MILENKO A. PEROVIĆ AND THE COHERENCE OF HEGEL’S SYSTEM: REFLECTIONS ON FIVE STUDIES ON HEGEL

Abstract

Although the title of this paper refers to Milenko A. Perović’s Five Studies
on Hegel, the aim here is not to provide a review of the book, but rather to off er a
philosophical refl ection on the signifi cance and far-reaching implications of this and
Perović’s other works on Hegel. This article mainly examines Perović’s Five Studies
on Hegel as both a contribution to Hegelian scholarship and a statement about the role
of continental philosophy in contemporary thought. This Perović’s work addresses
fi ve central themes: the systematic status of the Phenomenology of Spirit; the shift
from „practical philosophy” to a „philosophy of praxis” as the rational life of objective
spirit; the speculative psychogenesis and philogenesis of the will; the essence and
contradictions of conscience; and the concept of personality in Kant and Hegel. Each
study isolates a key problem in Hegel’s system, but together they articulate a broader
thesis: that freedom is not an abstract presupposition, but a dialectical process realized
in language, institutions, recognition, and history. Beyond their exegetical value, these
studies illustrate Perović’s wider philosophical project. His writings demonstrate how
speculative thought can remain vital outside the dominant analytic paradigm, and how
regional traditions – in this case, former Yugoslav intellectual space – can speak with
universal philosophical resonance. By clarifying the systematic coherence of Hegel’s
philosophy and situating it within the challenges of modernity, Perović reaffi rms
the necessity of continental philosophy as a mode of self-understanding that resists fragmentation and reduction. The article argues that translating and disseminating Perović’s works into English is not only a scholarly task but a philosophical
responsibility, ensuring that his interpretation of Hegel contributes to global debates
on freedom, subjectivity, and the future of philosophy.