Abstract

An edition of Hegel’s correspondence in English has been long needed, and even more so now that many English language readers who do not read German and are not schooled in the continental tradition have again taken an interest in Hegel. Clark Butler and Christiane Seiler have therefore performed an invaluable task. However, one must be forewarned that this is not a complete translation of the correspondence; indeed, it is a translation that contains for the most part only Hegel’s side of the correspondence. Hence, the title is accurate: Hegel’s Letters. But this does not detract from the worth of the book as it was intended; for they wished to give us not simply a translation of Hegel’s letters, but a commentary on Hegel’s mature system. The book does two things, therefore: it gives us most of Hegel’s letters in a fine, very readable translation; it attempts to further a certain interpretation of Hegel, an interpretation which Clark Butler and others have been advancing for some time. Before examining the book and its thesis, however, some things should be said about the general format of the work.