و دشمنان آن» نیز هست در این داوری خود عمیقا تحت تاثیر پوپر است و نه تنها در مقدمه، بلکه در پانویس ترجمه هم دامن از کف داده و به صحرای محشرِ کوبیدن هایدگری های داخلی(!) می‌زند که سطح کار او را واقعا پایین آورده‌است؛ بخصوص که این کار را زمانی می‌کند که سینگر، مولف کتاب، پوپر و نقدهای او به هگل را به طرز واضحی نقد می‌کند. ظاهرا فولادوند کتابی را ترجمه کرده‌است که با آن و نویسنده آن همدل نیست. خود این ماجرا که نسل فولادوند، بر خلاف مترجمین امروز، نظرات خود را آشکارا در پانویس ترجمه (اگر نه در متن!) می‌آوردند جای تأمل و گفت‌وگوی فراوان دارد. ولی از حق نگذریم ترجمه او مانند همیشه خوشخوان و عالی است

درباره سینگر و کتابش
کتاب سینگر مختصر و واقعا مفید است. من این کتاب را برای دومین بار و به منظور پیش مطالعه یک طرح می‌خواندم. به همین دلیل تنها سه بخش میانی کتاب را مطالعه کردم. اما کاملا به یاد دارم از تمام بخش‌های آن، به عنوان دانشجوی کارشناسی فلسفه لذت برده بودم. سینگر خود یک مارکسیست کلاسیک است که هگل و مارکس را تقریبا در یک راستا می‌بیند. اگر مصاحبه های برایان مگی را دیده یا خوانده باشید، در آنجا نیز سینگر در دفاع از هگل و مارکس به عنوان یک اندیشه کلی سخن می‌گوید. در این مجموعه («بنیانگذاران فرهنگ امروز» از طرح نو) نیز سینگر هم کتابی درباره هگل دارد و هم مارکس. کتاب مارکس او هم بسیار خوب بود که البته همین روزها آن را هم دوباره باید بخوانم. برخلاف مترجم، مولف این دو کتاب همدلانه سعی در اقرار به نقاط ضعف و پروراندن نقاط قوت هگل و مارکس دارد که تا حد خوبی در این کار موفق است

بخش های کتاب به ترتیب عبارتند از: ر
روزگار و زندگی هگل
هدف و غایت تاریخ/ بیشتر بر اساس درس‌های فلسفه تاریخ
آزادی و جامعه/ بیشتر بر اساس فلسفه حق
سفر دور و دراز و پرماجرای ذهن/ بیشتر بر اساس پدیدارشناسی روح
منطق و دیالکتیک/ بیشتر بر اساس علم منطق

[KNIGHT · Rating 5 out of 5]

1) الكاتب وصف نفسه بأنه مرشد لفلسفة هيجل و كان صادقا
2) عرض أفكار هيجل بشكل متفرق و ترتيب خاص به كمؤلف , إلا أنه ربط كل هذه الأفكار باحترافية شديدة
3) أشار إلى مواطن الغموض في فلسفة هيجل دون الخوض فيها
4) كما أشار الكاتب نفسه أنه تغاضى عن أفكار كثيرة لهيجل , لكنه اعتمد أكثر أفكاره أصالة , و أكثرها تأثيرا على من بعده
بعد قراءة هذا الكتاب ستفهم الكثير الكثير من الأشياء

[Omar Kassem · Rating 3 out of 5]

ببساطة هيجل واحد من أعظم الفلاسفة في القرنين التاسع عشر والعشرين ، هذا إن لم يكن أعظمهم على الإطلاق ، ولا يُستثنى من ذلك حتى كارل ماركس نفسه .

يحاول بيتر سينجر في هذا الكتاب أن يطلعنا بشكل بسيط على هذا الفيلسوف من خلال تقييده لموضوع الكتاب ونطاقه قليلاً ، فهو لا يقدم أفكارًا شاملة لجميع تصورات هيجل ، لأنه كما يفترض فإنّه يخاطب جمهوراً لا يملك أية معرفة أو تصورًا مسبقا

يقدم لنا اكثر افكار هيجل ماديةً وأقلها تجريدًا وهي بالطبع فلسفته حول التاريخ ، ثم ينتقل إلى آرائه حول الحرية والتنظيم العقلاني للمجتمع ، وفي النهاية يقدم نظرة سريعة على كتاب علم المنطق ، فهو إذاً لم يناقش سوى قطرة في بحر أفكار هيجل ولقد برر اختياره لهذه الاعمال التي اختار مناقشتها بثلاثة اسباب :
ما يعده رئيسيًا في افكار هيجل ، وما يمكن للقارئ غير المتخصص أن يفهمه في حدود هذا الكتاب ، وما لا يزال مشوقًا ومهمًا للناس في العصر الحاضر

الكتاب جميل جداً ومبسط ، ويمكن اعتباره مدخلًا مناسبًا قبل الغوص في فلسفة هيجل بشكل أكثر عمقًا..

