Just made a difficult decision. After four months of consistent yet somehow oddly inconsistent study, I am closing the book on Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. At least for now. I think it’s a sanity thing.
I accomplished about 50% of what I set out to do with Hegel. I concentrated on him for four months, from mid-February to mid-June. I read my 540-page abridged anthology of his major works. I read Singer’s 100-page mini-summary of Hegel’s work, along with selections of material from Robert Solomon, Walter Kaufmann, Will Durant, T. Z. Lavine, and skimmed through two other slim books on Hegel’s metaphysics.
Did I understand what I read?
Mostly, somes. This weekend I’ll write up a report on my overall encounter with Hegel and what I took away from his philosophy. Forgive me in advance for any errors; this was never intended to be a self-study course, merely an exercise to overcome my hoppingness. And to a certain extent, it did work. I spent 90% of my philosophical reading time on Hegel. Yeah, I strayed to other philosophers and other topics, but not in the major, scatterbrained way I used to do. Yeah, I put Hegel down twice for a week at a time each time. But I did the mental work and hacked my way through some dense nineteenth-century translated German philosophical prose.
What didn’t work? Well, instead of easing my hopping, I stubbornly kept all those other distracting projects I do (writing, blogging, reading science fiction, various nonfiction reading, exercising, housekeeping, unimportant extended family and friend obligations, and, lastly, work). So Hegel became just another project of the too-many I have to hop back and forth to. That didn’t work.
I also did not structure the project well. Or rather, I didn’t stick to my gameplan. For the first two months I read only the anthology, and I grade myself an A. Superb. Reading the Durant and Singer books – A. Good. Then I started reading a couple of those secondary books simultaneously, not sticking with one all the way through but shuffling about, hopping and more hopping, and quickly started getting headaches whenever I opened any book with the word “Hegel” on the cover. Yeah, I really started getting headaches.
So, I am moving on. Retooling. Aquinas is next, and I think I might have a better experience with him. One, I’ve read him the past, and though he is a tough read, at least it makes sense to me. Second, as a Catholic, I am intensely interested in learning Thomistic philosophy. And third, something tells me it will help me in my search for meaning in this life.
But I need to cut back on the extraneous readings. Two books at a time, a fiction and a nonfiction. That’s it. One to read at lunch and one to read before bed. Two books only. Anything else is a distraction and must be triaged. These experiments cannot truly be called successful unless and until my focus comes under my strict discipline.
Now (rubs his hands together, excited) – onward to St. Thomas!
I accomplished about 50% of what I set out to do with Hegel. I concentrated on him for four months, from mid-February to mid-June. I read my 540-page abridged anthology of his major works. I read Singer’s 100-page mini-summary of Hegel’s work, along with selections of material from Robert Solomon, Walter Kaufmann, Will Durant, T. Z. Lavine, and skimmed through two other slim books on Hegel’s metaphysics.
Did I understand what I read?
Mostly, somes. This weekend I’ll write up a report on my overall encounter with Hegel and what I took away from his philosophy. Forgive me in advance for any errors; this was never intended to be a self-study course, merely an exercise to overcome my hoppingness. And to a certain extent, it did work. I spent 90% of my philosophical reading time on Hegel. Yeah, I strayed to other philosophers and other topics, but not in the major, scatterbrained way I used to do. Yeah, I put Hegel down twice for a week at a time each time. But I did the mental work and hacked my way through some dense nineteenth-century translated German philosophical prose.
What didn’t work? Well, instead of easing my hopping, I stubbornly kept all those other distracting projects I do (writing, blogging, reading science fiction, various nonfiction reading, exercising, housekeeping, unimportant extended family and friend obligations, and, lastly, work). So Hegel became just another project of the too-many I have to hop back and forth to. That didn’t work.
I also did not structure the project well. Or rather, I didn’t stick to my gameplan. For the first two months I read only the anthology, and I grade myself an A. Superb. Reading the Durant and Singer books – A. Good. Then I started reading a couple of those secondary books simultaneously, not sticking with one all the way through but shuffling about, hopping and more hopping, and quickly started getting headaches whenever I opened any book with the word “Hegel” on the cover. Yeah, I really started getting headaches.
So, I am moving on. Retooling. Aquinas is next, and I think I might have a better experience with him. One, I’ve read him the past, and though he is a tough read, at least it makes sense to me. Second, as a Catholic, I am intensely interested in learning Thomistic philosophy. And third, something tells me it will help me in my search for meaning in this life.
But I need to cut back on the extraneous readings. Two books at a time, a fiction and a nonfiction. That’s it. One to read at lunch and one to read before bed. Two books only. Anything else is a distraction and must be triaged. These experiments cannot truly be called successful unless and until my focus comes under my strict discipline.
Now (rubs his hands together, excited) – onward to St. Thomas!
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