Simon Gros

Hegel’s Development: Night Thoughts is a profound scholarly work that meticulously charts the intellectual evolution of G. W. F. Hegel during his formative years at the University of Jena. This book is the culminating volume of Harris’s comprehensive two-part analysis, filling a significant gap in English-language scholarship on Hegel’s philosophical maturation. The study is grounded in the painstaking reconstruction of Hegel’s manuscripts from this critical period, leading up to the landmark publication of Phenomenology of Spirit in 1807.

Harris offers an in-depth examination of Hegel’s systematic philosophy, tracing the development of his ideas through detailed analysis of his writings on the Philosophy of Nature (1803-4), Philosophy of Spirit (1804), Logic and Metaphysics (1804-5), and subsequent works up to 1806. Unlike many studies that engage primarily with Hegel’s Phenomenology, Harris situates Hegel’s thought within the broader context of his striving to articulate a comprehensive system of philosophy, which was deeply intertwined with his role as a Volkserzieher—an educator of the people.

The book foregrounds Hegel’s intellectual trajectory, emphasizing his commitment to making philosophy accessible and relevant to the public, a theme rooted in his desire to complete and actualize the Kantian revolution by “teaching philosophy to speak German.” This narrative arc provides a cohesive thread linking Hegel’s early religious and political engagements to his later abstract, speculative systematization.

Harris’s study is distinguished by its careful avoidance of the contentious debates over Hegel’s relations with contemporaries like Schelling, instead focusing on Hegel’s internal intellectual development. The thesis suggests that Hegel’s philosophical evolution was primarily an internal resolution of the challenge of popularizing philosophical insights, a concern that persisted from his seminary days through his early academic career.

This volume is indispensable for intellectual historians, providing an accurate chronological index of Hegel’s early writings and an exhaustive bibliography of relevant scholarship. Harris’s work, incorporating newly discovered fragments and the latest chronological data, stands as the most authoritative discussion of Hegel’s early philosophy. It serves both as a comprehensive research guide for scholars and a critical re-evaluation of earlier biographical and textual analyses by figures like Rosenkranz, Haym, Dilthey, Haering, and Lukacs.

Hegel’s Development: Night Thoughts is a seminal text that offers unparalleled insight into the formation of Hegel’s philosophical system, situating his early work within the broader quest to democratize and systematize philosophical thought.

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