Antigone is my favorite, but with that said.......I am not sure how one could place Hegel ahead of Plato and Aristotle just because the pleasurabiltiy level is so low.  :) Moreover, the notion in The Republic (and followed by Aristotle in On Politics) that the forms of government will best serve humanity when they are derived from a proper conception of human nature is the single most important philosophical insight ever, period.  The insight that political theory and structures depend on ontological and epistemological conclusions allows us to focus on where the real debate lies in public discourse -- the nature of humanity and what is good.  Depending how you describe those, the forms of government and political economy follow.  Thus, the real debate among Marxist and the Capitalist is "What is Human Nature."  Without first answering that question, it makes no sense for the marxist to talk about alienation.   Justin Schwartz <jkschw@hotmail.com> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> (The _Republic_ is still my favorite book -- but there is >no doubt it is by The Enemy.) > Do tell, why is it your favorite book? I used to teach it, but haven't read it now for 15, maybe 17 years (gaak). And I have to confess that it reading The Apology of Socrates that got my interested in philosophy in the first place. But in my more recent incarnations, I thought that Plato was inferior to Aristotle; and I wouldn't take the whole of Plato's moral philosophyt, so fara s I understand it, for two pages of the Nicomachean Ethics. I wouldn't list any work of either either as my fav even in philosophy and social theory, certainly not while Hegel's Phenomenology, Marx's Capital, or Lukacs' HCC are around. On beyond philosophy of social theory: more favorite than Milton or Shakespeare or Goethe or Dante or Chaucer or Homer? I mean let! 's! get real here. jks _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com </BLOCKQUOTE> <hr size=1>Do You Yahoo!? <a href="http://rd.yahoo.com/welcome/*http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/fc/en/spl">Sign-up for Video Highlights</a> of 2002 FIFA World Cup