The Essential Writings

by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Hegel's major works; dialectic; metaphysics; science; experience; philosophic truth; Absolute Spirit.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Classics, Theory, Collections

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) was a German philosopher and one of the founding figures of German Idealism. Influenced by Kant's transcendental idealism and Rousseau's politics, Hegel formulated an elaborate system of historical development of ethics, government, and religion through the dialectical unfolding of the Absolute. Hegel was one of the most well-known historicist philosopher, and his thought presaged continental philosophy, including postmodernism. His system was inverted into a materialist ideology by Karl Marx, originally a member of the Young Hegelian faction.

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alas, this book failed me and I failed to finish this book. I made it about 3/4 of the way through this book and decided my time would be better spent reading some articles explaining Hegel in a more meaningful way. I expect a collection and analysis of essential writings to include a robust collection of writings which this book did and also bring a greater understanding and context to the reader. Maybe in a class or as read as part of a seminar this book would be helpful in understanding Hegel, but it was difficult to get through. Although Hegel's brilliance is evident through his painstakingly composed essays, I the reader want to understand Hegel's contribution and hypotheses more clearly and I do not think I am going to get this out of a book that only contains Hegel's writings himself and mindless chatter about how brilliant Hegel is. Otherwise it does contain a robust collection of Hegel's writings but I was hoping for more analysis.

[Anthony Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've found this very useful as an introduction, especially to the Logic. It gives extracts accompanied by a commentary.

[Karen Corbin]

Weighty, I'm kind of getting it.

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Introduction, Sense Certainty, Perception, Lordship and Bondage, Self Certainty; also in a Philosophy of Right (Free Will, Abstract Right, and Morality; and Social Life: Family and Civil Society). Hegel's philosophy is still a bit too obtuse for me. Even when he drives it toward concrete, practical situations, it still seems mired in things too big to see and too complex to prove. He falls into that category of philosopher who begins with epistemology, in this case, clarifying the Universal concepts of "I" and "now." Objects are universals and only by understanding that context can we proceed to reach anything else. The nuance of the original German clearly complicates the understanding for the English reader.

[Andrew]

It's hard, when reading these essays, not to think how smart Hegel was. Even if I so often disagree with him on such a fundamental level. Still, I appreciate, among other things, his pioneering use of the dialectic, his early analysis of the boss/worker relationship, and his revisionist approach to Kant. On the other hand, I find his absolute-idealist approach bothersome. This was the first book-length approach I've taken to Hegel, but I'm still left cold, if only because I'd like to read a full book of his now, the Phenomenology perhaps or the Philosophy of Nature. It provides a good introduction to Hegel, but I'm left wanting more.

[Taire Cuevas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book.

[Joshua Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best and most understandable representation of Hegel’s main ideas and contributions to

[Joelle Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joelle Reads Her Bookcase #70

This book caused me excruciating eye/migraine pain. I fell asleep more times than not. Jeremiah told me he had never seen me take so long to read a book.

I think understood a whole 10 paragraphs out of everything I read.

Ooooph

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no denying GWF Hegel's influence on Philosophy. However, his works are opaque and difficult to understand. If he could write lucidly, I'm sure he could be the top, but as it is, I couldn't get too far into his works.