The publication in 1807 of Georg Wilhelm Frederich Hegel’s Phanomenologie des Geistes (translated alternately as “Phenomenology of Mind” or “Phenomenology of Spirit”) marked the beginning of the modern era in philosophy. Hegel’s remarkable insights formed the basis for what eventually became the Existentialist movement. Yet the Phenomenology remains one of the most difficult and forbidding works in the canon of philosophical literature.

Howard P. Kainz is a professor of philosophy at Marquette University. He is the author of Hegel's Phenomenology, Parts I and II (Ohio, 1994, 1983) and An Introduction to Hegel: The Stages of Modern Philosophy (Ohio, 1996).