Analysing the Dialectic of Freedom in Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind: Metaphysics or Metaphor?

by Martin Green

This short book provides an examination of Hegel's approach to solving the age old philosophical question of how we reconcile ourselves as free agents in a deterministic world. It does this by first defining the problem Hegel was attempting to solve. It then takes the reader through the central section of Hegel's ' Phenomenology of Mind ' which deals with the dialectical unfolding of Self-consciousness, the (famous/infamous) Mastery and Servitude section, and onto Freedom where 'Geist' reveals itself as the unifying totality of everything. Hegel has been both controversial and influential with his ideas reaching way outside of pure philosophy and into social and political theory. In fact, his original philosophical approach is frequently largely ignored and his ideas are often presented more as metaphor than metaphysics . There is, therefore, a discussion in the book of the validity of each of these views Hegel is influential, but not easy to read. His writing style is beguilingly complex and frustrating. His philosophical method equally so. This book is not an attempt to oversimplify Hegel. It is also not an attempt to critically analyse every nuance of his twisting and turning arguments. The aim is to stay close to Hegel's actual text and provide the reader with a 'way in' to his style of writing by engaging with what it was that Hegel actually wrote at face value rather than applying too thick a 'protective' shield of interpretation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1520749821
• ISBN13: 9781520749822
• Release Date: March 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 72 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.2" x 5.3"