THE FIRST EDITION.

This approach was necessary, though to a lesser degree, in all the other sections of the work. The editor’s task was to present lectures in the form of a book; he was obliged to transform oral speech into readable text. The student notes and manuscripts that made up his source materials came from various years. He had to undertake the task of shortening the wordiness of the spoken delivery, bringing the historical accounts into harmony with the philosophical original: "speculative" observations of the author, and taking care that the later lectures were not pushed aside by the earlier ones, ensuring the first sections were freed from the sense of isolation and disconnection they initially displayed. On the other hand, he was bound to remember at every moment that the book contained lectures. The natural simplicity original: "naïveté", the free-flowing style original: "abandon", and the enthusiastic focus on the immediate subject—which makes a speaker indifferent to when or how they will finish—had to be left intact. Even frequent repetitions could not be entirely removed where they did not too greatly interrupt the flow of thought or tire the reader.

Despite the significant level of freedom that, by necessity, must be granted to the editor, and the duties of reconstruction required by such a compilation, it can be sincerely stated that in no case have the ideas of the editor been substituted for those of Hegel. A genuine, completely authentic work of the great philosopher is offered here to the reader. If the editor had followed any other plan, he would have been left with no choice but to either produce a book that no one could have enjoyed or, conversely, to insert too much of his own writing in place of the materials? that lay before him.

Regarding the style of the work, it must be noted that the editor was forced to rewrite it from beginning to end. For one part of the Introduction, however (up to page 61 of this book), he had access to a draft begun by Hegel in 1830. Although this was not designed specifically for publication, it was clearly intended to take the place of earlier introductions. The editor—even though not all of his friends agreed with his view—believed that where a Hegelian fragment original: "torso"; used here to describe an unfinished but significant piece of writing existed, he should refrain from adding his own words or making any revisions. He was determined not to weaken the firm...