Hegel: A Very Short Introduction

I'm taking a philosophy class at the university, and we're covering major western philosophers, and I urgently needed a quick introduction to some of them. Peter Singer does a marvelous job introducing Hegel, one of those philosophers that most find it really difficult to understand. Singer really empathizes with the target audience of the book. He puts himself in the shoes of a reader, completely unfamiliar with Hegel's thought and who wants a quick introduction to his major philosophical ideas. This book is a quick guided journey through the monumental museum of complex ideas of one of the most influential minds of western philosophy. It is truly a joy to visit every room of that museum at the hands of such a knowledgeable and wonderful teacher as Peter Singer. This is indeed the starting point for anyone looking to get a general understanding of Hegel in as short a time as possible.

There are certainly better ways of understanding Hegel than this, but I did get some points out of this compared other sources. I have little against Peter Singer's utilitarianism and animal ethics, but I find his atheism to be quite disingenuous or insincere. How can an avowed atheist write a good book about one of the most theistic philosophers and call him great? Something is amiss here.

I read Marx. He went on about Hegel. I knew nothing about Hegel so, I wanted a thumbnail of Hegel's ideas. I can't speak to the accuracy of Dr. Singer's work, but this book was VERY well written. He is a great writer- having made Hegel's obscure work quite understandable. Dr. Singer speaks TO the uninitiated student of philosophy without speaking DOWN to him. I liked how Dr. Singer showed the connections between Hegel, his influences, his detractors and his students. I also liked how he thoroughly explained difficult concepts - again, without talking DOWN to the reader. You want an introduction to Hegel? Look no further. This is the book for you.

My interest i Hegel, which isn't great, is more an interest in Marx. Hegel is not a favorite, but to understand Karl it may be necessary to understand Georg. I grew up on Hegel and Marx. My father was a far left winger who was crushed by the failure of Communism and the unending life of the church. If my mother hadn't forbidden it my first words would have been "Religion is the opiate of the people." You understandably have no interest in my family--very dull indeed--so on to our study for this day. Where does this book fit in the study of philosophy or history for that matter. We can't cover every aspect of Hegel's thought here, not am I able to, so let's pick on Religion. "Orthodox religion is . . . a brrier to the goal of restoring man to a state of harmony, for it makes man subordinate his own powers of thought to an external authority (page 9)." Hegel was according to our author an adherent to the Lutheran religion. He has been mistaken as a humanist in religion, but it is too simple a designation for a certainly complex man. A person who thinks cannot be fitted into an easy mold. Hegel is no different. We as humans like our heroes and villains to be all of one or another thing, it makes life so much simpler, as the saying "ignorance is bliss" and thinking is hell. If you are a thinking person welcome to HELL.

I got this book to get a better understanding of Berlin's writing's and found this condensed version of Hegel to be a very fun read....Political ideas in the Romantic age...is a tough read however the author was able to shed light to make Berlin's though process a bit more comprehensible.

This is a good introduction but one shortfall in my opinion. Hegel's dialectic method gets short changed in this pretty strongly. I suspect that was by design as Singer wanted to give an interpretation based on his earlier works....and not on the Science of Logic.

A pretty good overview. I used this to understand Lacan and Zizek more. This book served its purpose for me. But there is probably a lot more i need to learn about Hegel. I am usually more inclined to the Routledge Critical Thinkers series (which i LOVE). This was the first "Oxford Companion" book i ever read and i enjoyed it! I have already bought another one on Nietzsche

I wanted to read about Hegel because I am reading Das capital. Wanted to understand dialectics. Though it is a good introduction to hegel the philosophers philosopher, not much is detailed about dialectics

This book helps clarify Hegel’s terminology and what it means. It takes the context of that period of time and the fact that we are dealing with concepts taken from the German language and translated into English - more clear. I was reading, Outlines of the philosophy of right.

This is an EXCELLENT book. A very, very, rewarding read. The author has distilled out important concepts from Hegel's often opaque writing, and written an introduction that is extremely clear and readable, but without dumbing down the concepts - a very difficult balance to strike. I didn't know much about Hegel, which is why I bought the book, so I can tell you that this book is a great introduction to his philosophy, and is suitably academic but also approachable. I'm super-happy with this book. I know a few of the Very Short Introductions can be problematic, but this is one of the good ones. There are some truly life-changing concepts in this book, especially in chapter 4 "The Odyssey of Mind", so fasten your safety belt! ;) I really can't recommend this book enough. I'm just a random reader - no affiliation or anything, but credit where credit's due. I am also not a philosophy major - never studied it officially. 10 out of 10 for this one, Oxford.

I really enjoyed this introduction to Hegel. I knew absolutely nothing of Hegel or German Philosophy beforehand.

Es el segundo libro que leo de Peter Singer. Me impresionó "Una Izquierda Darwiniana" 2000 traducción castellana Editorial Crítica. Me parece relevante la distinción-matización entre MIND OR SPIRIT. Estoy impresionado por la profundidad del pensamiento y la sencillez del lenguaje Es un libro que volveré a leer. Buscaré otras obras suyas. Es un libro para los que quieren pensar. Hago la misma sugerencia que hice en su libro sobre Marx... Hubiese deseado, respetuosamente, lo expreso mostrar la interrelación de Lenin con Hegel a partir de las raíces tomadas por Lenin de Marx y Engels. A mi juicio él, Lenin fue a Hegel para profundizar en la pureza del pensamiento filosófico dialéctico Me recuerda que eso hicieron Mozart y Beethoven al conocer ellos en casa del El Barón van Swieten la obra J.S. Bach. Conocer al Cantor de Leipzig significo un después en ambos genios . Yo opino que ese estudió de Hegel por Lenin fue determinante en la Historia del Siglo XX. El Barón Gottfried van Swieten (Leiden, Países Bajos, 29 de octubre de 1733 - Viena, Austria, 29 de marzo de 1803) fue un aristócrata neerlandés al servicio del Imperio austriaco.