My Interest in G.W.F. Hegel's Philosophy - Philosophical Developments and Commitments

This more personal video discusses my interest in the works of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, foremost among which is the Phenomenology of Spirit. Although I would not describe myself as a "Hegelian", Hegel figured centrally in my graduate formation as a philosopher, and I continue not only to teach his thought but to apply portions of it in my own practice.
In the video, I discuss how I ended up getting into Hegel's thought, my intention at one time to write my dissertation on his work, and my recent Half Hour Hegel project.
Here are links to the pieces and matters referenced in this video:
Hegel and Religion: The Second Enlightenment - www.academia.e...
The Half Hour Hegel Project blog - halfhourhegel.b...
My Patreon crowdfunding page for supporting the Half Hour Hegel project - / drgbsadler

[@Byenia]

You so obviously are productively-oriented. ;) Can't see how you're not completely sick of everything related to Hegel by now. lol Frequently amazed by how you're able to keep up the momentum overall. Hope to eventually explore your series on him if I discover the energy to devote.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Well, once I've decided on a task, I stick with it, usually. In the Hegel case, there's always something different coming up from section to section

[@JonahInWales]

Hello Dr. Sadler, I am loving the Philosophical Developments and Commitments series you're doing. Incredibly helpful and so far you have been picking people I find greatly interesting myself, lucky me! I'm going to send you a donation because I appreciate your work, keep it up.

[@ClassImperialAgent]

I like the Series too. It get me even up again. For the longest time I wanted to read Pascal, but put back on it, again and again. As for Hegel: I'm admirer, but he would be to hard and much for me, that's why I love the half hour series.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Hahaah! Well, I can't say I'm "picking" thinkers - they just happen to have been the ones I ended up engaging the most with. That's very kind of you to send a donation - it won't go to waste!

[@GregoryBSadler]

Pascal is someone I've been meaning to get back to - I've very much enjoyed his works, but haven't made the time lately to reread

[@JonahInWales]

I have never read Pascal, I only know his wager from philosophy of religion classes. I would be very interested in seeing a video on him from you!

[@malpais776]

Recently asked why you started Hegel and how he has influenced you. Forgot all about this video and the essay on Academia. Sorry, my bad.

[@oscarjablon155]

Hello Professor, I am currently reading Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy. I came across a passage that confused me a bit and was hoping that you could throw some light on it. In reference to the I ching, Hegel, says "Universal abstraction with the Chinese thus goes on to what is concrete, although in accordance with an external kind of order only, and without containing anything that is sensuous" (Hegel, p.123). My question is, how can a universal abstraction accord with an external kind of order only and not be related to sense perception?

[@RoyalAnarchist]

Dr. Sadler, have you read “The Hegel Variations” by Fredric Jameson? If so, what did you think of it?

[@GregoryBSadler]

I haven't read it, though I remember glancing through it at a display some time back. . .

[@Paljk299]

Great, thank you. You mentioned Adorno in comparison to Hegel, which is interesting. I found Dialectic of Enlightenment way more approachable than anything I've tried to read by Hegel. Maybe it's that it's more recent, or just the way Adorno writes is easier, I don't know really. I will definitely try Hegel again though following the video series when I have the time.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Well, that's a work co-written by Adorno and Horkheimer. Straight out Adorno is about as tough as Hegel.

[@gabrieljvega-solis3196]

What are your thoughts on Zizek who does in a way describes himself as a "hegelian"?

[@GregoryBSadler]

I'm not particularly interested in Zizek, and I've answered that question in many AMAs

[@gabrieljvega-solis3196]

@@GregoryBSadler ok, i am particularly new to this channel since i subscribed recently. Do you mind linking to this comment any of your AMAs on the subject?

[@GregoryBSadler]

@@gabrieljvega-solis3196 I’m a busy guy, buddy. I’m not going to take time away from the tasks I’ve already got to scour the many AMA videos for some guy who wants to bring up Zizek on a video about Hegel

[@gabrieljvega-solis3196]

@@GregoryBSadler ok

[@marcsilverstein7991]

What do you think about Frederic Jameson?

[@GregoryBSadler]

He's all right. A lot of work to read, of course

[@11pmeade]

Wm. James was the first philosopher who interested me, then Pascal and eventually Nietzche and on to Hagel, thanks to your work. Really great.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@ThangNeihsial]

So we need to learn German in order to read Hegel to avoid bias? I wonder how long will it take in order to learn German from scratch. I'm really interested in Hegel.

[@GregoryBSadler]

You can be biased just as well in German as you can in English.

[@ThangNeihsial]

So, Is it the best way to read and understand him is to read Hegel in German? I even heard that (on reddit most probably) some people won't take us seriously that if i claimed to read Hegel and know something about his writing if I haven't read him in German.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Understanding is a cumulative process. Expect to reread and reread, and then do it some more. If you can read it in German, yes, that will certainly add something

[@ThangNeihsial]

Thanks a million. It will help me a lot.

[@kiwicfruit]

I enrolled to university to study Hegel but at the time of class my professor deleted Hegel from the course of 19th Century Philosophy class, hated him and said Hegel has nothing important to say as he is just repeating what his contemporaries have already said. So I found your lectures on Hegel here instead and it was a huge help so thank you for your work.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Glad the Hegel videos are useful. Not much you can do with profs like that, other than take the initiative and study on your own

[@Coltrane360]

I am about to start reading Philosophy of History in English translation. If you have any advice or sections to focus on for a first reading would be much appreciated Professor Sadler.

