ABSTRACT
Hegel’s account of the universe is, as we have seen, a complex and ambiguous one. It bears the marks of his encounters with a variety of different problems. Can we, in the light of this, find a single, coherent account of the status of the world? There are, as we shall see, conflicts and tensions in Hegel’s thought on this matter. Indeed, one might expect the circularity of his system alone to throw it into disarray.1 Nevertheless certain intelligible themes emerge from the chaos, and, where there is conflict or confusion, one can by and large see the reason for it.