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so grateful to Singer, I've never understood more Hegel in my life (not that I really tried). Of course, I can't fully comment on the parts where he interprets Hegel, but what he said did make sense. I'd really like a longer book by Singer explaining Hegel - and other philosophers I can't be bothered to read and deconstruct myself - he makes it enjoyable!

[W.D. Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 sidelined here, but this is as it should be, for Hegel saw philosophy as subsuming religion and art:

...to put it exactly as Hegel does, art and religion are different ways in which the absolute idea comprehends itself . (That it is self-comprehension that is involved follows from the fact that human beings are part of the absolute idea.) Philosophy, too, is a way of comprehending the absolute idea, but it is a higher form than art or religion because it grasps it conceptually, and consequently understands not only its own form of comprehension, but the aesthetic and religious forms as well. It is of the essence of the absolute idea to manifest itself in distinct, limited forms, and then to return to itself.(118)

And so I return you to yourself as I to myself, though we are all indubitably part of the Absolute Mind, and shall march forwards and each do our part in all the revealing, comprejending and returning, OK?

[Mahmoud Elnaeem]

يبدو لي أن الفلسفة الهِيجلية يشوبها الكثير من التعقيد .. حتىٰ هذه المقدمة القصيرة التي قصد مؤلفها فك الطلاسم التي ضربها هيجل بنفسه - سيان إذا كان بوعي منه أو لا - علىٰ أفكاره لم تُقدِّم لي ما كنت أنشده رغم إعادة قراءة بعض فصوله لأكثر من مرة

ربما يكون الكتاب المُعنون ( أقدِّم لكَ هيجيل ) مُبسّط أكثر

قرأتُ هيجيل كأساس لدراسة كارل ماركس .. لكن أظن أن ذو اللحية الكثة صعَّب طريق الوصول إليه 😁

"ومهما يكن .. "سأقطع هذا الطريق الطويل إلى آخري.. وإلى آخره

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[hope mohammed · Rating 4 out of 5]

لقد استطاع بيتر سينجر ان يدخلني الى عالم افكار هذا الفيسلسوف المثالي وان كان بنبذة مختصرة وقد ارتكز في كتاب المقدمة على شرح مختصر لفلسة التاريخ لهيجل والتي تعني ان تطور اي مجتمع يعتمد على تقدم الوعي بالحرية و استند الى تفصيل ذلك بالتطرق الى الاستناد بامثلة من تاريخ العالم واستدعاء الحضارات و تحليلها تحليلا يعتمد على مدى حرية طبقاتها وامكانية القوانين التيي تتيح هذه الحرية ...

تكلم بشكل مختصر عن مفهوم الفينومونولوجيا ومحاولة تحديد المعنى او المضمون الكلي لشرح هيجل له ..

الكثير من الاختصار في الحديث عن مؤلفاته او بالاحرى محاضراته وتاثيره على الشباب بعده خاصة علاقة ماركس المسنقبلية وتحويل فلسفة التاريخ الى تطبيق عملي .

كتاب جيد يعطيك الخلاصة لكن لاينفع لان تبتدا به لفهم هيجل

[Omar Moustafa · Rating 4 out of 5]

الكتاب هو عرض لأعمال هيجل وفلسفته والصراحة الكتاب قدر يفسر وبصورة جميلة ومبسطة رغم تعقيد الموضوع

"السعي وراء الحرية هو اساس تغير التاريخ "

