This Introduction to the Oxford Handbook of Hegel briefly discusses the layout of the Handbook, sketches the most important debates within the current scholarship, and fills in some of the main omissions from the Handbook. The debate over the metaphysical character of Hegel’s system is introduced, with overviews of the Kantian, Spinozist and Aristotelian readings of Hegel’s metaphysics. Hegel’s theory of action and his theory of mutual recognition are also discussed. The second section presents Hegel’s early biography and development up to the point at which Hegel arrived in Jena and connects that early development to Hegel’s mature thought. The concluding section gives the outlines of two essential episodes in the story of Hegel’s reception – the ‘young Hegelians’ and ‘British Idealists.’
