Working language: English

Organizers: Dr. Mariana Teixeira (mariana.o.teixeira@edu.ulisboa.pt) and MA Silvia Locatelli (locatelli.silvia.96@gmail.com)

When: twice a month on Fridays, from 16:00 to 18:00 GMT (according to the program below)

Format: hybrid

Where: Room B112.H (Library Building of the Faculdade de Letras – Universidade de Lisboa) and online (meeting link shared via email)

Hege's Phenomenology of Spirit is one of the most important – and difficult – texts in the history of philosophy, with its original mode of narrative that focuses on the development of human consciousness and spirit over time, introducing the idea of dialectical progression where ideas and concepts evolve through contradiction.

Since its first publication in 1806-1807, it has captivated generations of philosophers and social theorists, having influenced many schools of thought, such as Marxism, existentialism, feminism and contemporary critical theory. But its importance can also be attested by the passionate responses it provoked among its critics, from Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche to more recent approaches such as post-structuralism.

Through the collective reading of the integral text of the Phenomenology, we will attempt in this Reading Group to understand how action and knowledge develop in the course of the search for truth: of oneself and of the world, and in relation with otherness. We will follow the journey of consciousness through the many figures it encounters – including, for instance, the much discussed figures of the master-slave dialectics, the struggle for recognition, the unhappy consciousness, Antigone, and the beautiful soul – in order to grasp the role of experience in the consciousness's path towards absolute knowing and to unveil the book's critical potential.

Session 10 | 3 May 2024

V. Reason: A. Observing reason: a. Observation of nature, pp. 136-174 (§§ 231-297)

Session 11 | 17 May 2024

V. Reason: A. Observing reason: b. Observation of self-consciousness: Logical and psychological laws and c. Observation of self-consciousness: Physiognomy and Phrenology, pp. 174-203 (§§ 298-346)

Session 12 | 7 June 2024

V. Reason: B. Actualization of rational self-consciousness through itself, pp. 203-226 (§§ 347-393)

Session 13 | 21 June 2024

V. Reason: C. Individuality, which, to itself, is real in and for itself, pp. 226-252 (§§ 394-436)