Abstract

This is an M & M treat, a massive and magisterial commentary on Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Speaking of the historical influences that shaped Hegel’s thought according to his interpreters, our author writes, “Hegel must then have been reading night and day for more than a century”. But the same can be said of Peperzak himself, for the notes give a guided tour of a body of Hegel literature in German, French, Italian, and English so extensive as to suggest Hegel’s bad infinite. Yet the voice in the text is distinctly Peperzak’s own. He tells us this work has been in the making for forty years and cites four of his earlier books as preparatory studies: Le jeune Hegel et la vision morale du monde, Philosophy and Politics: A Commentary on the Preface to Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Selbsterkenntnis des Absoluten, and Hegels praktische Philosophie. It would seem that the spirit of thoroughness has not died out in Hegel studies.