Alexandre Koj_ve (1902-1968) was the author of the famous Introduction to the Reading of Hegel. He taught at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris), where he gave his famous lectures on Hegel, and later was an influential official in the French Ministry of Economic Affairs. His influence was widespread among post-World War II French thinkers including Aron, Bataille, Lacan, and Sartre, and continues among contemporary intellectuals such as Allan Bloom and Francis Fukuyama.

The publication of this meticulously accurate translation, of the genuinely classic work of a towering figure of twentieth century political philosophy, marks a major event in the world of English-speaking scholarship-which will finally have to come to terms with the challenge of Kojeve's highly original and uncompromisingly rationalist left-Hegelian phenomenology of justice.

• Chapter 1 Preliminary RemarksPart 2 Droit As SuchChapter 3 Definition of DroitChapter 4 The Reality of DroitChapter 5 The Specificity and Autonomy of Droit: The Juridical Activity in its Relations with other Human Activities and the Idea of JusticePart 6 The Origin and Evolution of DroitChapter 7 The Source of Droit: The Anthropologic Desire for Recognition as the Source of the Idea of JusticeChapter 8 The Birth ofDroit: The Antithetical Justices of the Master and SlaveChapter 9 The evolution of the Droit: The Evolution of the Droit: Synthetic Justice of the CitizenPart 10 The Legal SystemChapter 11 Classification for Juridical PhenomenaChapter 12 Basic Study of Some Types of Juridical PhenomenaChapter 13 International Droit, Domestic Droit, and the Plurality of National Juridical SystemsChapter 14 Public DroitChapter 15 Penal DroitChapter 16 Private Droit