Hegel was convinced that the freedom of the individual can never be understood in isolation or even in competition with society. He tried to show that we only become truly free with and through others. In his words, "being oneself in others" was the ambitious aim of his philosophy. If you follow him in this thought, then new perspectives open up on today's problems for which a policy based on the individual does not seem to offer an answer. Instead of seeing a strong climate policy, redistribution, or corona measures primarily as a threat to individual freedom, one could - based on the assumption that freedom is inevitably social - ask: What institutions would be needed to guarantee self-determination and fulfillment in the future? What social relationships would enable us to be with ourselves?

Like us, Hegel lived in times of great upheaval. As a young man, he enthusiastically followed the French Revolution. The philosophy of his day was also in a state of flux, religion had lost its unquestioned supremacy, and the relationship between the self and the world, the individual and society needed to be rethought. No wonder, then, that his claim to philosophy was to "summarize its time in thought." Contrary to what is often assumed, Hegel does not provide any predictions that allow us to say how we will move from the present into the future. But his turning to moments of crisis as an opportunity - to create something new and advance ideals - could serve as inspiration today when the future seems increasingly bleak.

Hegel provides no easy answers. Instead of an either-or, the philosopher of dialectics was concerned with thinking together and resolving contradictions - albeit without ever leveling out all tension. Thinking therefore always remains in motion. The appeal of his philosophy lies precisely in this complexity and dynamism.

With articles by Robert Menasse, Judith Butler, Karl Lauterbach, Thea Dorn, Axel Honneth, Christoph Menke, Slavoj Zizek, and many more.