Customer Reviews

Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Quick note, this is a different book than "Lectures on the Philosophy of History"

Hegel's "Lectures on the History of Philosophy" are really quite interesting and provide a great deal of readable insight into his system. I wouldn't dream of giving them 1-star, even if I have some issues with his system of philosophy.

However this edition is an abridgment of a public domain translation from 1892 that didn't need abridgment (the ordinarily verbose Hegel, shockingly, is really succinct in many of these entries) and is scandalously overpriced, so I feel it's necessary to recommend a more complete edition, like the Kansas or the public domain version.

This review is for the Prometheus Books 761 page edition. This book, outrageously priced at nearly $40, is taken from an 1892 translation of the Haldane translation of "Lectures on the History of Philosophy" drawn from Michelet's notes of different lectures of Hegel's on the History of Philosophy.

Michelet's original 3 volume set of Hegel's lectures as translated by Haldane is about 1800 pages (3 volumes). I can't imagine anyone who'd get anything out of an abridgement that eliminates 2/3rds of the material. Most of the people who are reading this probably know what it is and want the full book or at least a particular volume. Anyone looking for an introduction to the history of philosophy would be advised to look elsewhere - as this is too technical. Also, from a history of ideas and history of philosophy perspective, there are substantially better and more up-to-date books out there if you want a multi-volume.

Still, Hegel is pretty thorough and writes some pretty absorbing prose of some lesser studied philosophic figures (Hegel and good writing, never thought I'd see those two phrases in the same sentence) even if he is prone to summarize a philosophy then explain why it's wrong (conveniently other systems are always always wrong for failing to anticipate some element of Hegel's System rather than a specific logical failing). He has some biases besides that, too - namely against Berkeley, all the materialists, and anyone who lacks a complex metaphysical system esp. the Chinese (as he perceives them), the Cynics, Epicureans, and Stoics.

Hegel also doesn't seem to actually understand Zeno or calculus in Volume 1 as his view of both is a tad bit simplistic (but may be of interest to some scholars). Too bad he neglected Bishop Berkeley so much - reading him would've proved helpful. In all, it's a pretty interesting survey if overly reliant on Diogenes Laertius in volume 1 and 2, but these volumes are perhaps more useful for understanding Hegel than understanding philosophy anyway.

Ok, let me give you a guide to what's in each volume and maybe save you some time and money so you can buy, borrow, or download (it's public domain!) the volume that interests you (Kansas has reprinted the volumes individually) rather than all of them rather than this abridged version that's likely missing what you may need for your research.

Volume 1 is Presocratic Greek Philosophy and Philosophy contemporary or slightly before Plato and Aristotle, but excluding them. It includes a lengthy introduction, of interest. It also includes a section on Chinese philosophy which is grossly misinformed, a section on Indian philosophy which is mostly the same as what was in Lectures on the Philosophy of History. Then H treats the Ionics, the Pythagoreans, the Eleatics, Heraclitus, Empedocles/Leucippus/Democritus, Anaxogoras,Sophists, Socrates, the Socratics.

Lectures on the History of Philosophy, Volume 1: Greek Philosophy to Plato (Lectures on the History of Philosophy Vol. 1)

Volume 2 is Greek Philosophy including and after Plato and includes the Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Epicureans and Neo-Platonists.

Lectures on the History of Philosophy, Volume 2: Plato and the Platonists (Lectures on the History of Philosophy Vol. 2)

Volume 3 is medieval and modern. If you only want to get one volume and prefer a bound book, find a copy of this one. Volume 3 is the bread and butter of the set if you just want to buy one book (unless you're mostly interested in Hegel and Platonic thought). It's the least reliant on secondary sources (Hegel obviously read all these books quite well) it has the most to do with Hegel's thought and H has some interesting comments on medieval and modern philosophy. It starts with Christianity, then Arabic Philosophy, the Scholastics, the Pre-Reformation, then a very lengthy section on the various moderns and their respective schools.

Lectures on the History of Philosophy, Volume 3: Medieval and Modern Philosophy (Lectures on the History of Philosophy Vol. 3)

This really is one of Hegel's more interesting works and it's clearly written (well as far as Hegel goes). It forms an interesting counterpart to Hegel's Philosophy of History (though that addresses a different subdiscipline, many of the same themes recur).

Since this is based on such an old translation, it's in the public domain. You can find it for free on google books. All 3 volumes are available in .pdf and epub. Look for "Lectures on the History of Philosophy" Haldane and Simson.

If you're looking for a one volume history of western philo, get the Russell. He misrepresents Hegel, but otherwise the book's fine, especially for a one volume. If you're interested in this, get this for free online (I personally loaded the ebooks on my Sony Reader already) or check amazon for the U Nebraska reprints of the complete 3 volume set that I listed above.