Customer Reviews

Hegel's Philosophy of Right (Galaxy Books)

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Okay this edition's servicable, but it's a long sight from being good. The Wood and Nisbet edition in the "Cambridge Texts in the History of Social Though" is noticeably superior to the Knox edition. The Cambridge edition is a somewhat more accurate and readable translation, is much better organized, and has an excellent introduction by Wood; all the Knox edition has going for it is a nicer cover.

This is an excellent 1967 translation of the classic 1821 book written by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. The book is unabridged and offers the reader a view into the monumental system developed by Hegel in the 19th Century.

Although the "continental philosophy" of Hegel is now out of fashion in scholastic/philosophical circles in the United States, (abandoned, in large part, for the "analytic philosophy" of Rudolf Carnap), this book offers the reader a chance to see Hegel applying his most important concept--the dialectics--to law, rights, morality, the family, economic life and the state.

Universal right is defined as the synthesis of the conflict and struggle between the thesis of a person acting in accordance with the law and the (sometimes) antithesis of the person's desire to act in accordance with thier own convictions. The State is must mold itself to allow individuals to satisfy the demands of both, in order to bring about harmony and prosperity in human society--the perfect synthesis.

Nobody doubts this is an extraordinary text. Although I am not sure the translation is up to the challenge (I would personally favour the CUP-edition), be warned: the present book has been produced with an OCR-software, i.e. the editor took the google-books copy, converted it into a text-file and printed it. This means that the titles are all screwed up, footnotes are missing, the index refers to wrong pages - this book is simply not usable. Spend a few dollars more and get a usable copy.

This version looks like a pdf scanned by someone who doesn't know how to operate a photocopier. The legibility of many pages is borderline, and I even found a cut-off sentence! I compared this to a 1965 hardcover copy of the same translation, and there's no contest: the 1965 copy is vastly superior in legibility (though not perfect itself, but far, far better). If you want this translation, smarter to look for a used copy.

I read this book for a class on the philosophy of law. The German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in his book "The Philosophy of Right" has a keen observation on the subject of how constitutions are formulated. "A constitution is not something that is just made; it is the labor of centuries, it is the idea, the consciousness of rationality, so far as that consciousness is developed within a particular people" (214). Hegel observes that the danger in judges relying on constitutional comparativism (judges referring to foreign law in interpreting a nation's own laws and or constitution), is that the judge is probably not fully conversant on the surrounding history and jurisprudence involved in a particular foreign ruling. Hegel makes a very prescient observation relating to judges who have resorted to constitutional comparativism in their written opinions when adjudicating cases before them. Hegel is skeptical of the methodology used by judges who refer to foreign law in interpreting a nation's laws. Hegel understands that in a democracy, laws and constitutions are an outgrowth of a group of people who share common customs and values.

Recommended reading for those interested in philosophy, history, and political science.

The book is a fascinating encyclopaedia of human life in all its social dimensions starting from our relation to a thing (property) and going on to relation between states in world history. Hegel's categorisation of social institutions contains some contraversial statements. But they all add to the fascination of reading the book.

Unfortunatelly Knox's translation does make it very difficult to comprehend some crucial passages, especially where Hegel's deals with the concept of Right in refined speculative terms. It also contains some basic mistakes which make a comparative reading of the English and the German text an anoying experience.

This was a miserable translation, even when it was first published, and for far too many years it was the only one avaiable in English. Now, however, there are far better choices. The Wood-Nisbet version published by Cambridge is far superior, but I believe that mine (HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT, Focus Press) is the best of the lot. For some reasons, see either my review of the Wood-Nisbet edition, or Peter Kalkavage's review of mine, on its Amazon page.

I read this book for a class on the philosophy of law. The German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in his book "The Philosophy of Right" has a keen observation on the subject of how constitutions are formulated. "A constitution is not something that is just made; it is the labor of centuries, it is the idea, the consciousness of rationality, so far as that consciousness is developed within a particular people" (214). Hegel observes that the danger in judges relying on constitutional comparativism (judges referring to foreign law in interpreting a nation's own laws and or constitution), is that the judge is probably not fully conversant on the surrounding history and jurisprudence involved in a particular foreign ruling. Hegel makes a very prescient observation relating to judges who have resorted to constitutional comparativism in their written opinions when adjudicating cases before them. Hegel is skeptical of the methodology used by judges who refer to foreign law in interpreting a nation's laws. Hegel understands that in a democracy, laws and constitutions are an outgrowth of a group of people who share common customs and values.

Recommended reading for those interested in philosophy, history, and political science.

I read this book for a class on the philosophy of law. The German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in his book "The Philosophy of Right" has a keen observation on the subject of how constitutions are formulated. "A constitution is not something that is just made; it is the labor of centuries, it is the idea, the consciousness of rationality, so far as that consciousness is developed within a particular people" (214). Hegel observes that the danger in judges relying on constitutional comparativism (judges referring to foreign law in interpreting a nation's own laws and or constitution), is that the judge is probably not fully conversant on the surrounding history and jurisprudence involved in a particular foreign ruling. Hegel makes a very prescient observation relating to judges who have resorted to constitutional comparativism in their written opinions when adjudicating cases before them. Hegel is skeptical of the methodology used by judges who refer to foreign law in interpreting a nation's laws. Hegel understands that in a democracy, laws and constitutions are an outgrowth of a group of people who share common customs and values.

Recommended reading for those interested in philosophy, history, and political science.

I read this book for a class on the philosophy of law. The German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in his book "The Philosophy of Right" has a keen observation on the subject of how constitutions are formulated. "A constitution is not something that is just made; it is the labor of centuries, it is the idea, the consciousness of rationality, so far as that consciousness is developed within a particular people" (214). Hegel observes that the danger in judges relying on constitutional comparativism (judges referring to foreign law in interpreting a nation's own laws and or constitution), is that the judge is probably not fully conversant on the surrounding history and jurisprudence involved in a particular foreign ruling. Hegel makes a very prescient observation relating to judges who have resorted to constitutional comparativism in their written opinions when adjudicating cases before them. Hegel is skeptical of the methodology used by judges who refer to foreign law in interpreting a nation's laws. Hegel understands that in a democracy, laws and constitutions are an outgrowth of a group of people who share common customs and values.

Recommended reading for those interested in philosophy, history, and political science.