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Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831),philosopher bornStuttgart, Germany, received his education at Tübingen seminary,became fascinated byworksSpinoza, Kant,Rousseau,byFrench Revolution. Many consider Hegel's thoughtrepresentsummit19th Century Germany's movementphilosophical idealism;madeprofound impact onhistorical materialismKarl Marx.

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Hegel attendedseminary at Tübingen withepic poet Friedrich Hölderlin andobjective idealist philosopher Friedrich Schelling. The three watchedunfolding ofFrench Revolutioncollaborated incritique ofidealist philosophiesKanthis follower Fichte.

Hegel's firstmost important major work isPhenomenologySpirit (or ". . .Mind"). During his life he also publishedEncyclopedia ofPhilosophical Sciences,ScienceLogic and[Elementsthe] PhilosophyRight.

Hegel's works havereputationtheir difficulty,forbreadth oftopicsattemptcover. Hegel introducedsystemunderstandinghistoryphilosophy (andworld itself) often called"dialectic":progressionwhich each successive moment emerges asworking-out ofself-contradictions inherent inpreceding moment. For example,French RevolutionHegel constitutesintroductionreal freedom into western societies forfirst timerecorded history. But precisely becauseits absolute novelty, italso absolutely radical: onone handupsurgeviolence requiredcarry outrevolution cannot ceasebe itself, while onother,has already consumed its opponent. The revolution therefore has nowhereturn but onits own result:hard-won freedomconsumed bybrutal ReignTerror. History, however, progresses by learning from its mistakes: only afterprecisely becausethis experience can one positexistence ofconstitutional statefree citizens, embodying both(allegedly) benevolent organizing powerrational government andrevolutionary idealsfreedomequality.

In contemporary accountsHegelianism --undergraduate classes,example -- Hegel's dialectic often appears broken upconvenience into three moments called "thesis" (in our example,revolution), "antithesis" (the terror which followed),"synthesis" (the constitutional statefree citizens). Hegel did not use this classification at all himself, though:was developed earlier by Fichtehis (loosely analogous) account ofrelation betweenindividual subject andworld. Serious Hegel scholarship does not generally recognizevaliditythis classification, although probably has some pedagogical value.

Hegel used this systemexplainwhole ofhistoryphilosophy, science, art, politicsreligion, but many modern critics point out that Hegel often seemsgloss overrealitieshistoryorderfitinto his dialectical mold. Karl Popper,criticHegelThe Open SocietyIts Enemies, suggests thatHegel's system formsthinly veiled justification forrule Frederick William III,that Hegel's idea ofultimate goalhistory isreachstate approximating that1830s Prussia. This viewHegel as an apologiststate powerprecursor20th-century totalitarianism was criticized thoroughly by Herbert Marcusehis ReasonRevolution: Hegel andRiseSocial Theory. Arthur Schopenhauer despised Hegel on account oflatter's historicism,decried Hegel's work as "pseudo-philosophy".

After Hegel's death, his followers divided into two majoropposing camps. The Right Hegelians,direct disciplesHegel atUniversityBerlin, advocated evangelical orthodoxy andpolitical conservatism ofpost-Napoleon Restoration period. The Left became known asYoung Hegeliansthey interpreted Hegel inrevolutionary sense, leadingan advocationatheismreligionliberal democracypolitics. Left Hegelians included Bruno Bauer, Ludwig Feuerbach, David Friedrich Strauss, Max Stirner,most famously, Karl Marx. The multiple schismsthis faction eventually ledStirner's anarchistic varietyegoismMarx's versioncommunism.

In20th century, Hegel's philosophy underwentmajor renaissance, partly through his rediscoveryre-evaluation asphilosophical progenitorMarxism andturnmany philosophically oriented Marxists, especially but not exclusively non-Communist ones, tophilosophical foundationMarxismMarx's early workin Hegel's philosophy; partly throughresurgence ofhistorical perspective that Hegel broughteverything; partly through increasing recognition ofimportancehis dialectical method. Some figures associatedthis renaissanceHerbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Ernst Bloch,Alexandre Kojeve.

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