William Desmond is Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the International Program in Philosophy, in the Higher Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Louvain), Belgium. He is the author of Art and the Absolute: A Study of Hegel's Aesthetics; Philosophy and Its Others: Ways of Being and Mind; Beyond Hegel and Dialectic: Speculation, Cult, and Comedy (all published by SUNY Press); and Desire, Dialectic and Otherness. He is the editor of Hegel and His Critics, also published by SUNY Press. He is a past President of the Hegel Society of America and is currently President of the Metaphysical Society of America. He is general editor of the SUNY series in Hegelian Studies.
"""What I like most about the book is that it is a fully developed, comprehensively argued, philosophical system. There are precious few of these, for reasons Desmond discusses, and here is one, all in one book. Although anticipated in Desmond's earlier books, here is the system fully expressed in Western philosophy. His erudition is exquisite, yet his expositions make this book wonderfully useful for philosophy majors who would be excited to read a philosopher interacting with the figures to which they have been introduced."" -- Robert C. Neville"