Hegel's critique of philosophy of right...

[R_P_A_S]

first of all.. SORRY for posting so many damn questions. I just really really wanna GET this stuff. and the dictionary does not always help! here's my question.

MARX:

..... One school of thought that legitimizes the infamy of today with the infamy of yesterday, a school that stigmatizes every cry of the serf against the knout as mere rebelliousness once the knout has aged a little and acquired a hereditary significance and a history, a school to which history shows nothing but its a posteriori, as did the God of Israel to his servant Moses, the historical school of law – this school would have invented German history were it not itself an invention of that history. A Shylock, but a cringing Shylock, that swears by its bond, its historical bond, its Christian-Germanic bond, for every pound of flesh cut from the heart of the people.

the stuff that's in bold.. is the things im having a hard time associating and understanding.. please help me out. what's basically being said here.. thank you!

[rouchambeau]

Taken out of context I cannot begin to make sense of that.

It's great that you ask these things. Chances are that others are in the same position as you. Don't stop learning! :)

[R_P_A_S]

before that paragraph he was talking about germany not sharing in the revolutions, and counter revolution of other european nations.

[R_P_A_S]

little help?

[Qwerty Dvorak]

I honestly can't tell you what the actual passage is about, I haven't read any Hegel myself. But as for the highlight phrases;
knout A whip with a lash of leather thongs, formerly used in Russia for flogging criminals.
a posteriori A school of thought based around the notion that we can't really be sure of something's existence or feasibility unless we have experienced it first hand. Its opposite is a priori.
Shylock A character in Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Merchant of Venice. Shylock is portrayed as the miserly, bitter old Jew who values his wealth (which he acquires through usury) above all else, including his own daughter.

[Janus]

If you seek to understand or closely scrutinize every single sentence written by Marx then you might be in a bit of trouble. As a German, Marx has a predisposition to be very verbose and non-concise. You should focus on the general idea of what he is saying rather than get caught up in a lot of the extra material.