Hegel a biography pinkard

Well written and meticulously researched, this book turned out to be much more interesting than I had expected. That said, Hegel rightfully earned the nickname "Old Man" while he was still in school – so don't set your expectations too high.

It covers Hegel's personal and professional life in great detail, and Pinkard presents his philosophy in a highly accessible manner. However, it is important to note that he advocates for a specific interpretation of Hegel, emphasizing the social and political dimensions while diminishing the metaphysical themes.

Rather than portraying Hegel as an obscure, overly-systematic, old-fashioned theorist, Pinkard presents him as a practical philosopher of rational, self-determining modernity, whose ideas remain relevant today. Viewing Hegel's intellectual development as an attempt to philosophically explain the revolutionary changes of the era, Pinkard often goes at great length to provide the proper historical context.