The Opening of Hegel's Logic: From Being to Infinity (History of Philosophy Series)

I have divided my review into two sections. The first section deals directly with Houlgate's book and why I think it's just swell. The second section contains some of my own thoughts on Hegel's continuing relevance and so can be safely skipped by those who are uninterested.I.It would be hard to praise this book too highly as an introduction to Hegel's formidable Science of Logic. Houlgate manages to do two things with this book and he does both extremely well.First, Houlgate has written an accessible introduction to one of the most difficult texts in the history of philosophy for those who, like me, are still beginner's when it comes to Hegel.Second, Houlgate engages in a scholarly debate with many of the most important commentators/interpreters/critics of Hegel beginning with contemporaries of Hegel or near contemporaries (Schelling, Trendelenburg, Kierkegaard) and moving all the way through modern times (Gadamer, Derrida, Taylor, Pippin). The reader gets both an introduction to Hegel's logic and an introduction to the historical debates surrounding the interpretation of Hegel's thought and logic.Houlgate is particularly strong in his analysis of the transitions between the logical categories. He is always careful to refrain from bringing in "external reflections" in transitioning between the categories, instead allowing the categories to develop based on their own internal logic. This is certainly the way Hegel himself viewed and understood his logic. Whether you believe Hegel was actually successful in this task is, of course, a separate question. There will be many who will be critical of these transitions, just as there are many who are critical of the whole notion of bringing movement into logic in the first place. However, before you can criticize a philosopher it is obviously necessary to first understand them. And if your goal is to understand Hegel I highly suggest you buy this book immediately.II.I would also like to make a few comments in regard to Hegel's continuing relevance. Charles Taylor famously proclaimed that Hegel's ontology was dead. And I think it would be hard to find too many philosophers these days who would try to defend or agree with Hegel's idealist ontology. With all the successes of the modern, empirical sciences it would also be hard to find too many people who would agree with the idea that the analysis of pure thought can tell us something about the nature of reality. And finally, even for those who are interested in logic purely for it's own sake, the fact is that modern, formal logic has gone in a very different direction from Hegel's logic. You could say that modern, formal logic has it's source in Aristotle's syllogistic logic which Aristotle develops in his Prior Analytics. Hegel's logic, on the other hand, is more in the tradition of Aristotle's Categories. Modern, formal logic is about the nature of valid inference, while Hegel's logic is ultimately an analysis of the categories through which the mind grasps reality. So one might wonder whether Hegel is still relevant.I think he is. Of course Hegel has had a great deal of influence in the Continental tradition of philosophy and so he is worth studying for that reason alone. It would be impossible to fully understand thinkers like Derrida, Deleuze, Adorno, Habermas or Zizek without a pretty solid understanding of Hegel; but more than that, I believe Hegel is worth studying in his own right.It is ultimately not necessary to accept every claim made by a philosopher to find value in their work. Hegel has very interesting things to say about the relations between conceptual and pre-conceptual reality, the metaphysical interdependence of objects, the nature of meaning and language, time, change, necessity, contingency, the relation between thought and existence, etc. that are not at all dependent on an acceptance of his absolute idealism or his claim to have derived the absolute validity of the categories from the concept of pure being.This is somewhat vague because I have just begun to study Hegel. When I have read more, and have some more free time, I intend to update my review by providing a more complete summary of Houlgate's book as well as a more in depth discussion of Hegel's contemporary relevance. For now I would just recommend picking up Houlgate's book before you make your mind up one way or the other in regard to Hegel's relevance.

The strength of this book is in the authors' repetition of the stages in the evolution of pure being. Because the transitions are strictly "logical" and therefore abstract without any real world context to refer to they can be difficult to grasp. The tendency is to want to jump ahead to the more concrete rather than follow the logical path and Houlgate holds the reader back and demands they follow the story as written. The end point of course is in showing the unity of the subjective and the objective i.e. how our "concepts" with which we define the external world can, if properly developed through the use of pure reason match up with reality. A remarkable enterprise from a man who was a fervent admirer of Kant -who believed that our concepts are given to us and can never match up with reality and that reason is void or empty without intuition (empirical evidence) to guide it.Houlgate is a devoted advocate of Hegel who firmly believes in Hegel's "presuppositionless" approach (that we can begin from a point where we make no assumptions and work logically forward to something like the "truth"). As such he takes exception with Hegel's critics and at least outlines his objections to their interpretations of Hegel. That is a two edged sword of course but, if one balances it with an intelligently argued commentary that disputes Hegel's reasoning, it provides a good opportunity to obtain a deeper perspective. Overall this book is very helpful in understanding how Hegel makes his argument that, unlike Kant believed, we can know reality or "the thing in itself" and that in fact reason alone, if properly utilized, leads us to a higher plane of understanding of the world around us and can make our subjective consciousness one with that reality.

Very good introduction to Hegel's Logic. Houlgate tries to show the Logic to be a presuppositionless working-through of the thought of pure being, a reading which shines an interesting and valuable light on a complex text. The book is divided into three sections. The first is an introduction to the Logic, what distinguishes it from other texts grappling with problems of logic and ontology, and Houlgate's arguments against other ways of interpreting the Logic. The second section contains the first few chapters of the Logic (from "With What Must the Science begin?" through the transition into the chapter on Being-for-Self); Houlgate's translation and the German text are on opposite pages, with fairly clarifying notes about certain less-than-ideally-rendered parts in the standard Miller translation. The third section is a detailed series of chapters on each section of the previously translated chapters.Good book and helpful for those new to Hegel's Logic.

Very good.

If you have Hegel's Science of Logic, you absolutely must read Rosen's The Idea of Hegel's Science of Logic and this book— they will make the Science of Logic not only acceptable, but pleasurable.

Stephen Houlgate has written a marvelous book. It is a clear, well-written intro to one of the most complex thinkers ever.First Houlgate gives an explanation of Hegel's basic aims and presuppositions and evaluates them, one by one. Then comes the text of the beginning of Hegel's "Logic" - both in German and English - and the discussion of it.Houlgate's book surely makes Hegel's philosophy less frightening! I'd recommend it, along with Burbidge's "The Logic of Hegel's Logic", as an ideal starting point for anyone struggling to understand Hegel's thought.