A Twentyfirst Century Semantic Recollection of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit
Week 1. August 31, 2021
Introduction to the Course: Why Read Hegel Now? And How?
- Read Brandom, “Hermeneutic Practices and Theories of Meaning” (2004).
- Read Marshall, “Implications of Brandom’s Inferentialism for Intellectual History” (2013).
- Read Harrelson, “Inferentialist Philosophy of Language and the Historiography of Philosophy” (2014).
Week 1 Materials
Supplementary
- “Untimely Review of the Phenomenology, in Topoi (2008).
- “A Semantic Sonata in Kant and Hegel” Brandom’s Columbia Woodbridge Lectures.
Video
- “Self-Consciousness and Freedom in Kant and Hegel” Short informal talk at Pitt (April, 2021)
- A Semantic Sonata in Kant and Hegel. Lecture 1: Norms, Selves, and Concepts (Pittsburgh 2008)
- A Semantic Sonata in Kant and Hegel. Lecture 2: Autonomy, Community, and Freedom (Pittsburgh 2008)
- A Semantic Sonata in Kant and Hegel. Lecture 3: History, Reason, and Reality (Pittsburgh 2008)
Fun
Images of Some Hermeneutic Styles
Week 2. September 7, 2021
Overview of a Pragmatist, Semantic Reading of the Phenomenology
- Read A Spirit of Trust Introduction.
- Read Brandom, Precis of A Spirit of Trust ( PPR forthcoming).
- Read Brandom, APA Author-Meets-Critics Precis of A Spirit of Trust.
Week 2 Materials
- Handout for Week 2
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 2
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 2
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 2
Supplementary
- “A Hegelian Model of Legal Concept Determination: The Fine Structure of the Judges’ Chain Novel(2013).
- “Heroism and Magnanimity” Aquinas Lecture (2019).
- “From German Idealism to American Pragmatism–and Back” from Perspectives on Pragmatism(2011).
Video
- APA Author Meets Critics Session on A Spirit of Trust (January 2021)
- A Hegelian Model of Legal Concept Determination (Amsterdam, 2021)
- Magnanimity and Agency in Hegel’s Phenomenology (Yale Francke lecture, 2018)
- From German Idealism to American Pragmatism–and Back (Dublin, 2015)
Week 3. September 14, 2021
Hegel’s Introduction to the PG. Critique of Representationalism and Sketch of an Alternate Approach
-
Read Phenomenology Introduction.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 1, 2, 3
Week 3 Materials
- Handout for Week 3
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 3
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 3
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 3
Video
- Humboldt Lecture 1: Conceptual Realism and the Semantic Possibility of Knowledge
- Humboldt Lecture 2: Representation and the Experience of Error
- Humboldt Lecture 3: Following the Path of Despair to a Bacchanalian Revel
Supplementary Material
- “Sketch of a Program for a Critical Reading of Hegel” from Wiedererinnerter Idealismus(2015).
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 1.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 1.
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 2.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 2.
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 3.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 3.
Week 4. September 21, 2021
Consciousness I: Two Varieties of Empiricism: Phenomenalist and Observational
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 1: Sense Certainty
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 2: Perception
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 4, 5
Week 4 Materials
- Handout on the Structure of the Phenomenology for Week 4
- Handout on Sense Certainty chapter for Week 4
- Handout on Perception chapter for Week 4
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 4
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 4
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 4
Video
- Humboldt Lecture 4: Immediacy, Generality, and Recollection
- “An Introduction to Hegelian Logic and Metaphysics” (Edinburgh University Philosophy Society, 2021)
Supplementary Material
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 4.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 4.
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 5.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 5.
Week 5. September 28, 2021
Consciousness II: Theoretical Entities and Conceptual Holism
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 3: Force and Understanding
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 6, 7
Week 5 Materials
- Handout for Week 5
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 5
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 5
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 5
Video
- Humboldt Lecture 6: Force and Understanding–The Ontological Status of Theoretical Entities
- Humboldt Lecture 7: Infinity, Conceptual Idealism and the Transition to Self-Consciousness
Supplementary Material
- “Holism and Idealism” (from Tales of the Mighty Dead, 2000)
- “Modal Expressivism and Modal Realism” (from From Empiricism to Expressivism, 2015)
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 6.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 6.
