Abstract

As is well known, Hegel's philosophy arrived in Finland early. Already at the end of 1820s the studies in philosophy at the sole Finnish university were conducted in a Hegelian manner. The most important advocates of Finnish Hegelianism were professor J.J. Tengström and his pupil J.V. Snellman. Thiodolf Rein succeeded Snellman as a professor in 1868. At that time the status of Hegelianism was already diminishing in Finland. Also Rein became increasingly critical towards Hegel's philosophy over the course of the 1870s. In his works of 1860s Rein still presented ideas for the reform of Hegel's philosophy. The paper examines these ideas and contrasts them with the tradition of Finnish Hegelianism. Additionally, the paper also discusses Rein's commentary on various German idealist philosophies of the 1860s.