Lässt sich der Geist kommentieren? Zu neuen kommentarischen Werken zu Hegel und Adorno

Over the last few years, a number of research works on Hegel and Adorno have appeared that conceive of themselves as »commentaries«. This article offers a critical discussion of these commentaries, focusing on the different forms these commentaries have and dealing with the question of how they relate to the form of philosophical thinking (in Hegel and Adorno) – and, consequently, to the form of Spirit itself. It turns out that these forms of commentary are, in some crucial aspects, adequate to this form, which allots a significant role in the history of reception of Hegel's and Adorno's philosophy to them. This is the case even though some anti-metaphysical prejudices of our present time spill over into some of these commentaries: due to the contrast to the original texts all commentaries qua commentary bind themselves to, the gap between these prejudices and the content of the texts itself is revealed, whereas it can remain concealed in different forms of philosophical writing (e.g. in research papers or monographs).

Georg W. Bertram, Hegels »Phänomenologie des Geistes«. Ein systematischer Kommentar. Stuttgart: Reclam, 2017/2021. 343 S. Anne Eusterschulte/Sebastian Tränkle (Hrsg.), Theodor W. Adorno: Ästhetische Theorie [Klassiker Auslegen Bd. 74]. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2021. X, 304 S. Gunnar Hindrichs (Hrsg.), Max Horkheimer/Theodor W. Adorno: Dialektik der Aufklärung [Klassiker Auslegen Bd. 63]. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2017. IX, 213 S. Michael Quante/Nadine Mooren (Hrsg.), Kommentar zu Hegels Wissenschaft der Logik. Hamburg: Meiner, 2018. IX, 805 S. Birgit Sandkaulen (Hrsg.), G. W. F. Hegel: Vorlesungen über die Ästhetik [Klassiker Auslegen Bd. 40]. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2018. X, 276 S. Pirmin Stekeler, Hegels Wissenschaft der Logik. Ein dialogischer Kommentar [3 Bände]. Hamburg: Meiner, 2020 ff. 1296 S., 1008 S., 1196 S.