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 7.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 7.
Fun
Week 6. October 5, 2021
Self-Consciousness From Autonomy to Recognition
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 4
The Independence and Dependence of Self-Consciousness: Lordship and Bondage
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 8, 9, 10
Week 6 Materials
- Handout for Week 6
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 6
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 6
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 6
Video
- Humboldt Lecture 8: The Structure of Desire and Recognition
- Humboldt Lecture 10: The Fine Structure of Autonomy and Recognition
- Humboldt Lecture 11: The Allegory of Mastery: Pragmatic and Semantic Lessons
Supplementary Material
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 8.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 8.
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 10
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 10.
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 11
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 11.
The MISSING HISTORICAL CHAPTER, left out of the final draft of A Spirit of Trust
- PreHegelian Stages in the History of Normativity
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 9 (on the missing chapter).
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 9.
Diverting Detail
Week 7. October 12, 2021
Reason: Practical Agency
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 5 B: The Actualization of Rational Self-Consciousness through its own Activity
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 5 C: Individuality which Takes Itself to be Real In and For Itself
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 11, 12
Week 7 Materials
- Handout for Week 7
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 7
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 7
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 7
Video
- Humboldt Lecture 12: Some Post-Davidsonian Elements of Hegel’s Theory of Agency
- Humboldt Lecture 13: Agency, Intention, and the Expressive Determination of Content
Supplementary Material
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 12.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 12.
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 13.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 13.
No Class October 19, 2021
Week 8. October 26, 2021
From Traditional to Modern Geist
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 6 A: The True Spirit. The Sittlich Order.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapter 13
Week 8 Materials
- Handout for Week 8
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 8
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 8
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 8
Video
Humboldt Lecture 15. Epochs of Geist: Traditional Normativity as Immediate Sittlichkeit
Supplementary Material
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 15.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 15.
- Sophocles’ Antigone. Paul Woodruff translation.
Week 9. November 2, 2021
Language, Alienation, and Modern Geist
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 6 B: Self-Alienated Spirit. Culture
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapter 14
Week 9 Materials
- Handout for Week 9
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 9
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 9
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 9
Video
- Humboldt Lecture 16: Modernity, Alienation, and Language
- Reason, Genealogy, and the Hermeneutics of Magnanimity–Townsend Lecture, Berkeley (2013)
Supplementary Material
Week 10. November 9, 2021
Transition to Post-Modernity: Confession, Forgiveness, and Trust
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 6 C: Spirit that is Certain of Itself. Morality.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapter 15, 16
Week 10 Materials
- Handout for Week 10
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 10
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 10
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 10
Video
- Magnanimity and Agency. Francke Lecture, Yale (2018).
- Humboldt Lecture 17: Genealogy and Magnanimity: The Allegory of the Valet
- Humboldt Lecture 18: Confession and Forgiveness, Recollection and Trust
Supplementary Material
- Heroism and Magnanimity–Aquinas Lecture, Marquette (2018).
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 17.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 17.
- Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 18.
- Handout: Humboldt Lecture 18.
Week 11. November 16, 2021
Substance as Subject and Absolute Knowing
• Read Phenomenology Preface
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 8: Absolute Knowing
Read A Spirit of Trust Conclusion.
Week 11 Materials
- Handout for Week 11: Passages from Absolute Knowing and Preface
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 11
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 11
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 11
No Class November 23, 2021:
Thanksgiving Holiday Break
Week 12. November 30, 2021
From the Phenomenology to the Science of Logic
Week 12 Materials
- Handout for Week 12: Passages from Preface and Science of Logic
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 12
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 12
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 12
Week 13. December 7, 2021
Conclusion: Hegel in the Twentyfirst Century
Read A Spirit of Trust Conclusion.
Week 13 Materials
- Handout for Week 13: Passages from the Science of Logic
- Brandom’s Seminar Notes for Week 13
- Video of Seminar Meeting Week 13
- Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 13