Hegel

American  

[hey-guhl] / ˈheɪ gəl /

noun

1. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich 1770–1831, German philosopher.

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Hegel British  

/ hɪˈɡeɪlɪən, ˈheɪɡəl, heɪˈɡiː- /

noun

1. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (ɡeˈɔrk ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈfriːdrɪç). 1770–1831, German philosopher, who created a fundamentally influential system of thought. His view of man's mind as the highest expression of the Absolute is expounded in The Phenomenology of Mind (1807). He developed his concept of dialectic, in which the contradiction between a proposition (thesis) and its antithesis is resolved at a higher level of truth (synthesis), in Science of Logic (1812–16)

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Other Word Forms

• Hegelian
  adjective
• Hegelianism
  noun

Example Sentences

Plato and Hegel, in case you were wondering.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026

According to Moyn, Popper's critique of Hegel and Marx "relied on the spottiest possible knowledge of their works."

From Salon • Sep. 17, 2023

In a blog post to be published Thursday, Hegel said the digital indicators published by JumpCloud tied the hackers to activity previously attributed to North Korea.

From Reuters • Jul. 20, 2023

To paraphrase Hegel, democracy isn’t supposed to have heroes because heroes appear only in its absence.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2023

“Nobody can take Hegel seriously. Have you read him closely? He’s funny, very funny. But Hume and Voltaire and Locke felt the same way about Africa,” Odenigbo said.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie