This classic introduction to one of the most influential modern thinkers, G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831), has now been updated and expanded to make it even more comprehensive.

The book covers every aspect of Hegel's mature thought, including his philosophy of history, logic, political philosophy, aesthetics and philosophy of religion. For the second edition, five completely new chapters have been added; two on both the Phenomenology and the Philosophy of Nature, and one on the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit. In the course of the book, the author relates Hegel's ideas to those of many other thinkers, including Luther, Descartes, Kant, Newton and Thomas Kuhn. He clearly shows that Hegel's is a viable philosophical enterprise with important theories to contribute to a number of modern debates.

Although written for those new to the study of Hegel, specialists will welcome the book's distinctive and challenging interpretation of Hegel's work, which takes seriously his claim to have developed a philosophy which is 'presuppositionless'.

Stephen Houlgate is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is the author of Hegel, Nietzsche and the Criticism of Metaphysics (1986) and the editor of Hegel and the Philosophy of Nature (1998) and The Hegel Reader (Blackwell, 1998). He was President of the Hegel Society of America from 1994 to 1996 and is currently editor of the Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain.