Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Hegel and the Philosophy of Right

by Dudley Knowles

Hegel is one of the most important figures in the history of ideas and political thought. His Philosophy of Right is widely recognised as one of the greatest works of political philosophy.
Hegel and the Philosophy of Right introduces and
* Hegel's life and the background of the Philosophy of Right
* The ideas and text of the Philosophy of Right
* The continuing importance of Hegel's work to philosophy and political thought.

Genres: Philosophy

402 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2002

About the author

Dudley Knowles is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to lean on this book heavily and often while getting through the Philosophy of Right. It's a great reader's guide. It's accessible without oversimplifying Hegel's project of demonstrating the rational in the real world of politics. Knowles knows when to bring in the philosophical context to help illustrate Hegel's point by contrast with others, especially Hobbes, Rousseau, and Kant. I found it more detailed in its commentary toward the beginning than by the end but that's understandable; most of the intellectual heavy-lifting is in the more abstract/technical pages on Abstract Right and Morality as Hegel builds the foundation for his thesis that ultimately the social world is a "complex structure of will" . By the time we're in Civil Society and The State, the reader's been mostly equipped with enough of the philosophical tools to get by with Knowles providing clarification and context when needed.

Still, I am a little disappointed in just how much is glossed in the last few sections. Seeing as the State is the culmination of Hegel's ethical system it would have been nice to explore international relations and world history more. Though Knowles does invite the reader to jump into Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of History to continue where PR leaves off.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable guide to Philosophy of Right. I still do not understand what terms such as abstract, universal, or particular really mean for Hegel, but this book was otherwise good at trying to unpack some of the issues that Hegel was dialing in on.

Knowles offers his own critiques which can be pretty bad (feminism) or pretty interesting (he offers a defense of social contract theory which seemed to score some genuine hits on Hegel).

Ironically, this book made me like Hegel less since it's clear he's a classical liberal, with some notable critiques of liberalism, but a classical liberal nonetheless. Whatever that means (mostly chronological snobbery).

[Laikhuram · Rating 2 out of 5]

Knowles' opinions are often both detracting and distracting like this one below:

"The dialectician asks: What is justice or courage or knowledge? and immediately goes on to disparage and reject candidate answers. One thing we can say for sure about Hegel’s dialectic – it is not like that. It is characterized by determinate negation, a process of achieving a positive result from a critical examination, ‘a development and immanent progression’ of thought. It is an open question whether there is any such thing."

[Joe Schirtzinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a student of philosophy, you should read Hegel if for no other reason that to understand his dialectic model of philosophy. Although I don't fully agree with all of the tenets espoused here, such as the state and the contract toward it and so on, I would rank Hegel as a highly influential thinker and well worth the read.