# Did Hegel Ever Meet Napoleon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hegel-ever-meet-napoleon/247851 "2004-05-30T23:02:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hegel-ever-meet-napoleon/247851/1 "2004-05-30T23:02:03Z")
Many years ago, I chanced upon an extremely old, brief short story, which was called “WHY THE PHILOSOPHER’S LETTER WAS NOT MAILED”. It relates an incident during the Napoleonic wars, when Napoleon invaded the university town in which the philosopher G.W.F. Hegle was living. Supposedly, Hegel saw the emperor and was so moved that he bowed deeply. Is this true? Did the famous philiosopher ever meet Napoleon? And, does anybody know the date and author of the story? I suppose Hegel would have liked Napoleon-he embodoed many of the characteristics that Hegel liked. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hegel-ever-meet-napoleon/247851/2 "2004-05-30T23:17:41Z")
It’s a reference to Hegel having seen Napoleon enter Jena in triumph in October 1806, as recorded [in a letter he wrote the same day](http://www.missouri.edu/~engjnc/bataille/kojeve.html): > [@](#): > > This morning I saw the Emperor —this world-soul (_diese Weltseele_)—ride through town . . . It is a marvelous feeling to see such a personality, concentrated in one point, dominating the entire world from horseback . . . It is impossible not to admire him. [This page](http://sdcc12.ucsd.edu/~csenger/hgbk2/node22.html) quotes it in the original German. No idea what the short story might be.