Product Description

Many people regard Hegel's work as obscure and extremely difficult, yet his importance and influence are universally acknowledged. Professor Singer eliminates any excuse for remaining ignorant of the outlines of Hegel's philosophy by providing a broad discussion of his ideas and an account of his major works.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13026 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

About the Author
Peter Singer is DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He is best known for his book Animal Liberation, sometimes called 'the Bible of the modern animal movement'. His other books include Practical Ethics, How are we to live?, Ethics into Action, Marx: A Very Short Introduction, and A Darwinian Left?. He is also the author of the major article on ethics in the current edition of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica.

Customer Reviews

Interesting approach
Singers book approaches Hegel slightly differently than other guides, in that he tries to explain Hegels political and historical ideas ("History with a purpose" and "Freedom and community") separately from his main metaphysical concept of Geist ("The odyssey of mind") to make them easier for the reader to understand.

While this is largely successful, it then becomes increasingly difficult to understand why his political ideas must follow on from his Idealist philosophy. For this reason, I would recommend using Singers book in conjunction with another book (I am studying the Philosophy of Right therefore am also using the Routledge guidebook written by Dudley Knowles)

Excellent Introduction to Hegel
Singer writes really clearly and splits up the topics nicely for the beginner. Given how dreadful the original material is to read, this is a real advantage. It's quite possible to read Hegel backwards and not notice (for me anyway!).
He's also fairly sensible about Hegel's Philosophy which is unfashionably mystical to modern eyes.

Illucidation of the complex
This most difficult of Philosphers is here made readable by Singer, probably one of the best interpreters of Hegel's work alive today. The complex language and even more complex philosophical substance of Hegel's work is accessible in this short introduction. Nevertheless, the language and ideas within still remain very complex and their meanings illusive even within this simplified book. I first came across this book whilst studying at University and was amazed just how much Hegel's philosophy influenced Marx and at least for that reason alone Hegel remains important today.

Perhaps less well known than some of the other major philosophers in history, Hegel's work "the Philosophy of History" and "Elements of the Philosophy of Right" remain influential works and are well abbreviated in this book.

It is difficult to foresee how the mammoth and complex language of Hegel could ever be made more accessible than it is by Singer in this book whilst retaining academic relevance.