Finished Hegel: A Biography
Finishing the bio on Hegel, I was caught by one thing in particular above all the rest. Hegel, pretty much the inventor of philosophy of history, a person with great interest in history and current events and political trends in Europe, whose entire philosophy was in some ways a justification for the inherent superiority of Western European Protestant republicanism, never mentioned imperialism.
That seems a rather big hole to me, and really is part of the reason I read the bio. I've read a fair bit of Hegel - in part to understand Marx and the broader currents of socialism, though I am neither a Hegelian nor a Marxist - including his Philosophy of History, but when I read his works it was without a broader context. Oh, I was vaguely aware that he lived in the first bit of the 19th century and was vaguely aware he was a Bonapartist, for instance, but when reading his works I read them without an eye to their historical context. I was thinking of their application to modern politics (and I found quite a bit of it wanting and some of it downright insulting and racist). But given his intent to create a philosophy that justified his modern history, of Western European Protestant nations (and France, he seems to have regarded France as an honorary Protestant nation and definitely turned a blind eye to its Catholicism), it now strikes me really, really weird that he ignores the large overseas empires of all the countries he loved the most - of the Netherlands, France and England. I also know that various German governments at the time were definitely feeling left out of the overseas imperialism end of things (which would eventually reach a head in the Treaty of Berlin in 1880 when the Prussians had conquered the larger part of what we now call “Germany”, though they were definitely thinking about it long before then). To simply ignore the role overseas empires had in the development of modern European states, the extent to which European riches and freedom were brought about by his imperialism, to the real and sustained detriment of the people living in the non-European parts of those empires (most shockingly chattel slavery and the systematic attempts to addict China to opium, but also just the wholesale looting of foreign lands for European interests and the widespread attempts to destroy their culture) . . . I just find it amazing that anyone could ignore this for as long as Hegel did.
And not too long after Hegel's death, I know that Hegelians like Engels and Marx would create a Hegelian philosophy that paid a lot of attention to imperialism, and that modern Hegelians like Huntington and Fukuyama have addressed the subject from a more “centrist” Hegelian position. So I know it's been addressed, but I now find it quite odd that Hegel, himself, never so much as mentioned the existence of these overseas empires when he fairly often mentioned the places that were part of those empires (though often quite dismissively).
That said, what I learned is Hegel lead a pretty boring life but the book accomplishes it's goal to help contextualize Hegel's life in his times. I can't recommend it unless you have an interest in Hegel, but if you do have an interest the book is quite readable.
That seems a rather big hole to me, and really is part of the reason I read the bio. I've read a fair bit of Hegel - in part to understand Marx and the broader currents of socialism, though I am neither a Hegelian nor a Marxist - including his Philosophy of History, but when I read his works it was without a broader context. Oh, I was vaguely aware that he lived in the first bit of the 19th century and was vaguely aware he was a Bonapartist, for instance, but when reading his works I read them without an eye to their historical context. I was thinking of their application to modern politics (and I found quite a bit of it wanting and some of it downright insulting and racist). But given his intent to create a philosophy that justified his modern history, of Western European Protestant nations (and France, he seems to have regarded France as an honorary Protestant nation and definitely turned a blind eye to its Catholicism), it now strikes me really, really weird that he ignores the large overseas empires of all the countries he loved the most - of the Netherlands, France and England. I also know that various German governments at the time were definitely feeling left out of the overseas imperialism end of things (which would eventually reach a head in the Treaty of Berlin in 1880 when the Prussians had conquered the larger part of what we now call “Germany”, though they were definitely thinking about it long before then). To simply ignore the role overseas empires had in the development of modern European states, the extent to which European riches and freedom were brought about by his imperialism, to the real and sustained detriment of the people living in the non-European parts of those empires (most shockingly chattel slavery and the systematic attempts to addict China to opium, but also just the wholesale looting of foreign lands for European interests and the widespread attempts to destroy their culture) . . . I just find it amazing that anyone could ignore this for as long as Hegel did.
And not too long after Hegel's death, I know that Hegelians like Engels and Marx would create a Hegelian philosophy that paid a lot of attention to imperialism, and that modern Hegelians like Huntington and Fukuyama have addressed the subject from a more “centrist” Hegelian position. So I know it's been addressed, but I now find it quite odd that Hegel, himself, never so much as mentioned the existence of these overseas empires when he fairly often mentioned the places that were part of those empires (though often quite dismissively).
That said, what I learned is Hegel lead a pretty boring life but the book accomplishes it's goal to help contextualize Hegel's life in his times. I can't recommend it unless you have an interest in Hegel, but if you do have an interest the book is quite readable.