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Overview
One of the founders of modern philosophical thought Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) has gained the reputation of being one of the most abstruse and impenetrable of thinkers. This first major biography of Hegel in English offers not only a complete, up-to-date account of the life, but also an overview of the key philosophical concepts in Hegel's work in an accessible style. Terry Pinkard situates Hegel firmly in the historical context of his times. The story of that life is of an ambitious, powerful thinker living in a period of great tumult dominated by the figure of Napolean. Pinkard explores Hegel's interactions with some of the great minds of this period: Hölderlin, Goethe, Humboldt, Schelling, Novalis, the Schlegels, Mendelssohn, and others. Throughout, he avoids Hegal's own famously technical jargon in order to display the full sweep and power of Hegel's thought. Terry Pinkard is professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University and is author/editor of five previous books, the most recent being Hegel's Phenomenology (Cambridge, 1996). He is honorary Professor of the Philosophy Faculty of Tübingen University, Germany and serves on the advisory board for the Zeitschrift für Philosophique Forschung.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Hegel scholar Pinkard (a professor of philosophy at Georgetown) presents his deep knowledge of the "paradigmatically obscure" German philosopher (1770-1831) to the broad reading public. Hegel himself would be pleased, for he saw himself as a public intellectual, offering up the only philosophy that could explain modern humanity to itself. Obscure language was merely the battering ram of his thought, provoking readers to shed their slavish acceptance of received tradition and learn to think for themselves. German traditionalists (and romantic nationalists) exemplified, in Hegel's memorable quip, not Deutschtum (Germanness) but Deutschdumm (German stupidity). Though Hegel praised the American Revolution (and the French--he was always keenly interested in politics), he could not have anticipated how inadequate a foundation American public education would lay for his ideas. In clear and modest language, Pinkard fills the breach between Hegelian Bildung (humanistic education) and the average American adult. He concisely summarizes the philosopher's key works, placing them in the larger context of Hegel's life and times. Rich details of Hegel's own person--his Napoleonic haircut, wooden lecture style and "very characteristic smile"--enrich a narrative of operatic scope, complete with mad poet friend (H lderlin), illegitimate son (Ludwig Fischer) and philosophical nemesis (J.F. Fries). Hegel's philosophy, which finessed contradiction, mirrored the contradictions in his life. A touching instance: his early harsh judgments on Judaism softened under the influence of his Jewish (later Christian) friend, the jurist Eduard Gans. The portrait that emerges wins sympathy and understanding. Pinkard frees Hegel from the obscurity that unfairly clouds his memory and shows him, stunningly, for who he really was: an early modern version of ourselves. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|Library Journal
Pinkard (philosophy, Georgetown Univ.) points out that Hegel occupies an ambivalent position in the philosophical world, where he is regarded by some as a consummate philosopher, ignored by others as having nothing of importance to say, and derided by still others as "humbug, poppycock, maybe even a fraud." Among the educated populace generally, Pinkard also sees Hegel as being stereotypically and incorrectly understood. His challenge here, then, is to examine Hegel's life in detail, to show how it "intersected with his thought in a variety of deep ways," and to reveal the real Hegel. The writing is fluid and engaging and the historical period vividly realized. The purely biographical material is kept separate, as much as possible, from discussion of the works. Hegel is notoriously difficult, and while it is doubtful that nonphilosophers will come away from this study with a deep understanding of the Hegelian system, they should be in a good position to study it more fully if so inclined. All philosophy collections should have this.--Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Mgt. Lib., Washington, DC Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\Arthur C. Danto
Terry Pinkard's marvelous biography Hegel brings the great philosopher to life—it is delicious to read that in his lectures he began every sentence with "Therfore"—and for those who admire his Aesthetics as extravagently as it deserves, we learn a lot from Pinkard about what Hegel looks at and listened to.—Artforum
Patrick Riley
This will quickly become the standard biography of Hegel, and richly deserves to do so. In an age of fine Hegel scholarship, this is a towering achievement.—The Boston Book Review