Save The Date - Online Hegel Party!

By the midpoint of this month, we will have entirely finished up with our video commentary on the Reason portion of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit.  After that dense, 200+ paragraph portion, we move on to the even longer Spirit portion - and then after that, it's just the shorter Religion and Absolute Knowing portions to finish it up.

So that deserves a celebration - to mark this milestone in the Half Hour Hegel project - and I'm inviting all of you to join me on Sunday, April 23 in our ReasonIO FreeConferenceCall space to raise a glass on your end, and toast the achievement!

It has been a lot of work - more than three years in at this point - to create the 175+ videos we've produced so far.  I'm very grateful for the continued support that my Patreon backers have shown me over that time, making it feasible to devote the time, thought, and energy to this demanding project!

Already in its unfinished state, this video commentary has become a helpful resource for thousands of learners worldwide.  Just looking at the stats in YouTube today, we have had nearly 270,000 total views of the videos.  Even more staggering, something like 2.7 million minutes - or if you like, 1875 total days, or a bit over 5 years - of videocommentary have been watched by viewers worldwide!

So clearly the videos are getting some traction - and this is just three years into what will likely be a five-year project - and who knows how long the finished videocommentary will be around (hopefully decades or even centuries)!

As a side-note, if you're not a Patreon supporter, you might be wondering how it is that we're far enough in the series to schedule this Hegel Party for the 23rd.  Is that the case? There's a simple answer - in addition to their other perks, Patreon supporters get to see the videos a week or so in advance of their release to the general public.

If you're interested in supporting this project - even just $1 a video makes a difference over time - check out the Patreon site, and consider becoming a supporter!  Even if you're not interested in that, though, I heartily invite you to join us for the Hegel Party!

First Three Lectures in Reason as Lawgiver

We're now halfway through the new section, "Reason As Lawgiver" - at least as far as the publicly released videos go (Patreon supporters get to see the new materials a few weeks in advance).

This is a very short section, only ten paragraphs, and it is followed by another equally short section, so before you know it. we'll have finished up with the entire Reason portion of the Phenomenology, and be ready to start the next massive portion, Spirit!

So, can rational self-consciousness make sense of its own project, the "heart of the matter" that it has discovered to be that "ethical substance" it has been seeking since the start of the second part of the Reason portion?  Has it at last arrived at something it can confidently hold in its grip and be entirely sure about?

That's an interesting "big picture" question.  You'll notice that Hegel resolves it in part by focusing in on some useful examples - that's what the entirety of paragraph 424 consists in, consideration of the ethical law: everyone should speak the truth.  Here are the first three videos in this new section:

• Lecture 168 - paragraphs 419-420
• Lecture 169 - paragraphs 421-423
• Lecture 170 - paragraph 424

Finishing With the Spiritual Animal Kingdom and Deceit

March has been an extraordinarily busy month for me, and I've fallen a bit behind in posting here in the Half Hour Hegel blog.  In addition to giving a number of talks, and picking up quite a few new tutorial and philosophical counseling clients, I've also managed to get somewhat ahead on the video production.

My Patreon supporters - this is one of their big perks - have already viewed most of the next section, Reason As Lawgiver.  (And I've actually released one video on that new section for the general public already as well).  I did manage to release all of the remaining videos for the "Spiritual Animal Kingdom and Deceit" section over the course of March.

That's a rather longish section compared to the two that follow - and that finish up the entire Reason portion of the work - and although I enjoyed creating the commentary, I'm happy to have it behind me!  Here are the final five videos from that section:

• Lecture 163 - paragraphs 411-412
• Lecture 164 - paragraphs 413-414
• Lecture 165 - paragraphs 415-416
• Lecture 166 - paragraphs 417
• Lecture 167 - paragraphs 418

Public Q&A Session for March!

We're holding the next Half Hour Hegel public Q&A session a bit later on this week - Wednesday from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM Central Time.

This is a public service that I offer as a way of giving back to the online intellectual community.  It's effectively underwritten by my Patreon supporters (and I do offer a second, exclusive session later on in the month for them).

If you've got any Hegel-related questions - and if you're reading Hegel, you likely do! - then by all means, join in and ask your questions, and I'll do my best to answer them.  You can access the online session at our ReasonIO meeting site.  Hopefully, I'll see you there!

Continuing On Through the Spiritual Animal Kingdom

We're continuing on through this sub-portion of the final portion of the massive (200+ paragraph) Reason section of the Phenomenology.  What's particularly interesting about this part, I would say, is the analysis that Hegel gives to human action, to the practical as centrally important for self-consciousness.

Can a person discover who - or what - he or she is through their action, through losing and finding him or herself in a "matter in hand" (Sache selbst)?  That's what this part of the work is working away at.

Here are the next three videos in the Spiritual Animal Kingdom section

• Lecture 160 - paragraphs 405
• Lecture 161 - paragraphs 406-408
• Lecture 162 - paragraphs 409-410