The plan for the book study is to alternate between two primary texts, Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (We are planning to go with the Miller translation for our discussions) and Brandom’s A Spirit of Trust (an innovative, pragmatist commentary on thePhenomenology of Spirit). Both readings are quite long (the Phenomenology is 493 pages, while A Spirit of Trust is 769 pages, excluding the endnotes). Both are also notoriously difficult works, though incredibly rich and fascinating. Along the way, we may pause to read texts related to particular sections of Hegel’s Phenomenology, which will help clarify the text, offer important historical context and open interesting directions of conceptual exploration. Possibilities may include Gadamer’s essay on Hegel’s concept of the ‘inverted world’, McDowell’s and Derrida’s essays on the Master-Slave dialectic, Butler’s essay on the Unhappy Consciousness, and Habermas’ and McDowell’s essays on Hegel’s Reason chapter of the Phenomenology. I’ll be keeping an eye out for other possibilities as well. This is, of course, an ambitious project but we will take it slowly to ensure that we have time to absorb the richness of these texts.
To start, we will be reading Hegel’s introduction to the Phenomenology (we will skip the preface for now, but return to it after completing the rest of the book).
Two more recent translations by Pinkard and Inwood also exist, but the Miller translation remains widely used and is the most familiar version of the text to some of us in the group. I am personally interested in exploring the Inwood translation as we go along in the group. It seems to improve on the Miller translation, and the commentary reflects an impressive knowledge of Hegel’s work and the historical context underlying the Phenomenology. I may bring up details from the commentary if I notice anything interesting or helpful in them.
Recommended Reading:
The Inwood version has written a paragraph-by-paragraph commentary to the Phenomenology, included as an appendix to his translation, which seems far more detailed and insightful than the Findlay commentary included in the Miller translation.
Hegel’s Phenomenology is the book that showed me how magical philosophy can be, so I am very excited to start this project with you all!