Hegel on Self-Consciousness: Desire and Death in the Phenomenology of Spirit

Acknowledgments

The following is an expanded and revised version of the Spinoza Lectures given at the University of Amsterdam in April and May of 2009. The idea was to combine an interpretation of what I and many others regard as the most important chapter in all of Hegel—the fourth chapter of the Phenomenology of Spirit—with an essay about the philosophical significance of Hegel’s ideas. I am most grateful to the philosophy department at the University of Amsterdam for the opportunity to present these lectures and especially for the opportunity to live and teach in one of the world’s most cultivated, interesting, and beautiful cities. For many small and large favors during my stay, I am especially indebted to the chair of the department Josef Früchtl, to my friend Beate Rössler, to Yolanda Verbeek for her kind and efficient attention to so many of the details of our visit, and to Marijke de Wit for her help with the administration of the masters seminar that I taught on Hegel’s phenomenology of self-consciousness. I began to discuss this interpretation of Hegel’s theory of self-consciousness at a special symposium hosted by Colgate University in November 2008 (the Kokonas Symposium ) and I am grateful to the philosophy department there Acknowledgments viii acknowledgments for the invitation and for the many lively and illuminating discussions with members of the department and with students , and to my co-symposiasts, John McDowell and Robert Brandom, for their reaction and comments there and for their work in general, which I have always found inspiring. John McDowell’s comments and correspondence after the event were especially beneficial in helping me clarify his (and my) understanding of this sometimes baffling, often profound, and clearly pivotal chapter in Hegel’s work. HEGEL ON SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS This page intentionally left blank ...