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What am I recognizing and doing right now? What are the times I am living in? Who am I? While all of these questions fall within the realm of philosophy, they are usually regarded as separate issues. If you ask an expert, they will probably tell you that the first question is addressed by “epistemology and philosophy of action,” the second by “philosophy of history,” and the third by “philosophy of the ego or mind.” In fact, the question of “who am I” may be defined irrespective of the time period, and there seems to be no need to bother linking the question to history or cognition and actions.
 
But is that really so? Do I really have no ties to the times in which I live? After all, here I am trying to think about this era. And my thoughts on this topic are in the here and now.
 
My new book finds the linkage among these questions in the primary work of the 19th century German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), a text that is one of the most difficult in the history of Western philosophy. In fact, it is not so clear what problems it even addresses. While many philosophers and ordinary readers are fascinated by Hegel’s powerful writing style and deep thoughts, there are also persistent criticisms that he presents a mishmash of ideas and that the work is incomplete. This book, however, finds that the challenge of The Phenomenology of Spirit is to give a coherent answer to the opening questions above. To know me is to know myself, including the cognitions and actions that brought me to the here and now, and to know myself in relation to others, which is, after all, to know who I am (we are) at the current point in world history. According to Hegel, this is the condition under which knowledge of the absolute is possible, the beginning of pure thought that lives forever on this earth.
 
You may wonder at this epic story. But, in The Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel applies both subjective and objective perspectives to interconnect individual awareness and action and the development of world history into a comprehensively patterned series of various forms of consciousness and spirit. While this theorization has some basic flaws, it nevertheless constructs a rigorous system of necessity and totality. My book demonstrates this by meticulously analyzing almost the entire text of Hegel’s work, taking into account the history of how Hegel formulated his thought and how he was influenced. This clarification of Hegel’s methodology and theoretical construct in The Phenomenology of Spirit and its philosophical significance should have important ramifications for current research on Hegel’s philosophy, as well as for contemporary philosophy.
 
This book is a serious study addressing highly specialized and contentious points in a classic philosophical text. This cannot be denied. Still, as I have already suggested, the underlying aim is to reexamine the me (us) of the present day, here and now. Hegel’s philosophy pierces through the concepts of “me,” “my (our) knowledge,” and “world history,” in a manner that can be actualized in any era and that is eternally “new.” It is my hope that this book will help readers who have begun to question themselves and their times.
 

(Written by: IIZUMI Yusuke / July 10, 2024)