هيغيل بدا تحليله للتاريخ بمقارنته بحضارة فارس والحضارة الأسيوية وكان شايف ان الحضارة الاسيوية كانت فيها اكتر ديكتاتورية وحكم مطلق اكتر من الفارسية رغم ان الفارسة كانت فيها حكم ثيروقراطي مطلق بردو بس اقل من الاسيوية فكانت الحرية في الوقت داه شبه منعدمة يعني الحرية المطلقة كان وقتها للحاكم بس ، والشعب خاضع للحتمية والتحكم الايتيقي ، ومبيعرفش الخير والشر من نفسه ، ثم جاه اليونانين بمفهومهم للمدنية وديمقراطية ولكن المدنية مكنتش كاملة فكانت متأثرة بقيود العادات المجتمعية ووجود العبيد في الهرم الإجتماعي فبدأ يظهر فلاسفة نقاد زي سقراط ثم إنقلب المجتمع عليه في أخر الأمر فبعد سقوط الحضارة اليونانية وظهور الحضارة الرومانية تحول الأمر ورجع مرة تانية للصرامة في الحكم ولكن مع وجود بعض الحرية الإيتيقية للشعب فكان الشعب يدرك معني الحرية وبيناضل عشانها ثم ظهر المسيحية الي من منظور هيغيل وحدت مفهوم الحرية وساوت الشعب من عبد الي ملك كلهم شبه بعض ، بعدين بدأ يظهر النظام الكنسي ورجع التحكم والعنف وانعدام الحرية الذاتية ترجع مرة تانية فحصل الثورة الفرنسية ثم بدأ يظهر الحرية المطلقة للعقل الي ادي للإرهاب الي حصل بعد الثورة ثم بدأ يحدث تناغم بين العقل المطلق وطبيعة الإنسان البشرية

وبعدين اتكلم عن فينومينولوجيا الوجود عند هيجل وقارنها بلعقل المحض لكانط وانطولوجيا الوجود ليه وذكر أراء هيجل المنافية لكانط في مفهوم العقل المطلق ، وفلسفة الأخلاق ومفهوم الشيء في ذاته عند كانط

بعدين بيتكلم عن الديالكتيك الهيغلي في الصراع الطبقي وعلاقته بالفينومينولوجيا في مرحلة الذاتية وكيفية ظهور الملك والعبد من الوعي الذاتي

في الأخر اتكلم علي تأثير هيجل في الفلسفة المادية الماركسية

[ouafaa Reddame · Rating 4 out of 5]

رغم ما تتسم به أفكار هيجل من صعوبة ولكن الكاتب استطاع تبسيطها بطريقة جيدة .

[Siddharth · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 works, takes a circuitous route from some of his later, more accessible books (Lectures on the Philosophy of World History and Elements of the Philosophy of Right) to "the rocky pinnacles of the Phenomenology" ( Phenomenology of Spirit) and Science of Logic, and then takes the reader back the same route to provide a more unified view of Hegel’s body of thought.

And he succeeds, magnificently. The introduction is extremely accessible, Singer anticipates perfectly where the reader might falter, and usually manages provide a good analogy to pave the way.

The model VSI.

[Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 than his dusty image makes him look. Of course, I don't mean that his biography is filled with marijuana and free love - it isn't at all - but his theories surrounding the nature of reality are not dusty or boring things. For Hegel, reality is something constructed. The collaboration of minds does not simply build a society, it builds a world. It is a profound response to Kant and a startling bold solution to the problems arising from the unreliability of sense-phenomena.

Anyway, this book did everything that I asked of it. As an overview of Hegel's career, I doubt that it can be bested within the word count. I recommend it.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 way. The process is the same -- the dialectic -- whether the end-point is ultimate human freedom or perfect knowledge. The genius of Hegel is this process, and Singer outlines it really well. He's not shy to point out the flaws in the system either, which is good, because some of Hegel's conclusions are at best controversial, at worst, kind of nutty.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read in the "A Very Short Introduction" series and I found it to be excellent. Peter Singer makes his points about Hegel's philosophy and, in 113 pages, we get a feel for the philosophical ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ( 1770-1831). Singer argues that Hegel was one of the most important philosophers of the 19th & 20th Centuries, mainly because of the influence he had on following philosophers. In particular, he had a strong influence on Karl Marx, who had been considered one of the "Young Hegelians." Marx used Hegel's idea of dialectics to promote a vision of communism.
Singer looks at Hegel's life and times, his view of history, and his ideas of freedom and community. Singer examines Hegel's crucially important concept of "Geist," preferring to translate it as "Mind" rather than "Spirit." He shows that Hegel was concerned with changing the world. Could philosophical contemplation be enough to do that? Marx had an answer to that in words engraved on his tombstone: "The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it."

