Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Born in Stuttgart in 1770, he studied at the Tübinger Stift, where he was part of the same intellectual circle as the poet Friedrich Hölderlin and the philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling. He went on to teach and write in Jena, Nuremberg, Heidelberg, and Berlin, becoming one of the major voices of German Idealism.

His best-known books include The Phenomenology of Spirit, The Science of Logic, and Elements of the Philosophy of Right. Across these works, he tried to show how human thought, freedom, history, and social life develop through tension and change rather than remaining fixed.

He died in Berlin in 1831, but his influence only grew afterward. Later philosophers, political theorists, theologians, and social critics argued with him, borrowed from him, and reworked his ideas, making him one of the most discussed thinkers of the modern era.