Abstract

This is good news for those of us who have tried for years to teach Hegel’s Logic only to discover each time that by the end of term we have not gone past the first few pages. We have finally a book on which we can rely to lead our students through the intricacies of at least some of its sections. Burbidge’s handling of the parts of the Logic which he has singled out for his commentary is detailed, lucid, accurate, and penetrating. For this reason alone his book will no doubt become standard reference for anyone, beginner and professional alike, interested in Hegel’s Logic. But the book is more than simply an explication of the Hegelian text. It is also a highly original statement about the nature of the Logic made in direct opposition to other interpretations, notably those of Mure, Findlay and Taylor. This aspect of Burbidge’s book is bound to be controversial; I shall claim for my part that it is seriously flawed. On the other hand, since Burbidge’s meta-logical reflections are closely linked to a detailed analysis of Hegel’s own text, they bring with them their own corrective. In spite of any objection one might want to raise against them, they are more likely to initiate an instructive debate on what the nature and the value of the Hegelian Logic truly are than any other commentary has done in the past. For this reason too the book deserves credit, and an important place in the literature of Hegelian interpretation.