PimentoCheesehead t1_iyba2bu wrote on November 30, 2022 at 2:52 AM

Reply to comment by EvenHair4706 in Newly found transcripts from Hegel by EvenHair4706

I always kind of assumed he was indecipherable because his original writings were in German. Everything I’ve ever tried to read in translation from German has been incredibly dense and hard to follow.

Spoonfeedme t1_iybdnus wrote on November 30, 2022 at 3:21 AM

A greater part of the problem is that much of Hegel's work is transcripts of lectures for people who also spoke the highly technical philosophical language he did. The lay audience was not the intended reader.

conspicuousperson t1_iybtkug wrote on November 30, 2022 at 5:46 AM

Hegel assumes a high amount of knowledge of early 19th-century German philosophy, and many of his technical terms are untranslatable. He especially loved compound words.

EvenHair4706 OP t1_iybapmw wrote on November 30, 2022 at 2:57 AM

Some translations of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer are quite good. They were better writers

Modal_Window t1_iyblb2b wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:26 AM

They also lived in different time periods and had different audiences.

changeusername555 t1_iybne3r wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:45 AM

Schopenhauer was a contemporary of Hegel's