[1] He was a specialist in the history of modern German philosophy, from Kant to Marx, and in particular Hegel, several of whose works he translated into the French language.

[2] After his military service as a rifle officer in Algeria (1954–1957), he taught at the Lycée de Mâcon from 1957 to 1963.

In March 1979, he was elected vice-president of teaching at Lyon-III, and expressed his concerns about the university's situation.

As an emeritus professor,[5] he was elected on December 2, 2002, to the Académie des sciences morales et politiques in the philosophy section, to Olivier Lacombe's chair.

[6] Bernard Bourgeois's work on Hegel's philosophy is situated within the problematics of twentieth-century French philosophy inaugurated by Jean Wahl and Alexandre Kojève, and continued with Jean Hyppolite.