A Bi-Weekly Reading Group – commences 14th January 2027
Between 1933 and 1939 the Russian emigré philosopher Alexander Kojève undertook a series of readings of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, in lectures at the Parisian L’École Pratique des Hautes-Études. the lectures were attended by what became almost a “who’s who” of French post-war philosophy: Sartre (who enrolled but may not much have been present), Levinas, Bataille, and Lacan to name but a few. Translated by James Nichols and edited by Allan Bloom, they have arguably been as influential for much of the postwar Anglophone reading of Hegel. Fukuyama (taught briefly by Bloom) read them, arguing “we are interested not in Hegel per se but in Hegel-as-interpreted-by-Kojève, or perhaps a new, synthetic philosopher named Hegel-Kojève.” [1] Kojève’s Hegel-interpretation formed part of Judith Butler’s doctorate,[2] and, following Kojève, in early years she often capitalised the word Desire (le Désire), while arguing that Kojève does not misread Hegel, but reads him into our own times.
This reading group will focus on the question of how Kojève’s reading reworks Hegel’s Phenomenology (and the Jena material on which it was based), and what influence Kojève exercises on contemporary interpretations of Hegel. We will ask the question: does Kojève open, or block the way to what Hegel asks us to think of? The Group will meet online, fortnightly on Mondays at 4.00pm British time (GMT or BST), starting on 11th January 2027. We will begin with an opening lecture and discussion, and then proceed in approximately seven further meetings to consider the successive chapters of Bloom’s edition.
While focusing on Kojève’s lectures, we will also look at some texts of Hegel’s, and we will hope to touch on some of the Anglophone readings of Hegel (F. H. Bradley, R. B. Haldane among many others). Edited by Raymond Queneau, the French text of the lectures appeared in 1947 (the same year as Hyppolite published his own Genesis and Structure of the Phenomenology).[3] The English text (which we will study), is about half the length of the French, and first appeared in 1969. Reference to the French text will be made, but there is no requirement to have French or German to join the group. Details of other texts will be supplied in due course.
To join the seminar, please email Hegel@knappfoundation.ac.uk – please give some indication of your affiliation and interest in the subject.
[1] Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York NY: Macmillan, 1992), p. 144.
[2] Judith Butler, Recovery and Invention: The Projects of Desire in Hegel, Kojève, Hyppolite and Sartre (Yale University, 1984). Reworked as Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth Century France (New York NY: Columbia, 1987).
[3] Introduction à la lecture de Hegel, edited by Raymond Queneau. Paris: Gallimard, 1947. A partial English translation was edited by Allan Bloom and translated by James H. Nichols Jr., as Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1980 [1969].