Georg Wihelm Friedrich Hegel

1770- 1831

German Idealist

Hegel was born in Stuttgart on August 27, 1770, which is now part of Germany. Hegel was the son of a revenue officer with the civil service. He studied the Greek and Roman classics while attending the Stuttgart preparatory school. His father wanted and encouraged him to join the clergy, however while attending a university seminar Hegel became friends with the poet H lderlin and the philosopher Friedrich von Schelling. After their influence and the completion of a philosophy and theology course Hegel decided not to enter the ministry. Hegel then became a tutor for the next few years until his father’s death, at which his inheritance relieved him of this horrendous task.

In 1801 Hegel attended the University of Jena where he would write one of his greatest works The Phenomenology of Mind. Hegel would soon spend his father’s fortune, which would result in his vocation of journalism. Later in life while at Nuremberg he would write The Science of Logic. In 1818 Hegel was invited to teach there at the University of Berlin. He remained there till his death in 1831 from cholera. Hegel’s last work published was the philosophy of Right. Though his student’s would later take their lectures notes and publish a few more notable books such as Lecture on the History of Philosophy and The Philosophy of Fine Arts.

Hegel was greatly influenced by many of great philosophers such as the Dutch philosopher Spinoza. Yet his greatest influence was Immanuel Kant. Hegel philosophy would mirro Kant’s. But as with any student Hegel would later criticize Kant for his twelve categories of understanding.

Hegel’s the Phenomenology of the spirit is an attempt to describe the development of the absolute subject, corresponding to the absolute ideal. The absolute being the spirit, subject being reality and the absolute ideal being the end point. Hegel felt that the tack of philosophy was to chart this absolute spirit. In order to do so it involved three steps.

(1) To show the structure of the absolute.

(2) To show how the absolute manifests itself in the nature and the human history.

(3) To show the end or purpose of the absolute.

Now the Science of Logic is the system of concept of reason, which together describe reality. Basically it describe the object for the viewpoint of the subject with out mentioning the subject.

Hegel’s great contribution to philosophy was his attempt to develop a philosophical system that would capture the ideals of his predecessors to create a system in which the past and future could be understood.

Word Count: 434