For World Philosophy Day, we've asked leading thinkers around the world about the philosophical idea that has had the greatest impact on them, and set their responses alongside the big ideas posited by their recent forebears - renowned philosophers of the twentieth century. Discover the concepts behind the cutting edge of ideas, and trace their evolution through history.

Judith Butler on Hegel

Judith Butler is an American social and political philosopher, and co-director of the International Consortium for Critical Theory Programs, whose first book Subjects of Desire investigated Hegelian reflections in twentieth-century France. Butler has made major contributions to political philosophy, ethics, and literary theory, and her theory of gender performativity is highly influential.