Hegel's overall method is to offer his own theory not by rejecting rival philosophical theories, but by adapting them, or at least finding room for some of their elements in his own theory. In his view the human mind develops continuously throughout history in spite of the differences at various stages, and that the truth emerges from the whole.According to Hegel, philosophical schools not only are not mutually exclusive, but also supplement each other and indicate the progress and maturity of (...) the human mind throughout history, with each stage becoming visible from within the previous stage.Hegel's main purpose is to propose philosophy as a science, so that philosophy is united with science instead of being a love of science (filo + sofia), because for him the philosophy in his time in the West had been indebted to science. (shrink)