Introduction to the Reading of Hegel

"This collection of Kojeve‘s thoughts about Hegel constitutes one of the few important philosophical books of the twentieth century-a book, knowledge of which is requisite to the full awareness of our situation and to the grasp of the most modern perspective on the eternal questions of philosophy."-Allan Bloom (from the Introduction) During the years 1933-1939, the Russian-born and German-educated Marxist political philosopher Alexandre Kojève (1902-1968) brilliantly explicated-through a series of lectures-the philosophy of Hegel as it was developed in the Phenomenology of Spirit. This collection of lectures-originally compiled by Raymond Queneau and edited for its English-language translation by Allan Bloom-shows the intensity of Kojève‘s study and thought and the depth of his insight into Hegel‘s Phenomenology. More important-for Kojève was above all a philosopher and not an ideologue-this profound and venturesome work on Hegel will expose the readers to the excitement of discovering a great mind in all its force and power.