Initially trained as a theologian, he rejected entering the ministry and began making a living by tutoring. By 1801 he was a lecturer at the University of Jena. From 1808-1816 he was headmaster of a high school in Nuremburg. It was in Nuremburg that Hegel met and married his wife, Marie von Tucher. She was to bear him three children: a daughter, who died shortly after birth, and two sons, Karl and Immanuel. From Nuremburg, Hegel and his family went to Heidelberg where he was a professor from 1816-1818. In 1818 he became a professor at the prestigious University of Berlin. Hegel died during the infamous cholera plague in 1831.

At Jena, Hegel published Phenomenology of Mind (1807, translated to English in 1910). While in Nuremburg, Hegel published Science of Logic (1812, 1813, 1816; translated 1929.) At Heidelberg he wrote and published Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Outline (1817; translated 1959). In Berlin, his last work was written, The Philosophy of Right (1821, translated 1896). After his death, his Berlin lecture notes were published in a variety of volumes including Philosophy of Fine Art (1835-1838; translated 1920); Lectures on the History of Philosophy (1833-1836; translated 1892-1896); Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion (1832; translated 1895); and Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837; translated 1858).

One of Hegel's most enduring concepts is the notion of the triadic dialectic-- thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. History records this concept as one of the great "triples" of all time.