Hegel's Ladder (Vol 1 & 2)

When I purchased this volume on April 2 - it was described as a two-volume set consisting of 1565 pages for which I was charged $160.00. On April 12, 2011, I received one volume (The Pilgrimage of Reason), and a statement that said "this shipment completes your order." Not only was I led to believe that I was getting the two-volume set; but the price of the one volume has recently been reduced to $144.35 - although the advertisement still refers to a two-volume set. So this is all very disappointing - I think Amazon can do better.

Amazing commentary! A must have for serious students of Hegel

very good. H. S. Harris is one of the greatest interpreter of Hegel in our time.

Harris initially distinguished himself in the Hegel world through his publication, in the 1970s, of two massive volumes that studied Hegel's pre-Phenomenology works, and demonstrated through them the systematic development of Hegel's philosophical position. Since that time, he has been the pre-eminent English-language scholar of Hegel, and especially the Hegel of the Phenomenology of Spirit. In "Hegel's Ladder", Harris brings the same level of deeply detailed study to the reading of Hegel's Phenomenology. It takes two massive volumes for Harris to get through it all, and every page is worthwhile. Harris follows Hegel's text paragraph by paragraph, sorting through the technical language, deciphering the oblique literary allusions, supplying the relevant contexts from the history of philosophy, and most of all keeping a close watch on how the specific developments of the paragraph in question carry forward the larger systematic argument of the book as a whole. No one will agree with every detail of Harris's analysis, but no serious scholar can fail to see that Harris has brought the study of the Phenomenology to a qualitatively new level of insight and especially accuracy. This is without question the single best and most important commentary on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, and is a mandatory text for anyone intending to do serious research on Hegel.

Many authors (Wood, Pippin, Pinkard, Lauer) have written commentaries on Hegel's Phenomenology, but as far as I know there is no commentary like "Hegel's Ladder". It focuses on single paragraphs with a brilliant precision. Hegel is horribly complex especially on the mikro-level of his sentences. This is why "overview-commentaries" leaves these complexities out and only tell you what Hegel is "in general" about. Harris brings light into Hegel on the level of sentences and single paragraphs. This is what his commentary is all about and it is really helpful. He also writes clearly and and does not copy Hegel's diction.