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A review by books_ergo_sum
Reading Hegel by Agon Hamza, Frank Ruda, Slavoj Žižek
informative
reflective
4.0
A great, radical reading of Hegel.
This book was made up of three essays.
✨ Frank Ruda looked at Hegel's Philosophy of Nature using a method I like to call "insisting on the crazy" to challenge interpretations of Hegel that attempt to naturalize him.
✨ Agon Hamza pulled an Uno Reverse Card to argue that we need a Hegelian critique of Marx for a truly radical Marxism.
Those two essays were decent and where the four star rating is coming from.
✨ Slavoj Zizek's essay was perfection, though. On the surface, it was a critique of a prominent American "Hegel scholar" (I can't not scare quotes that 😆) Robert Brandom. But really, it was an excellent demonstration of a radical interpretation of Hegel in action, explaining Hegelian terms like
'determinate negation' and 'concrete universality' without falling into the usual teleological/ conservative traps in the context of current day identity politics. And it made me realize that this Hegelian method is behind a lot of Zizek's movies, lectures, and pop culture analysis books.
I wish this book had been more 'for a pop audience' than it was. I have a very Elle Woods, "what like it's hard?" attitude towards Hegel-unfortunately considered by most to be the most difficult philosopher to read. But I don't think Hegel scholarship needs to be obtuse.
Zizek was pretty clear, though! And if you're thinking about reading some Hegel, I'd highly recommend his essay in this book. It felt both beginner friendly and 100% correct-which is too unique.
This book was made up of three essays.
✨ Frank Ruda looked at Hegel's Philosophy of Nature using a method I like to call "insisting on the crazy" to challenge interpretations of Hegel that attempt to naturalize him.
✨ Agon Hamza pulled an Uno Reverse Card to argue that we need a Hegelian critique of Marx for a truly radical Marxism.
Those two essays were decent and where the four star rating is coming from.
✨ Slavoj Zizek's essay was perfection, though. On the surface, it was a critique of a prominent American "Hegel scholar" (I can't not scare quotes that 😆) Robert Brandom. But really, it was an excellent demonstration of a radical interpretation of Hegel in action, explaining Hegelian terms like
'determinate negation' and 'concrete universality' without falling into the usual teleological/ conservative traps in the context of current day identity politics. And it made me realize that this Hegelian method is behind a lot of Zizek's movies, lectures, and pop culture analysis books.
I wish this book had been more 'for a pop audience' than it was. I have a very Elle Woods, "what like it's hard?" attitude towards Hegel-unfortunately considered by most to be the most difficult philosopher to read. But I don't think Hegel scholarship needs to be obtuse.
Zizek was pretty clear, though! And if you're thinking about reading some Hegel, I'd highly recommend his essay in this book. It felt both beginner friendly and 100% correct-which is too unique.