Some Dimensions of Translating or Writing about Hegel in Urdu

Abstract

In this short testimony, I will recount my personal experience of studying and lecturing on Hegel in Pakistan. I will underline the difficulties brought about by the lack of philosophical texts in Urdu along with the lack of interest in and perhaps even aversion toward Hegel in Pakistani universities. I will describe how I have approached Hegel’s philosophy after a thorough study of Marxism. Furthermore, I will sketch the composition of the current Urdu philosophical language. Finally, I will give some examples of the expressions I proposed in my works to translate Hegel’s terminology before the first Hegelian writing was translated into Urdu in 2019.