Submitted by EvenHair4706 t3_z8e89f in worldnews
Comments
PimentoCheesehead t1_iyba2bu wrote
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
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
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
Some translations of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer are quite good. They were better writers
Modal_Window t1_iyblb2b wrote
They also lived in different time periods and had different audiences.
changeusername555 t1_iybne3r wrote
Schopenhauer was a contemporary of Hegel's
guysguy t1_iybq8tf wrote
And Schopenhauer invented the word "hegelei" to basically describe incredibly smart sounding bullshit. The word was then used by Nietzsche and others to describe the same thing. Still in use today, though not as much anymore.
I can’t find an English article but here’s the German wiki for it. Maybe readable with a translator.
gazongagizmo t1_iyc12nj wrote
In North-West Germany "Hegel" has become a slang insult, used sarcastically and non-maliciously.
"Was für ein Hegel!" (or in dialect, "Watt'n Hegel!") is said about someone to call them a sort of buffoon. "What a Hegel you are."
Arrathir t1_iyb87lf wrote
David Hume could out-consume Wilhelm Freiderich Hegel
redmambo_no6 t1_iyba3to wrote
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as sloshed as Schlegel
I’m pretty sure there’s a version that replaces “Wilhelm Friedrich” with “Schopenhauer and”
RupertRip t1_iybdosq wrote
I love reddit sometimes....
EvenHair4706 OP t1_iyb9cx3 wrote
Hume was a much better writer.
redmambo_no6 t1_iybaa61 wrote
tpchnmy t1_iybjljy wrote
I drink therefore I am...
Hargrave1991 t1_iybqxds wrote
I can only imagine how hard it is to translate; my 341 logic class is dense enough.
EvenHair4706 OP t1_iyb64st wrote
The British philosopher Bertrand Russell described him as “the hardest to understand of the great philosophers”.