A Reading Of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit

Alex Steinberg 
Tuesdays, 7:30pm -- 9:00pm

12 Sessions, October 4 – December 20 

Tuition: $150 -- $180, sliding scale

The True is the Bacchanalian revel in which no member is not drunk.

 Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit 

It has been said that one cannot understand much of what has transpired in terms of art, culture, politics or philosophy in the last 200 years without having read Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. For good reason, many have considered this work to be the culmination of the Western philosophical tradition that began in ancient Greece. 

In this 12-session series, we will explore the different shapes of consciousness that have inhabited our culture and continue to shape our world. We will go on a journey that takes us from the Inverted World, to the Master-Slave dialectic, to the Unhappy Consciousness, to the Beautiful Soul, to Absolute Freedom and Terror and finally to Absolute Knowing. Along the way, we will consider Hegel's relationship to the Enlightenment, Romanticism, the French Revolution, and to his student, Karl Marx. 

By the end of this study, students should be able to judge for themselves what is living and what is dead in the work of this titan of the Western tradition. No prior background in philosophy is expected or assumed. 

Students should get a hold of the  A.V. Miller translation of the Phenomenology (Oxford University Press). The reading for the first session is Hegel's (not Findlay's) Introduction -- not the Foreword, which is supposed to be read last. The instructor has prepared an annotated reading list. 

Syllabus

Alex Steinberg holds an MA in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research; he left the PhD program after participating in the student takeover of the New School following the Kent State massacre in 1970. Steinberg is facilitator of a philosophy and literature discussion group in Brooklyn and author of several essays, including "The Case of Martin Heidegger" and "From Alienation to Revolution: A Defense of Marx's Theory of Alienation." He has also served as a member of the WBAI Local Station Board (2004) and as Chairperson of the WBAI LSB Programming Committee.