Introducing Hegel

by Lloyd Spencer and Andrzej Krauze

Book Overview

G.W.F. Hegel's influential writings on philosophy, politics, history, and art are parts of a larger systematic whole. They are also among the most difficult in the entire literature of philosophy.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 184046111X
• ISBN13: 9781840461114
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Totem Books
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Great for today's Youth

Although today I am an avid reader, when I was a kid, it was comic books that were my main reading source. I didn't like reading books much (thought they were tedious) but I could read a comic book on just about any subject (although I mostly read Spiderman or another Marvel character). "Introducing Hegel" by Lloyd Spencer and Andrzej Krauze was a book I found in a used bookstore (the first edition) and it was one that was difficult for me to put down. Although it wasn't, obviously, exhaustive, or wasn't necessarily the easiest book to follow, it was interesting enough to teach me things that I never knew about George W.F. Hegel, and did a great thing by tying in his thought with what was going on around him in his life and in the places he lived. It is my contention that this kind of book can be used by teachers who teach philosophy (or Youth Pastors who want to get their youth to know something about the great philosophers or philosophies around them) to use these to introduce each thinker. For they are fun to read (despite what some reviewers said) and give a good skeleton of the thought of that thinker. It may not be for a college level student, but I think will get people to know more about why they think the way they do than they did previous to reading it, especially young people. This only helps them to shape their thoughts better so they can be more well-rounded thinkers. I am getting other books in this series just to learn more about the great thoughts and thinkers of the ages!

a good launching off point to learning about Hegel's philosophy

Introducing Hegel, like all the introducing series provides only an introduction to the philosophy of Hegel. Still, I found it interesting. I now know that Hegel's philosophy is tied to history. History, and humanities progress through it, represents our becoming aware that we are self conscious. History is a process of taking a whole broken into fragments and piecing it together into a whole. Hegel was very interested in Napoleon and the French Revolution. He believed the struggle by the oppressed was a struggle for recognition. As the oppressed are the ones who have made the world, they are the ones who benefit most from the experience of history. This aspect of his work is represented in the Master and the Slave where one "person" gets control of another "person" and forces him to do work. But in forcing him to do so the Master becomes dependent on the slave and meanwhile the slave learns the self respect that comes from working. So in the end the Master becomes even more dependent on the slave and the slave becomes free. I think the purpose of the introducing series is to whet your appetite for more and this book certainly has done so. Hegel is a fascinating person and his ideas are well worth exploring.

A Great Intro into Hegel's love of wisdom

Enough said. This book is short, simple, and sweet. A fantastic launchpad into Hegel's philosophy of history!