Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

One of the most influential philosophers of all time, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) emerged as one of the most influential figures in German Idealism and Western philosophy. Born on August 27, 1770, in Stuttgart, Hegel's thinking was shaped early on by the events of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. His academic journey began in Tübingen, where he studied philosophy and theology and formed friendships with future prominent German intellectuals like Friedrich Hölderlin and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling. His notion that history progresses through conflicts and resolutions shaped Karl Marx's theories of societal development, while his concept of the master-slave dialectic has been foundational in critical theory and studies of power and recognition.