Hegels World Revolutions

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A new account of the relevance of Hegel's ideas for today's world, countering the postwar anti-Hegel "insurgency"

G.W.F. Hegel was widely seen as the greatest philosopher of his age. Ever since, his work has shaped debates about issues as varied as religion, aesthetics and metaphysics. His most lasting contribution was his vision of history and politics. In Hegel's World Revolutions, Richard Bourke returns to Hegel's original arguments, clarifying their true import and illuminating their relevance to contemporary society. Bourke shows that central to Hegel's thought was his anatomy of the modern world. On the one hand he claimed that modernity was a deliverance from subjection, but on the other he saw it as having unleashed the spirit of critical reflection. Bourke explores this predicament in terms of a series of world revolutions that Hegel believed had ushered in the rise of civil society and the emergence of the constitutional state.

Bourke interprets Hegel's thought, with particular reference to his philosophy of history, placing it in the context of his own time. He then recounts the reception of Hegel's political ideas, largely over the course of the twentieth century. Countering the postwar revolt against Hegel, Bourke argues that his disparagement by major philosophers has impoverished our approach to history and politics alike. Challenging the condescension of leading thinkers-from Heidegger and Popper to Lvi-Strauss and Foucault-the book revises prevailing views of the relationship between historical ideas and present circumstances.

Reviews

"Few, if any, have got the gist of the Geist. Until now, that is. In Hegels World Revolutions, Richard Bourke offers a major re-evaluation of not only Hegels philosophy of history but also the history of his philosophy. . . . To understand Hegel, you must read Bourke."---Daniel Johnson, The Critic
"Richard Bourke is a formidably talented political historian. . . . Hegels World Revolutions displays a knowledge of its protagonists thought which may well be unequalled in Britain. Its mountain of secondary sources is just as impressive."---Terry Eagleton, London Review of Books
"What has enduring influence is Hegels historical analysis, and Mr. Bourke provides a learned case for its brilliance and relevance. . . . Mr. Bourke in particular has effectively rebuked the overheated anathemas of Hegel produced by Berlin and Popper . . . [and] their authoritarian Hegel must now confront Mr. Bourkes cosmopolitan, pluralistic and liberal version."---Jeffrey Collins, Wall Street Journal
"[A] breathtaking intellectual tour de force. . . . A book of such unrelenting intellectual calibre and breadth."---Jeremy Jennings, Engelsberg Ideas
"A masterclass in scholarship."---Max Skjnsberg, Law & Liberty
"Hegels World Revolutions represents arguably the most original contribution to Hegel scholarship in some time. . . .A comprehensive yet succinct and elegant exposition of Hegels thought that attests to his great importance as a leading philosopher of modernity."---Adam Coleman, Oxford Political Review
"Bourkes defence of the German philosopher against a motley crew of post-war cynics and political idealists is historically thorough and philosophically compelling, every sentence of it delivered with a clarity that will make the layman rejoice and the specialist grunt with envy"---Harrison Pitt, The European Conservative
"This study helps readers to appreciate the diagnostic function of the history of political thought and to consider its implications for our own time." * Paradigm Explorer *
"[The book] serves as boundless food for thought. . . .The sort of political philosophy that one has come to naturally align with such a brilliant mind as the man himself." * David Marx Book Reviews *
"[Hegels World Revolutions] is decorously scholarly: exhaustively researched, laden with footnotes, its argument infused with nuance throughout."---Seamus Flaherty, Merion West
"[Bourkes] project is immense in terms of its scope. It is hard not to be impressed by the breadth of his study as he meticulously discusses the fate of Hegelian philosophy in both the continental and the Anglo-Saxon traditions."---Umur Bada, Contemporary Political Theory

Author Bio

Richard Bourke is professor of the history of political thought and a fellow of King's College at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of a number of books, including Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke (Princeton).