Customer Reviews

Hegel: Elements of the Philosophy of Right (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

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Well first off a bit about Hegel: It was, until recently, quite fashionable in English speaking coutries to dismiss Hegel as a charlatan, an apologist for totalitarianism, and an embarassment to the title of philosopher. That's changing, and I tend to think it's for the good. There's a good bit of nonsense in Hegel, but there's also some very important philosophy.
The problem with not dismissing Hegel is that he's one of the most difficult philosophers to make sense of; there are passages, and perhaps entire books, of Hegel's that no one honestly understands. Luckily, the "Elements Philosophy of Right" is not only one of the easier of Hegel's books to read (easy being a relative term), but also the most relevant for the general reader. Since Hegel is speaking of concrete institutions he's much easier to follow here than in most other works. Also, I tend to agree with Wood that Hegel's main contribution to philosophy is in the field of ethics and political philosophy, and this book is the best summation of Hegel's ethical theory.
Okay enough about Hegel, onto this edition of the POR. This edition is great, and anyone who's had the misfortune of readng its predecessors will appreciate just how great. For one thing, the translation is good. Yes Hegel is tough to read, but not as hard to read as many English speaking people think; the English translations are generally terrible. This edition also has Hegel's notes on the work on the same page with what he initially published, unlike other editions, which generally put them at the end. In the earlier editions one had to either turn back and forth constantly, or skip the notes, and one shouldn't skip them because rather than being mere footnotes these notes tend to explain or expand upon the point Hegel is making in rather crucial ways. Probably the best thing about this edition is Allen Wood's excellent introduction, which does an admirable job of clearly summarizing the main theses of this difficult work, while putting Hegel into historical perspective and explaining the continuing relevance of his ethical theory.

This edition is an enormous improvement over the Knox version published by Oxford, but I have done a third version that I hope you'll consider. Three of its advantages: (1) unlike Wood, I don't proceed on the assumption that Hegel's dialectical logic is nonsensical, so I attempt to clarify it, both in the translation and in notes; (2) additional materials from student transcriptions of Hegel's lectures are included with the sections they relate to, not in endnotes; (3) my edition has no endnotes, only footnotes, so readers don't have to waste time flipping to the end of the book to find what is often irrelevant and distracting information. For more on my edition (titled HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT), see the review by Peter Kalkavage on its Amazon page.
Again, I much admire this edition, and if it had been available when I started mine, I wouldn't have started at all. That said, I do think that mine offers significant advantages, including those listed above.

As a mystery novelist with my first novel in its initial release, I have found that reading a variety of works helps me in my writing. I first came in contact with the works of Hegel as an undergraduate at Claremont McKenna College. Hegel's thoughts have provided foundations for political movements ranging from the far right to the far left, and this work, an excellent translation, provides insight into this thinker's thoughts. Excellent work. A classic in every sense of the word.