Abstract

Although it claims to provide “no definitive exposition of any part”, this book is intended to be “a compact overview of the whole of Hegel’s system, for those who have some familiarity with Hegel’s thought”. To preserve its compactness, the book neither deals with nor mentions other commentators and critics; for the same reason, it offers no criticisms of its own and the rapprochement between Hegel and his predecessors is kept to a minimum. Instead, the author’s stated intentions in his exposition are two: 1) to isolate Hegel’s account of finitude and infinity and show that it is the system in embryonic form; then, in order to let this embryo grow, 2) to demonstrate how concepts like “finite” and “infinite” contribute to the development of spirit; in other words, what is also needed is an explanation of how the system operates, and with this in mind Hegel’s treatment of temporality is brought to the fore.