A Twentyfirst Century Semantic Recollection
of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit
Philosophy 2180—Fall 2021—University of Pittsburgh
Tuesday 1:30pm to 4:00 pm, on Zoom
Course Website at sites.pitt.edu/~rbrandom
Bob Brandom
Syllabus
Introduction to the Course: Why Read Hegel Now? And How?
• Read Brandom, "Hermeneutic Practices and Theories of Meaning" (2004).
• Read Marshall, "Implications of Brandom's Inferentialism for Intellectual History" (2013).
• Read Harrelson, "Inferentialist Philosophy of Language and the Historiography of Philosophy" (2014).
Week 1 Materials:
Supplementary:
o "Untimely Review of the Phenomenology, in Topoi (2008).
o "A Semantic Sonata in Kant and Hegel" Brandom's Columbia Woodbridge Lectures.
Video:
"Self-Consciousness and Freedom in Kant and Hegel" Short informal talk at Pitt (April, 2021)
A Semantic Sonata in Kant and Hegel. Lecture 1: Norms, Selves, and Concepts (Pittsburgh 2008)
A Semantic Sonata in Kant and Hegel. Lecture 2: Autonomy, Community, and Freedom (Pittsburgh 2008)
A Semantic Sonata in Kant and Hegel. Lecture 3: History, Reason, and Reality (Pittsburgh 2008)
Fun:
Overview of a Pragmatist, Semantic Reading of the Phenomenology.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Introduction.
• Read Brandom, Precis of A Spirit of Trust (PPR forthcoming).
• Read Brandom, APA Author-Meets-Critics Precis of A Spirit of Trust.
Week 2 Materials:
Handout for Week 2
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 2
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 2
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 2
Supplementary:
o "A Hegelian Model of Legal Concept Determination: The Fine Structure of the Judges' Chain Novel(2013).
o "Heroism and Magnanimity" Aquinas Lecture (2019).
o "From German Idealism to American Pragmatism--and Back" from Perspectives on Pragmatism(2011).
Video:
APA Author Meets Critics Session on A Spirit of Trust (January 2021)
A Hegelian Model of Legal Concept Determination (Amsterdam, 2021)
Magnanimity and Agency in Hegel's Phenomenology (Yale Francke lecture, 2018)
From German Idealism to American Pragmatism--and Back (Dublin, 2015)
Hegel's Introduction to the PG. Critique of Representationalism and Sketch of an Alternate Approach.
• Read Phenomenology Introduction.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 1, 2, 3
Week 3 Materials:
Handout for Week 3
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 3
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 3
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 3
Video:
Humboldt Lecture 1 Conceptual Realism and the Semantic Possibility of Knowledge
Humboldt Lecture 2 Representation and the Experience of Error
Humboldt Lecture 3 Following the Path of Despair to a Bacchanalian Revel
Supplementary Material:
o "Sketch of a Program for a Critical Reading of Hegel" from Wiedererinnerter Idealismus(2015).
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 1.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 1.
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 2.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 2.
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 3.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 3.
Consciousness I: Two Varieties of Empiricism: Phenomenalist and Observational.
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 1: Sense Certainty.
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 2: Perception.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 4, 5.
Week 4 Materials:
Handout on the Structure of the Phenomenology for Week 4
Handout on Sense Certainty chapter for Week 4
Handout on Perception chapter for Week 4
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 4
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 4
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 4
Video:
Humboldt Lecture 4 Immediacy, Generality, and Recollection
"An Introduction to Hegelian Logic and Metaphysics" (Edinburgh University Philosophy Society, 2021)
Supplementary Material:
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 4.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 4.
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 5.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 5.
Consciousness II: Theoretical Entities and Conceptual Holism
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 3: Force and Understanding.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 6, 7.
Week 5 Materials:
Handout for Week 5
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 5
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 5
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 5
Video:
Humboldt Lecture 6 Force and Understanding--The Ontological Status of Theoretical Entities
Humboldt Lecture 7 Infinity, Conceptual Idealism and the Transition to Self-Consciousness
Supplementary Material:
"Holism and Idealism" (from Tales of the Mighty Dead, 2000)
"Modal Expressivism and Modal Realism" (from From Empiricism to Expressivism, 2015)
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 6.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 6.
