Spirit

One problem in teaching Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit is the sheer size of the work, which makes it intractable within the time limits of the typical North American university semester course. The judicious instructor can use this pivotal Chapter Six of the book as a vehicle for summing up the themes that Hegel has been developing from the beginning, and for anticipating the conclusion to which they lead. Students are more likely to grasp the substance of the work by this method than by the usual practice of concentrating on the Preface and the first three Chapters. Most misunderstandings of Hegel are due to the limitations of precisely this practice. Chapter Six is a literary and philosophical masterpiece in its own right. I cannot think of any more perceptive synthetic view of the development of European culture than is contained here. --George di Giovanni, McGill University