Preface

Summary

This work is largely a condensation of my Hegel (Cambridge University Press, 1975). But the purpose of the condensation was more than just to make a shorter and more accessible book. The book is shorter and, I hope, more accessible. I have left out the account of Hegel's logic, perhaps the most difficult part of his system to explain, as well as the interpretation of the Phenomenology, and the chapters on art, religion and philosophy.

The shorter book thus has a quite different centre of gravity, and this is its second purpose. The aim was to produce not just an exposition of Hegel, but a view of the ways in which he is relevant and important to contemporary philosophers. I try, in other words, not just to expound Hegel, but also to show how he still provides the terms in which we reflect on some contemporary problems. Perhaps I should state this aim more modestly, and say I wanted to show how Hegel has helped shape the terms in which I think. But such modesty, although seemly, would be insincere. In fact I believe that Hegel has contributed to the formation of concepts and modes of thought that are indispensable if we are to see our way clear through certain modern problems and dilemmas. And that is what I want to argue in the following pages.

The book falls into three chapters. The first is entirely expository. It opens with a new statement of what I see as the problems and aspirations shared by many of Hegel's generation, and continues with what is largely an adaptation of Chapter 3 of Hegel. The second chapter considers Hegel's political philosophy, and leads up to a discussion of its relevance today; this is an amended version of Hegel, Part IV. The final chapter tries to show how the problems and aspirations of Hegel's time continue through certain modifications into our time. These can be seen as centring on the issue of freedom; and I try to show how much our best articulations of this issue owe to Hegel. This chapter largely reproduces the final chapter of the longer work.