Hegel’s *Phenomenology of Spirit* (1807) is one of the most ambitious and influential works in Western philosophy. In this dense and often enigmatic text, Hegel traces the unfolding of human consciousness through a dialectical journey—from immediate sense experience to self-awareness, and ultimately to the realization of absolute knowledge. Along the way, he explores the dynamics of desire, labor, morality, religion, and the famous “master-slave dialectic,” all as stages in the development of Spirit (*Geist*), the collective unfolding of human consciousness and freedom. Rather than presenting static truths, Hegel dramatizes thought itself as a historical and transformative process, where contradictions are not errors but necessary moments in the evolution of understanding. *Phenomenology of Spirit* is not merely a book about knowledge—it is an odyssey of the mind coming to know itself, in and through its relationships with others and the world.

Though notoriously difficult, the work remains a cornerstone of German Idealism and a vital reference point for thinkers from Marx and Nietzsche to Heidegger, Derrida, the American pragmatists, and contemporary political philosophy. (Cambridge)

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**This is a continuation of Garth's (initially Evan's) reading group on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit.**

We'll be picking up where we left off last session, around paragraph/section 553.

Please look at the text in advance and bring your comments and questions to the discussion.

PDF of Pinkard translation (Cambridge):
https://files.libcom.org/files/Georg%20Wilhelm%20Friedrich%20Hegel%20-%20The%20Phenomenology%20of%20Spirit%20%28Terry%20Pinkard%20Translation%29.pdf

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