Hegel's "Phenomenology of Spirit" has acquired a paradoxical reputation as one of the most important and most impenetrable and inconsistent philosophical works. In this study Michael N. Forster advances his own reading of Hegel's text. His approach differs from that of previous scholars in two crucial ways: he reads it, first as a whole - not piecemeal, as it has usually been analyzed, and second, wihtin the context of Hegel's braoder corpus and the works of other philosophers. Forster concludes that the "Phenomonelogy of Spirit" emerges as a coherent meditation with a rich array of important and original ideas.