Abstract

Something of the nature of Rotenstreich’s book can be gained from its title. The main title suggests a coherent and unified account of Hegel’s “shift” from substance to subject; the subtitle, however, seems to point in a somewhat different direction and to suggest a collection of essays on a variety of Hegelian topics. Actually the book itself falls somewhere between the coherence of a single thematic treatment and the diffuseness of a set of disparate essays. Hence, though the shift from substance to subject is the “principal concern”, the “running thread” of his book, Professor Rotenstreich manages in it to touch on a great number of subjects in Hegel’s systematic philosophy. Accordingly, most of the chapters could be read as independent essays, with some of them seeming further afield from the central theme - the shift - in Hegel’s system than do others.