[2nd Paragraph]
At first the book was meant only for his students. Now it goes into print, and other people read it too. So Hegel made some Notes longer. (The Notes are the indented parts below the numbered paragraphs.) They are meant to make hard passages clearer. And they take up opinions that were common in his day.
An ordinary textbook only sums up what is already settled in a field. No one expects this from philosophy at all. Many believe that philosophy starts over from scratch every day.
Hegel compares this with Penelope. In the old legend she weaves a cloth by day and unravels it again at night. So the cloth is never finished. This is exactly how many people picture philosophy.
Hegel’s text: Preface, paragraph 2 →