Abstract

The author says that the purpose of this book is "to provide a compact overview of the whole of Hegel's system, for those who have some familiarity with Hegel's thought". The work succeeds in being compact and it certainly requires an extensive preliminary knowledge of Hegel, since Aboulafia begins immediately to use Hegelian terminology and makes only cursory references to other philosophers or schools of thought. As the title suggests, the book's focus is on the systematic structure of Hegel's philosophy, following generally the structure of the Encyclopedia, although there are generous references to Hegel's other writings and to his lectures. While supposing a knowledge of Hegel, Aboulafia has deliberately omitted any discussion or mention of the literature on Hegel or the major tendencies that have developed in the interpretation of Hegel; he also says that while he has some reservations about the system he has bracketed his own criticisms because they too would detract from his primary purpose of providing a short book "to bring into focus the system as a whole". From a Hegelian point of view, such claims begin to sound like blanket denials of the necessity of mediation in intellectual matters, and one wonders for just whom the book is intended. Could it be for those who have learned the system but forgotten it? There would be a Kierkegaardian irony in this, since the system is itself a supreme act of Erinnerung which if it is really learned could not be forgotten.