Hegel’s ‘Science of Logic’ – An Epilogue and a Prologue

The MEP’s recurring series Hegel for Radicals introduces what is living in Hegel for those who want to change the world. We resume on October 19 with a nine-week course co-hosted by Alex Steinberg and Matthew Strauss. We will read and discuss the Introduction and Preliminary Concepts from Hegel’s Encyclopedia Logic, sometimes called “The Shorter Logic.” The material we will be discussing can stand alone as an Introduction to Hegel’s magnum opus, The Science of Logic. But for those who have already studied the Science of Logic with us this can serve as completion of the Circle of the dialectic. No prior experience with studying Hegel is expected or required. We will make the Dialectical Logic of Hegel and Marx less mysterious as we go along and try to tease out the revolutionary implications in the thought of Hegel and explain their significance for our time.

We will be reading from:
G. W. F. Hegel, The Encyclopaedia Logic, also known as Part I of the Encyclopaedia of Philosophical Sciences, translation by T. F. Geraets, W. A. Suchting, and H. S. Harris. Hackett Publishing Company, 1991.

Alex Steinberg is an independent scholar and lifelong socialist who has taught classes in Marxist philosophy, Hegel, the dialectics of nature, Heidegger, and Nietzsche at the New Space for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist Education, The Brecht Forum, the Marxist Education Project, and other venues. Alex was a Conference Presenter at the First International Conference on Trotsky in Havana, Cuba. In addition to his scholarly activities Alex has been involved with the governance of WBAI radio, most recently as Chair of the Pacifica National Board from 2019 – 2021.

Matthew Strauss is an independent scholar and a revolutionary communist. He is affiliated with the Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists (CORS) of Columbus, Ohio, and was a member for eleven years of the International Socialist Organization until its dissolution.