The early 19th century philosophical tradition centered in Germany, focused on the relationship between mind and reality, the nature of self-consciousness, and the conditions of freedom. Kant initiated the project; Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel developed it in different directions. Hegel is the culminating figure of German Idealism, completing the project Kant had begun. The tradition has shaped almost every subsequent strand of continental European philosophy and remains influential in contemporary political and ethical thinking.
Tradition
German Idealism
The early 19th century philosophical tradition centered in Germany, focused on the relationship between mind and reality, the nature of self-consciousness, and the conditions of freedom.
Thinkers
Thinker
Immanuel Kant
1724–1804
Immanuel Kant was the Prussian philosopher whose ethic of universal human dignity grounds modern human rights and whose case for republican government and a federation of free states inspired the League of Nations and the UN
ThinkerG.W.F. Hegel
1770–1831
G.W.F. Hegel was a German idealist philosopher who saw the modern constitutional state as the highest realization of freedom — a dialectical vision claimed by Marxists, conservatives, and liberals alike
ThinkerGiovanni Gentile
Giovanni Gentile was the philosopher of Italian Fascism whose 'actual idealism' fused individual and state, giving the movement its most systematic intellectual foundation
Related through shared thinkers