Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German philosopher. Hegel was the founder of modern idealism and developed the notion that consciousness and material objects are in fact unified. In Phenomenology of Spirit ([1807] 1977), he sought to develop a rational system that would substitute for traditional Christianity by interpreting the entire process of human history, and indeed the universe itself, in terms of the progress of absolute Mind towards self-realisation. In his view, history is, in essence, a march of the human spirit towards a determinant end-point.
Hegel’s principal political work, Philosophy of Right ([1821] 1942), advanced an organic theory of the state that portrayed it as the highest expression of human freedom. He identified three ‘moments’ of social existence: the family, civil society and the state. Within the family, he argued, a ‘particular altruism’ operates, encouraging people to set aside their own interests for the good of their relatives. He viewed civil society as a sphere of ‘universal egoism’ in which individuals place their own interests before those of others. However, he held that the state is an ethical community underpinned by mutual sympathy, and is thus characterised by ‘universal altruism’. This stance was reflected in Hegel’s admiration for the Prussian state of his day, and helped to convert liberal thinkers to the cause of state intervention. Hegel’s philosophy also had considerable impact upon Marx and other so-called ‘young Hegelians’.
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