Introduction to the Reading of Hegel

“This collection of Kojeve’s thoughts about Hegel constitutes one of the few important philosophical books of the twentieth century–a book, knowledge of which is requisite to the full awareness of our situation and to the grasp of the most modern perspective on the eternal questions of philosophy.”–Allan Bloom (from the Introduction)

During the years 1933-1939, the Russian-born and German-educated Marxist political philosopher Alexandre Kojeve (1902-1968) brilliantly explicated–through a series of lectures–the philosophy of Hegel as it was developed in the Phenomenology of Spirit. This collection of lectures–originally compiled by Raymond Queneau and edited for its English-language translation by Allan Bloom–shows the intensity of Kojeve’s study and thought and the depth of his insight into Hegel’s Phenomenology. More important–for Kojeve was above all a philosopher and not an ideologue–this profound and venturesome work on Hegel will expose the readers to the excitement of discovering a great mind in all its force and power.