<p><b>A monumental new biography of a pivotal yet poorly understood pioneer in modern philosophy.</b></p><p>When a painter once told Goethe that he wanted to paint the most celebrated man of the age, Goethe directed him to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel worked from the credo: To philosophize is to learn to live freely. While he was slow and cautious in the development of his philosophy, his intellectual growth was like an odyssey of the mind, and, contrary to popular belief, his life was full of twists and turns, suspense and even danger.</p><p>In this landmark biography, the philosopher Klaus Vieweg paints a new picture of the life and work of the most important representative of German idealism. His vivid portrait provides readers an intimate account of Hegel''s times and the milieu in which he developed his thought, along with detailed, clear-sighted analyses of Hegel''s four major works. What results is a new interpretation of Hegel through the lens of reason and freedom. </p