Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Lore & Background

Hegel was born in Stuttgart, capital of the Duchy of Württemberg. He attended the Tübinger Stift, a Protestant seminary at the University of Tübingen, where his roommates included the poet Friedrich Hölderlin and the philosopher Friedrich Schelling. All three shared enthusiasm for the French Revolution and Hellenic civilization. After receiving his theological certificate, Hegel worked as a house tutor in Berne and later in Frankfurt, where he read widely in political philosophy and political economy. In 1801, he came to Jena at Schelling's encouragement, securing a position as a Privatdozent after submitting his inaugural dissertation. He later became an extraordinary professor at the University of Jena. His academic career culminated in his appointment to the chair of philosophy at the University of Berlin, where he remained a prominent intellectual figure until his death.

Reader's Guide

Hegel's principal achievement was the development of a comprehensive philosophical system, often termed absolute idealism, to account for reality as a unified whole. Central to this system is the concept of 'spirit' (Geist), which Hegel presented as humankind coming to know itself through a historical process of rational development. His characteristic procedure, often termed dialectical or speculative, assesses concepts and forms of consciousness according to their own internal criteria, revealing their contradictions and one-sidedness, leading to their resolution in a higher, more comprehensive unity. His major works include the Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) and the Science of Logic (1812–1816). In his political philosophy, he asserted that 'world history is progress in the consciousness of freedom.' After his death, his followers split into rival 'Right' and 'Left' Hegelian camps. The Left, including Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Marx, adapted his dialectical method for their materialist critiques. In the twentieth century, his thought was further developed in traditions such as French Hegelianism and critical theory, and became a major point of reference for existentialism.

Did You Know?

• Hegel was born in Stuttgart and was known as Wilhelm to his close family.
• His mother died of bilious fever when he was thirteen; Hegel and his father also caught the disease but narrowly survived.
• He had an illegitimate son, Georg Ludwig Friedrich Fischer, from an affair with his landlady Christiana Burkhardt née Fischer.
• Hegel's brother, Georg Ludwig, perished as an officer during Napoleon's 1812 Russian campaign.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Not curiosity, not vanity, not the consideration of expediency, not duty and conscientiousness, but an unquenchable, unhappy thirst that brooks no compromise leads us to truth." — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel "Miscellaneous writings of G.W.F. Hegel, translation by Jon Bartley Stewart, Northwestern University Press, 2002, page 247." — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel "To be aware of limitations is already to be beyond them." — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel "Hegel, Philosophy of Mind (quoted by W. Wallace & A. V. Miller in Philosophy of Mind, Oxford 2010; also quoted in other words by Slavoj Žižek in A Glance into the Archives of Islam, Lacan dot com, 1997)." — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel