Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, perhaps the most influential of all German philosophers, made one of the last great attempts to develop philosophy as an all-embracing scientific system. This system places Hegel among the “classical” philosophers—Aristotle, Aquinas, Spinoza—who also attempted to build grand conceptual edifices.

In this study, available for the first time in paperback, Howard P. Kainz emphasizes the uniqueness of Hegel’s system by focusing on his methodology, terminology, metaphorical and paradoxical language, and his special contributions to metaphysics, the philosophy of nature, philosophical anthropology, and other areas.

Kainz focuses on Hegel’s system as a whole and its seminal ideas, making generous use of representative texts. He gives special attention to the interrelationship between dialectical methodology and paradoxical propositions; the prevalence of metaphor in the philosophy of nature; and the close interrelationship between Christian doctrine and Hegelian speculation. A rich array of diagrams and tables further elucidates Kainz’s analyses.

An ideal text for the student of philosophy coming to Hegel for the first time, G. W. F. Hegel provides the reader with useful insights into Hegel’s work and illuminates Hegel’s enduring significance in the late twentieth century.

Howard P. Kainz is a professor of philosophy at Marquette University. He is the author of Hegel's Phenomenology, Parts I and II (Ohio, 1994, 1983) and An Introduction to Hegel: The Stages of Modern Philosophy (Ohio, 1996).