Philosophy 181

This course will be an introduction to Hegel’s philosophy. We will read selections from the Phenomenology of Spirit, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Lectures on the Philosophy of History, and others. Hegel is a notoriously difficult writer, so one aim of this course is to teach you how to read Hegel, how to interpret his texts so that you can do it on your own. Another aim is to address central questions in his work: What is his “dialectical” method? What are the relationships between consciousness, self-consciousness, reality, and recognition? Why is he so critical of morality? Why does he consider history to be a rational process? What does a fully rational society look like? And why are the family, the market, and the state essential institutions in such a society?