Ok guys I have read one page of Hegel and I already want to rip my eyes out of their sockets. How can I read Hegel in a way that is easier? Is there a method I can apply while reading? I refuse to die without understanding this fucker.
A friend of mine used to quote his old philosophy professor: “Kant is difficult because he’s trying to be clear. Hegel has no such inhibitions.”
Hegel be like “this is the most incoherent 800 pages of literature, drop it”
Exactly, lol. On a more serious note, I was advised to start reading Hegel as if it’s poetry or a piece of mystical literature – i.e., in meditative mood, looking for esoteric or symbolic meaning, almost like a medieval monk reading the Scriptures. Hegel was a German Romantic, and his work is designed to be penetrated that way. After a while “encountering” the text like this, it should start to make more sense, and then you begin to read it as you normally would philosophy.
The guy was brilliant, no doubt about it. But he wrote in the most obnoxious manner.
Just listen to his students ramble on about Hegel
I read like 1-2 pages and put it down and read Marx to calm myself down. Hegel is pretty important from what I hear but he’s so boring to read if you’re not explicitly in the mood to read philosophy. What should I read to start? I assume that I should start with Phenomenology of Spirit?😔😰
That’s the one I chose to start with! I think I’m going to try and read Hegel with Marx simultaneously.
From now on, when I try to read Hegel, I think the best is to deconstruct him sentence by sentence, be patient, be calm, and don’t rush.
I couldn’t understand Marx much but now I feel much more confident reading him, and the same will happen with Hegel if I take my time.
Did you read any preeliminary work about him? People explaining any philosopher (specially Hegel and Kant, who wrote super cryptically) are good ways to start.
Not specifically about him, but I’ve read some works on dialectical and historical materialism. Are there any preliminary works about him you could recommend?
I am sure I have a couple books on my to read list, I will try to find them and link them, but I am sure it will take me at least two weeks. I know reading Spinoza also helps understanding Hegel, but that is an issue with philosophy where you basically need to go back tot he greeks to fully understand it. Spinoza is way easier and fun, though, I really liked him.
Kant isn’t cryptic thought, he is hard to understand because he built way too many specific terms. If one is interested in Kant they can learn the terminology and then the texts are pretty articulated.
I didn’t try Hegel but I heard it was way more complicated because you can’t just do that, this one is actually cryptic because even with the knowledge of the vocabulary it’s never easy to understand
Try attending a university lecture, seminar or a reading group rather than hammering your head against the Phenomenology of Spirit alone and without plan and counsel. Paper doesn’t react to your questions. Most of Hegel’s books are based on his lectures, which is why it is often easier to understand him through word of mouth. Your taxes pay philosophy professors whose job it is to read Hegel, and to break his books down to explain them to students and people who work full-time jobs. You can also read Marx’ German Ideology which is his criticism of Hegel and assorted Hegelians, and a much more fun read.
My hot take is that Hegel really doesn’t have much to offer. He has one or two good ideas out of thousands of pages of nonsense and obfuscating terminology. “Only one man ever understood me, and even he didn’t understand me.”, is an actual quote by him.
Marx was influenced by him, because Hegel was the most popular philosopher in Germany and acted as a kind of philosophic leader. Everyone had to engage with his ideas, but Marx had to throw nearly everything out, since Hegel was an idealist after all.
Struggle, flux / change, contending ideas, the dialectical method, synthesis? None of these are his original ideas, they come from ancient greek philosophers, who formulated them more clearly.
There are strains of Marxism that focus on the dialectical method, and its Hegelian idealist roots, and these stand in opposition to the more scientific / empiricist-minded Marxists, who focus more on using marxism in the real world. A lot of these idealist philosophers “soar on the elevating power of thin air”, and never come back down to reality.
People would be better off studying socialism in action, and socialism in power: these are living forms of Marxism, being tested in the real world, learning from their mistakes via real-world practice.
yeah that’s how i felt years ago just reading the beginning of phenomenology of spirit, and he beat me…couldn’t fucking take it.
I would say take notes, and take your time. An old phil professor I had read slowly, sometimes the same page over and over again until he understood fully the point being made by whoever he was reading. But he was, uh, dedicated, so I don’t know if that will work for you or not.
You probably can’t, i gave up long ago. Even the most concise parts are like a gordian knot of needlessly flowery speech and hard jargon.
