Hegel is, arguably, the most difficult of all philosophers. To find a way into his thought interpreters have usually approached him as though he were developing Kantian and Fichtean themes. This book was the first to demonstrate in a systematic way that it makes much more sense to view Hegel's idealism in relation to the metaphysical and epistemological tradition stemming from Aristotle. The book offers an account of Hegel's idealism in light of his interpretation, discussion, assimilation and critique of Aristotle's philosophy. There are explorations of Hegelian and Aristotelian views of system and history; being, metaphysics, logic, and truth; nature and subjectivity; spirit, knowledge, and self-knowledge; ethics and politics. No serious student of Hegel can afford to ignore this major interpretation. It will also be of interest in such fields as political science and the history of ideas.

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. The History of Philosophy and its Place within the System: 1. The idea of a history of philosophy; 2. The arrangement of the Lectures on Aristotle: architectonic and systematic presuppositions of Hegel's interpretation; Part II. Logic and Metaphysics: 3. The Lectures on the Metaphysics; 4. The Aristotelian heritage in the Science of Logic; 5. Aristotelian questions; 6. Essence and concept; Part III. Aristotle and the Realphilosophie: 7. Aristotelian and Newtonian models in Hegel's philosophy of nature; 8. Aristotle's De anima and Hegel's philosophy of subjective spirit; 9. The political realization of ethics; Part IV. Conclusions: 10. Truth, holism and judgement; 11. The pictures of Aristotle in Hegel's formative years; Bibliography; Index.