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

kostenlos auf audible! eine gute very short introduction, wenn man neugierig ist, was da eigentlich alle meinen, wenn sie über hegel reden. die introduction hat leider nicht lust auf mehr gemacht. es war mir einfach zu kompliziert. ich habe es beim joggen gehört und es hat sich sehr selbstoptimierungsmäßig angefühlt

[Simon Stegall · Rating 5 out of 5]

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--not scientific understanding, per se, but a philosophical understanding. The highest form of understanding is when the "mind" (the mind of the universe, aka the combined mind of humanity) comes to understand itself. Religion, art, and most of all, philosophy, are all human movements in which the "mind" engenders itself in order to comprehend itself. But this self-comprehension can only be achieved, Hegel argues, through logic, reasoning, and dialectics. Thus, his famous work, Phenomenology of the Mind.

Hegel was reacting against Kant and his ideas about the possibility of apprehending reality, and one can see how the Existentialists reacted similarly against Hegel's thought. Kierkegaard used his idea of dialectics, but rejected the notion that ultimate comprehension can come through reason alone. I think I side more with Kierkegaard, but that doesn't change the fact that Hegel obviously had a brilliant and dizzying intellect which all subsequent philosophers (especially Kierkegaard) were heavily influenced by.

I went ahead and bought The Phenomenology of Mind for (it occurs to me now) not really any good reason. Maybe I'll have the guts to pick it up one day.

[Kyle van Oosterum · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 the highly complex Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

[Pooya Kiani · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب کتابِ خوبی بود. ترجمه هم همینطور. بیشتر از جامع و ناظر بودن به موضوع، شیوه‌ی خوبی در برخورد با هگل داشت، که از سخت‌ترین فلاسفه برای خوندنه. به نظرم برای شروع بد نیست، اما مادامی که در مورد هگل چندین کتاب دیگه نخونده‌م صاحبنظر نیستم.

[Cody Bivins-Starr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Singer’s understanding of Hegel is so incredibly hinged on an overly rationalist and arrogant position that this is almost entirely unhelpful.

It begins with his translation of Geist as “mind” for the reason that, in his view, Hegel couldn’t have possibly conceived of Geist as anything other than materialist brain matter. From this presupposition, the rest falls into place for Singer.

In almost every portion of Hegel’s work influenced by Christian theology he refuses to acknowledge its possibility, claiming instead that Hegel is using it as an example or perhaps overriding it.

There’s little discussion on the dialectic and it’s role in the Phenomenology, and as a result both become reduced to discussions on mental knowledge. Singer explicit reduces dialectic to the classic “thesis-antithesis-synthesis” formula, which by now has been so utterly overthrown by Hegel scholars that it makes Singer’s defense of this absurd.

No mention of Aufhebung.

This is a horrible introduction to Hegel and it doesn’t take an expert to see that.

[Giselle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good introduction to Hegel.

Absolute knowledge as a means to reach absolute truth, and absolute truth being the key to true freedom. We develop self-consciousness when our mind realises that what it seeks to know is itself. As reality is constituted by mind, only when mind awakens to the fact that reality is its own creation, can it give up its reaching to the out and beyond. I don't necessarily agree with all of Hegel's philosophy, especially when it came to rationalism as the cornerstone to reaching ‘truth’, but his ideas around 'Panentheism' were very profound and thought-provoking. 

[Apio · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 seemed to actually twist Hegel's ideas to fit his perspective. Rather, he gave a decent and concise summary of Hegel's thoughts that served my need. I do, however, feel that his choice, both in the general outline of this book, and on a smaller level in certain specific portions, to present Hegel's reasoning from back to front (on the broad level, this is reflected in Singer's choice to present Hegel's social and political perspectives before presenting the metaphysical and logical perspectives upon which these were based) may cause more confusion in understanding Hegel's methodology than whatever light this reversal may throw on his ideas... And since his methodology is as important to his philosophy as the ideas themselves (perhaps more important in terms of Hegel's historical significance), I think that this is a genuine weakness in Singer's book. On the other hand, the book certainly met my needs, leaving now doubt in my mind that while Marx may have stood Hegel on his head (or feet, as Marx himself preferred to put), Stirner pulled the floor out from under Hegel, demolishing his framework (though still using some of the pieces he found helpful in that demolition).