Hegelians

Hegelians are adherents of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophy or interpreters who developed and debated his system in the 19th century. Central features include the dialectical method, the idea that history and reality reveal the rational development of the absolute spirit, and an aim to situate knowledge, society, and religion within a single unfolding framework.

In the 1830s and 1840s the Hegelian movement split into two broad currents: the Old or Right Hegelians and the Young or Left Hegelians. Right Hegelians tended to read Hegel as supporting conservative politics: they sought to harmonize philosophy with established religion and the Prussian state, emphasizing the rationality and legitimacy of existing institutions. Left Hegelians were more critical of religion and political authority and pressed Hegel’s framework toward radical social critique and liberal or materialist positions.

Left Hegelians were associated with figures such as Ludwig Feuerbach, Bruno Bauer, and David Strauss, and they helped orient later thinkers like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who drew on Hegelian critique of religion and politics to develop a materialist and revolutionary program. Right Hegelians, by contrast, emphasized the unity of philosophy with religion and the state, contributing to more conservative readings of Hegel’s system.

Impact and legacy: Hegelianism shaped 19th-century German philosophy and influenced later movements that sought to synthesize mind, history, and social order. The tension between left and right Hegelians contributed to ongoing debates about religion, authority, and progress, while the left-leaning strands provided an important historical antecedent to Marxism and critical theory.