{"id":902991,"date":"2026-09-17T07:52:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T05:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/?page_id=902991"},"modified":"2026-09-17T16:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T14:30:09","slug":"which-texts-by-hegel-and-which-is-the-best-way-in","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/which-texts-by-hegel-and-which-is-the-best-way-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Which texts by Hegel are there \u2013 and which is the best way in?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>In brief:<\/strong> Not with the <em>Phenomenology<\/em>, not with the <em>Logic<\/em>, and on no account with a preface. Begin with a short text that Hegel wrote for readers and not for listeners \u2014 and read it to the end before opening a major work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\">Three short texts to begin with<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/wer-denkt-abstrakt\/\"><strong>Who Thinks Abstractly?<\/strong> (1807)<\/a> \u2013 about 1,800 words. A newspaper piece about an execution and a market woman. Whoever has read it knows why \u201eabstract\u201c is a reproach in Hegel \u2014 and that he could write when he wanted to.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/das-aelteste-systemprogramm-des-deutschen-idealismus\/\"><strong>The Oldest System-Programme of German Idealism<\/strong> (fragment, 1796\/97)<\/a> \u2013 about 700 words. In Hegel\u2019s hand; the authorship is disputed. Shows in two pages what that generation actually wanted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/enzyklopaedie-einleitung\/\"><strong>Encyclopaedia, Introduction<\/strong> (1830)<\/a> \u2013 about 6,500 words. The best text for finding out why Hegel thinks the whole apparatus is necessary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you want to read further after that: the <em>Preliminary Conception<\/em> of the Encyclopaedia (\u00a7\u00a7 19\u201383) is the most accessible introduction to Hegel\u2019s relation to Kant, to empiricism and to immediate knowing that we have from his own hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\">The major works and how they hang together<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The commonest beginner\u2019s mistake is to take three books for three competing accounts of the whole. They are not:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2013 <strong>Phenomenology of Spirit<\/strong> (1807). The path of ordinary consciousness up to the standpoint from which science can begin. A ladder, not a storey.<br>\u2013 <strong>Science of Logic<\/strong> (1812\u20131816, volume I newly written in 1832). Begins where the Phenomenology leaves off. The investigation of the determinations of thought themselves.<br>\u2013 <strong>Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences<\/strong> (1817, 1827, 1830). The whole system in outline, printed as a guide for lectures \u2014 terse, but complete: logic, nature, spirit.<br>\u2013 <strong>Groundlines of the Philosophy of Right<\/strong> (1820; the title page bears 1821). The working out of a single section of the Encyclopaedia \u2014 objective spirit \u2014 at book length. That is why <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/2\/\">\u00a7 2<\/a> says that the science of right is \u201e<em>a part of philosophy<\/em>\u201c and takes its concept as given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To these come the <strong>lectures<\/strong> on the philosophy of history, on aesthetics, on the philosophy of religion and on the history of philosophy. They are by far the easiest to read \u2014 and the least by Hegel: they were assembled after his death from his hearers\u2019 transcripts. What that means is set out in the answer to <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/does-this-sentence-come-from-hegel-at-all\/\">Is this sentence even Hegel\u2019s?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\">What you should not begin with<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>Preface to the Phenomenology<\/strong>. It is famous, it is magnificent, and it is useless as a way in \u2014 it presupposes the book it introduces. Hegel supplied the irony himself: in that very preface he warns against trying to get at philosophy through prefaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>beginning of the Logic<\/strong>. Being, nothing, becoming \u2014 these are the three hardest pages Hegel wrote, and they stand right at the front. Why that has to be so is explained in the answer to <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/where-does-a-system-begin-that-may-presuppose-nothing\/\">Where does a system begin that may presuppose nothing?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the <strong>Preface to the Groundlines<\/strong>, if this is the book you want to read. It is polemical, it aims at disputes of 1820, and it contains Hegel\u2019s most misunderstood sentence \u2014 see <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/what-is-rational-is-actual\/\">What is rational is actual<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\">And if you want to stay here<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then begin with <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/1\/\">\u00a7 1<\/a> and read straight through. How a paragraph of this edition is built up, and which layer helps when, is set out in <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/how-do-i-read-a-paragraph-of-this-edition\/\">How do I read a paragraph of this edition?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"grl-fundstellen wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Further:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/which-edition-should-i-use\/\">Which edition should I use?<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/do-i-have-to-have-read-kant-first\/\">Do I have to have read Kant first?<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/do-i-need-to-know-the-logic\/\">Do I need to know the Logic?<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/how-long-will-it-take-me-to-finish-reading-hegel\/\">How long will it take me to finish?<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/quotes\/\">Collection of quotations<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/hegel-system.de\/de\/ausgaben_von_hegels_werken.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Overview of the editions<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<style>.grl-fundstellen{font-size:.85rem;opacity:.85}<\/style>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In brief: Not with the Phenomenology, not with the Logic, and on no account with a preface. Begin with a short text that Hegel wrote for readers and not for listeners \u2014 and read it to the end before opening a major work. Three short texts to begin with If you want to read further [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-902991","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/902991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902991"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/902991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":903247,"href":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/902991\/revisions\/903247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grundlinien.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}