[@GregoryBSadler]

I don't, Just plow through it a first time, and then go back through it more closely. Like you would any philosophy text

[@Anekantavad]

To me, Nietzsche came into sharpest focus through the prism of his Affirmation. Everything else seemed to flow from that. Is there something you consider a suitable perspective from which to come at Hegel? Not necessarily *the* suitable perspective; just *a* perspective. A huge and perhaps overly demanding question, but I don't mean it that way. Just requesting an opinion on a standpoint, assuming there is one. Hegel *does* seem overwhelming. :-)

[@GregoryBSadler]

Well. . . if I had to pick just one main idea that for me focused my own reading of Nietzsche, it would be the contrast between good-bad master morality and evil-good slave morality. But for me, there really isn't one single idea that everything else then crystalizes around - for Nietzsche, or for Hegel. I would say that you could pick any one of the main ideas that he highlights in the preface, and use that as the sort of "suitable perspective" you're writing about to start going at it. So, for example, the notion that history is fundamentally the history of the development of consciousness, moving through one stage/shape (Gestalt) into another more complex one. . . that would work. The idea that what drives the process of consciousness is the attempt to grasp the truth of its object (including itself) through moving from the abstract to the determinate and back again. . . that would work as well.

[@Shevock]

Really happy to revisit this video of yours 5 years later. Now that I'm out of higher Ed.

[@GregoryBSadler]

When did you leave?

[@Herv3]

im worried that when i read translations, it will be subject to bias or as you pointed out, something not quite with the original meaning. have you considered doing German translations?

[@GregoryBSadler]

There's no reason for me to translate Hegel, given that we already have the decent Miller translation, and a yet better translation by Pinkard that will hopefully be coming out fairly soon. You're always going to have some divergences with translations, and as a translator, you find yourself making lots of choices. It's not a matter of getting rid of them entirely, but rather of minimizing them. If you're particularly worried, then I suggest comparing translations against each other. I will say this: engaging in translation projects myself (mainly from French and Latin, with some German occasionally) has made me way more forgiving toward decent translations, less forgiving to bad translations, and very appreciative of particularly good translations

[@GregoryBSadler]

What about it?

[@GregoryBSadler]

It can't hurt to read his translation of the Preface. Depends on what your main goals are.

[@Herv3]

my main goal is to have the most objective translation possible.

[@GregoryBSadler]

Herv3 I've no idea what "the most objective translation possible" would mean, and I say that as someone who has done a good bit of translation work over the year

[@frankjaeger2565]

What do you think about British Idealism (Greene, Bradley, McTaggart etc.)? And what about Italian Idealism (Croce and Gentile)?

[@GregoryBSadler]

What I read of those thinkers was a long time back, so I don't really have enough to have any pertinent judgement on any of them

[@Lewclan]

Could you provide the link for the science of logic lectures you mentioned? would prove a nice complement to your Half hour hegel for us hegel obsessed. I found Winfield's course but there isn't much there...

[@GregoryBSadler]

That's pretty much all there is. There's nothing remotely like Half Hour Hegel out there for anyone, with the exception of David Harvey's Marx's Capital Lectures, which is sort of along similar lines

[@steveng8727]

Thanks for the insightful videos Gregory. Is Hegel a pantheist or even a panentheist? kindly refer me to any of your videos that addresses this, thanks again ❗️

[@GregoryBSadler]

None of my videos address that, so far as I know

[@steveng8727]

So do you think Hegel is a pantheist ?

[@GregoryBSadler]

I suppose you can call him one, if you're willing to use view him as pretty unlike most other pantheists. Sort of like how Stanley Rosen remarked that, if Hegel was a Christian, he was in a church of one

[@rodrigomachado5291]

@@GregoryBSadler isn’t him more of a panentheist as opposed to pantheist? His view of the Absolute as encompassing all?

[@GregoryBSadler]

@@rodrigomachado5291 Hegel's really less of an "-ist" than an actual philosopher

[@MichaelJimenez416]

6:58 haha I've come across a few of those

[@Sidiciousify]

thanks bro.

[@GregoryBSadler]

You're welcome

[@tenogg]

Good video, apreciated! I thought you did your tesis on Husserl and Sausurre for some reason i don't remember.

[@GregoryBSadler]

I discussed it in the video on my Derridian state

[@errorinscript1127]

Do you have anything on eastern philosophy?

[@GregoryBSadler]

Not at this point.

[@GregoryBSadler]

You know, KZbin lets you search within people's channels. . .

[@errorinscript1127]

I understand, thank you. I have looked within your channel but was unable to find it. If you were referring to this ?

[@GregoryBSadler]

When you search and don't find it, that's simply because it's not there

[@errorinscript1127]

Gregory B. Sadler Then why did you say "KZbin lets you search within people's channels . . . "?

[@Sidiciousify]

hegelian theometaphysics vs. actual metaphysics please.

[@Sidiciousify]

marcuse is not hegelian he's an aesthetic metaphysician for the redemption of classicist rhetoric.