Preface part 1. The Phenomenology of Spirit (German: Phänomenologie des Geistes) is an 1807 work by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel that was published with the title “System of Science: First Part: The Phenomenology of Spirit”. It is Hegel's most widely discussed philosophical work. Hegel described the work as an “exposition of the coming to be of knowledge”. This is explicated through a necessary self-origination and dissolution of “the various shapes of spirit as stations on the way through which spirit becomes pure knowledge”. The Phenomenology marked a significant development in German idealism after Kant. Focusing on topics in metaphysics, epistemology, physics, ethics, history, religion, perception, consciousness, and political philosophy, The Phenomenology is where Hegel develops his concepts of dialectic (including the master–slave dialectic), absolute idealism, ethical life, and Aufhebung. The book had a profound effect in Western philosophy, and "has been praised and blamed for the development of existentialism, communism, fascism, death of God theology, and historicist nihilism." All written works used are in the public domain, and therefore free of copyrights. Read by volunteers at Librivox.