Book 3: Chapter 22, Hegel Summary and Analysis

Hegel (1770-1831) reached the peak of German philosophy that Kant originated. His influence was most significant in Germany and the leading academic philosophers were Hegelians. His doctrines were adopted by Protestant theologians, while also affecting political theory. Also Marx was a disciple of Hegel, retaining some of his features. He taught philosophy, wrote "Phenomenology of Mind", was professor at Heidelberg (1816-1818), and then Berlin from 1818 until he died. Even though he was a Prussian, he admired Napoleon.

His philosophy was first inspired by mysticism as part of the unreality of separateness. He regarded the world as a complex system, where separate things were only an illusion with each having lesser or greater degree of reality. The reality was part of the whole that was the real and true view. Disbelief in the reality of time and space...