In this wide-ranging and compelling set of essays, Nigel Tubbs illustrates how a philosophical notion of education lies at the heart of Hegelian philosophy and employs it to critique some of the stereotypes and misreadings from which Hegel often suffers.

With chapters on philosophical education in relation to life and death, self and other, subject and substance, and to Derrida and Levinas in particular, Tubbs brings Hegelian education – read as recollection – to bear on modern social and political relations. He argues, in sum, that Hegelian philosophy comprehended in terms of education yields a theory of self and other that can inform and reform relations between rich and poor, West and East.

Finally, the book addresses the most controversial aspect of any defence of Hegel, namely the comprehension of the absolute and its imperialist implications for Western history. The author argues passionately that through a notion of philosophical education Hegel teaches us not to avoid the dilemmas that are endemic to modern Western power and mastery when trying to comprehend some of our most pressing human concerns.