Students become familiar with one of the most significant philosophical works of 19th century German Idealism i.e. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit  in order to understand the development of idealism in terms of the philosophical problems about knowledge, freedom and history.

They develop critical thinking in coming to understand the themes and the central problems of Hegel's Phenomenology in the context of German Idealism.  They develop interpretative skills in reading the course material, and their writing abilities by providing response papers to the relevant portions of the text.