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 7.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 7.
Fun:
Self-Consciousness From Autonomy to Recognition.
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 4:
The Independence and Dependence of Self-Consciousness: Lordship and Bondage.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 8, 9, 10.
Week 6 Materials:
Handout for Week 6
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 6
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 6
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 6
Video:
Humboldt Lecture 8 The Structure of Desire and Recognition
Humboldt Lecture 10 The Fine Structure of Autonomy and Recognition
Humboldt Lecture 11 The Allegory of Mastery: Pragmatic and Semantic Lessons
Supplementary Material:
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 8.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 8.
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 10
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 10.
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 11
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 11.
The MISSING HISTORICAL CHAPTER, left out of the final draft of A Spirit of Trust:
PreHegelian Stages in the History of Normativity
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 9 (on the missing chapter).
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 9.
Diverting Detail:
Reason: Practical Agency
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 5 B: The Actualization of Rational Self-Consciousness through its own Activity.
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 5 C: Individuality which Takes Itself to be Real In and For Itself.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapters 11, 12.
Week 7 Materials:
Handout for Week 7
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 7
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 7
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 7
Video:
Humboldt Lecture 12 Some Post-Davidsonian Elements of Hegel’s Theory of Agency
Humboldt Lecture 13 Agency, Intention, and the Expressive Determination of Content
Supplementary Material:
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 12.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 12.
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 13.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 13.
From Traditional to Modern Geist.
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 6 A: The True Spirit. The Sittlich Order..
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapter 13.
Week 8 Materials:
Handout for Week 8
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 8
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 8
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 8
Video:
Supplementary Material:
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 15.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 15.
Sophocles' Antigone. Paul Woodruff translation.
Language, Alienation, and Modern Geist.
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 6 B: Self-Alienated Spirit. Culture.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapter 14.
Week 9 Materials:
Handout for Week 9
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 9
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 9
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 9
Video:
Humboldt Lecture 16 Modernity, Alienation, and Language
Reason, Genealogy, and the Hermeneutics of Magnanimity--Townsend Lecture, Berkeley (2013)
Supplementary Material:
Transition to Post-Modernity: Confession, Forgiveness, and Trust.
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 6 C: Spirit that is Certain of Itself. Morality..
• Read A Spirit of Trust Chapter 15, 16.
Week 10 Materials:
Handout for Week 10
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 10
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 10
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 10
Video:
Magnanimity and Agency. Francke Lecture, Yale (2018).
Humboldt Lecture 17 Genealogy and Magnanimity: The Allegory of the Valet
Humboldt Lecture 18 Confession and Forgiveness, Recollection and Trust
Supplementary Material:
Heroism and Magnanimity--Aquinas Lecture, Marquette (2018).
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 17.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 17.
Lecture text: Humboldt Lecture 18.
Handout: Humboldt Lecture 18.
Substance as Subject and Absolute Knowing
• Read Phenomenology Preface.
• Read Phenomenology Chapter 8: Absolute Knowing.
• Read A Spirit of Trust Conclusion.
Week 11 Materials:
Handout for Week 11: Passages from Absolute Knowing and Preface
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 11
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 11
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 11
Thanksgiving Holiday Break
From the Phenomenology to the Science of Logic.
Week 12 Materials:
Handout for Week 12: Passages from Preface and Science of Logic
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 12
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 12
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 12
Conclusion: Hegel in the Twentyfirst Century.
Week 13 Materials:
Handout for Week 13: Passages from the Science of Logic
Brandom's Seminar Notes for Week 13
Video of Seminar Meeting Week 13
Audio of Seminar Meeting Week 13
Some Further Resources:
* Course website for Brandom's 2017 seminar on Hegel's Phenomenology, with audio of all sessions.
* Some Hegel links to texts
* Thomas Carlyle's Sartor Resartus
Video of All 18 Humboldt Lectures At Once (!)
