An Introduction to Hegel Freedom, Truth and History

by Houlgate, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780631230632
• ISBN10: 0631230637
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-11
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This classic introduction to one of the most influential modern thinkers, G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831), has now been updated and expanded to make it even more comprehensive. The book covers every aspect of Hegelrs"s mature thought, including his philosophy of history, logic, political philosophy, aesthetics and philosophy of religion. For the second edition, five completely new chapters have been added; two on both the Phenomenology and the Philosophy of Nature, and one on the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit. In the course of the book, the author relates Hegelrs"s ideas to those of many other thinkers, including Luther, Descartes, Kant, Newton and Thomas Kuhn. He clearly shows that Hegelrs"s is a viable philosophical enterprise with important theories to contribute to a number of modern debates. Although written for those new to the study of Hegel, specialists will welcome the bookrs"s distinctive and challenging interpretation of Hegelrs"s work, which takes seriously his claim to have developed a philosophy which is ls"presuppositionlessrs".

Author Biography

Stephen Houlgate is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is the author of Hegel, Nietzsche and the Criticism of Metaphysics (1986) and the editor of Hegel and the Philosophy of Nature (1998) and The Hegel Reader (Blackwell, 1998). He was President of the Hegel Society of America from 1994 to 1996 and is currently editor of the Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements to the Second Edition	viii
Acknowledgements to the First Edition	x
List of Abbreviations	xi
Chronology	xiii
Introduction	1	(241)
1 History and Truth	4	(22)
The Historicity of Thought and Civilization	4	(8)
Comparing Civilizations	12	(6)
Self-consciousness and Historical Progress	18	(3)
History, Truth and Relativism	21	(3)
History and the Absolute	24	(2)
2 Thinking without Presuppositions	26	(22)
Thought and Freedom	26	(4)
From Indeterminate to Determinate Thought	30	(6)
The Method of Dialectical Thinking	36	(7)
Logic and Ontology	43	(3)
Logic, Science and History	46	(2)
3 Phenomenology and Natural Consciousness	48	(19)
Logic and Phenomenology	48	(3)
The Method of Phenomenology	51	(3)
Logic in Phenomenology	54	(2)
The Role of the 'We'	56	(2)
Sense-certainty	58	(3)
From Certainty to Truth	61	(2)
Absolute Knowing: The Standpoint of Philosophy	63	(4)
4 The Path to Absolute Knowing	67	(39)
Self-consciousness and the Master-Slave Relation	67	(4)
Stoicism	71	(3)
The Unhappy Consciousness and Reason	74	(4)
Spirit and Absolute Freedom	78	(4)
Moral Spirit	82	(4)
Conscience	86	(3)
The Beautiful Soul, Evil and Forgiveness	89	(7)
Religion	96	(3)
Absolute Knowing	99	(2)
Phenomenology and Philosophy	101	(5)
5 Reason in Nature	106	(16)
From Logic to Nature	106	(2)
Nature: The Idea as the 'Negative of Itself'	108	(2)
Reason and Nature's 'System of Stages'	110	(2)
Contingency and the Limits of Philosophy	112	(3)
Philosophy and Natural Science	115	(7)
6 Space, Gravity and the Freeing of Matter	122	(39)
Space and Its Dimensions	122	(5)
Time	127	(3)
Place and Motion	130	(1)
Matter and Its Gravity	131	(3)
Mass, Inertia and Weight	134	(4)
Falling Bodies and Galileo's Law	138	(6)
The Solar System	144	(3)
Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion	147	(6)
Hegel and Newton	153	(3)
Hegel and Relativity	156	(5)
7 Life and Embodied Spirit	161	(20)
The 'Ideal' Structure of Life	161	(2)
Chemistry and Life	163	(2)
Plants and Animals	165	(1)
Sensation in Animals	166	(3)
Life, Death and Spirit	169	(4)
Evolution	173	(2)
Embodied Spirit	175	(2)
Intelligence and Its Signs	177	(4)
8 Freedom, Rights and Civility	181	(30)
From Hegel to Hitler?	181	(1)
The Limits of Choice	182	(3)
Rights, Property and Slavery	185	(3)
The Problem with Being Moral	188	(7)
Freedom at Home in the World	195	(2)
Civil Society and Poverty	197	(9)
Freedom and the State	206	(5)
9 Art and Human Wholeness	211	(31)
Art, Religion and Philosophy	211	(2)
The Function of Art	213	(7)
Beauty and Ideal Character	220	(8)
The Historicity of Art	228	(3)
Symbolic and Classical Art	231	(3)
Christianity, Aesthetic Autonomy and the 'Death' of Art	234	(8)
10 Philosophy and Christian Faith	242	(34)
Philosophy, Reason and Geist	242	(2)
Philosophy and Religious Representation	244	(5)
God as Reason and Love	249	(5)
Faith and Worship	254	(5)
Death, Freedom and New Life	259	(9)
Faith, Interpretation and Philosophy	268	(4)
Philosophy and Faith in History	272	(4)
Notes	276	(24)
Bibliographical Essay	300	(4)
Index	304