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colin_cox's review against another edition
4.0
I recently read one of the most challenging texts in the Western philosophical canon, Hegel's Phenomonology of Spirit. As an extension of this accomplishment, I decided to reread an earlier, and from my observation, less-cited Hegel text, Lectures on Aesthetics, which my Barnes & Noble edition calls The Philosophy of Art. The composition of the text is fascinating. Unlike Phenomonology of Spirit, one of Hegel's students, Heinrich Gustov Hotho, compiled Lectures on Aesthetics from Hegel's lecture notes. This textual mediation feels distinctly Hegelian. Furthermore, there are moments from Lectures on Aesthetics that echo ideas Hegel develops in Phenomonology of Spirit. For example, when Hegel writes, "The Beautiful is now no longer poured into external formations, but has returned from externality into the inner consciousness of the individual mind" (29) sounds similar to how Hegel conceptualizes the infinite, which is to say, we must think of the infinite as grounded in the finite.
As I mentioned earlier, this Barnes & Noble edition has more than Hegel's text. It also includes an essay from one of Hegel's students, C. L. Michelet. This essay, which is longer than Hegel's text, functions as an "extensive elaboration of Hegel's ideas" (vii). The inclusion of Michelet's essay troubles Hegel's text, if for no other reason than it misleads readers to think Hegel's text needs Michelet's. That is to say, Hegel's Lectures on Aesthetics and Michelet's essay need not be a package deal, but the editor's inclusion of Michelet's text and the naming convention The Philosophy of Art, suggest otherwise.
As I mentioned earlier, this Barnes & Noble edition has more than Hegel's text. It also includes an essay from one of Hegel's students, C. L. Michelet. This essay, which is longer than Hegel's text, functions as an "extensive elaboration of Hegel's ideas" (vii). The inclusion of Michelet's essay troubles Hegel's text, if for no other reason than it misleads readers to think Hegel's text needs Michelet's. That is to say, Hegel's Lectures on Aesthetics and Michelet's essay need not be a package deal, but the editor's inclusion of Michelet's text and the naming convention The Philosophy of Art, suggest otherwise.
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