Why was Hegel so deeply misunderstood?
There are several reasons. A. First of all, Hegel’s language is very difficult, and as a consequence very difficult to translate. The reasons for this overall obscurity are numerous: firstly, Hegel uses (translating them into German) technical terms derived from traditional Wolffian metaphysics and Kantian critical philosophy, as reworked by less well-known figures of German idealism (such as Reinhold, Jacobi and Hamann). These technical terms, while known to Hegel’s contemporary because used commonly in the philosophical texts, are no longer widespread. A work like Michael Inwood’s “Hegel Dictionary” can be of much help here. Also, the philological Hegel research has made tremendous advances in the last 30 years. In the English speaking world even reliable translations of Hegel’s major works have been missing for long time (see Walter Kaufmann’s “Hegel – a reinterpretation” for an overview), a situation that became better only over the last 15 years. Secondly, Hegel’s speculative phil
