4/11/09

Life and Works

Hegel was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1770. His father was a revenue officer and was devout protestant. He was taught Latin by his mother in his early childhood but she died when he was eleven. His sister, Christiane, who was very attached with him committed suicide just after few months after his death.
He entered in a seminary at University of Tübingen as his father wanted him to become a clergyman. He met Friedrich Hölderlin and Friedrich Schelling who later had a great influence on Hegel’s philosophic life. He was inspired from Goethe’s philosophic ideas.
Germany was a backward country during Hegel’s time but the revolutionary ideas in other European countries were nurtured in Germany. He profoundly studied Rousseau and was great supporter of French Revolution. He also witnessed Napolean’s invasion in Jena at the time when Hegel was finishing his Phenomenology of Mind.
He decided not to join to join clergy when he completed his studies in philosophy and theology. He wrote The First Programme for a System of German Idealism in 1976 in collaboration with Schelling. He went to University of Jena in 1801 again, by that time Schiller and Schelling have left Jena but Hegel’s partnership with Schelling continued. He continued his unpaid work till 1806 when Jena was captured by Napoleon army and he flee from there.

He became editor of Catholic daily Bamberger Zeitungi as he did not have any other source of income and finally moved to Nurmberg and served there as headmaster of a Gymnasium for eight years.
During that period, he got married to Marie Tucher and blessed with three children but his daughter died at very early age. He also had a child from his landlady when he was living in Jena, he later joined Hegel’s family when his mother died.
The Science of Logic was published when he was living in Nurmeberg. Later he was offered professorship at University of Heidelberg and he published the summary of Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences. The document was regularly revised until its final version was published in 1830. It was later translated in English in 1959.
He finally joined University of Berlin in 1818 and remained there till death. He died in Berlin on November 14, 1831, during a cholera epidemic.

The last full-length work published by Hegel was The Philosophy of Right (1821). His lectures and student’s notes were posthumously published which include The Philosophy of Fine Art (1835-38), Lectures on the History of Philosophy (1833-36), Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion (1832), and Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837).
Source:

Reference:

G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831). Hegel-by-HyperText Resources

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/help/hegelbio.htm retrieved on 04/06/09.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for this. Why did his sister committee suicide? Its interesting to know that parents always want to transfer their traits to their children.

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  2. Annet thanks for your comments. His sister was very much attached with him and even had quarrels with his wife when he got married. She committed suicide just after his death as she might found that world a meaningless place after his death.

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  3. I liked all your notes and comments. I found particularly interesting and controversial as well your analysis about the small banks for micro credits which have been carried out in many of developing countries. Those banks have more consideration for the local knowledge and culture; however, many professionals take advantages of those kinds of institutions, searching their own benefits.

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