This book looks at the phantasms and spirits of classical social science and philosophy, including Hegel's 'World-Spirit', Weber's 'Verstehen' and Marx's phantasms, exploring the relationships and interactions between those spirits and materiality across five broad themes.

Martyn Hudson is an Assistant Professor in Art and Design History at Northumbria University and the author of nine books on critical theory, history and visual culture. He is the editor of the 'Visual Modernities' series at Routledge.