History of Philosophy

Author: Hegel
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2001-08-01
Features: The Philosophy of History may be one of Hegel's most widely read works. Its popularity stems from its relative accessibility and the fact that concepts like "the cunning of reason," "world-historical individuals," and "the historical process of reason" are already familiar to many and have been frequently cited by different people. Despite this, even today, these very ideas often become evidence of the perceived worthlessness of Hegel's Philosophy of History. Those thoroughly cleansed by modern scientism and positivism find that no thinking is required to engage with Hegel's work—just "facts" are sufficient. People believe that in the face of "facts," the absurdity of Hegel's Philosophy of History is self-evident. From Hegel's perspective, world history is the process of the spirit's self-development in time. The spirit is a single, shared human spirit, manifesting in all that humans create through language, consciousness, and culture. History is the journey of the spirit's self-development and also the process by which the world moves toward self-awareness. The goal of history is the full development and full self-awareness of the spirit. This full self-awareness is also freedom consciousness, the apex of cosmic development. Freedom is not whimsicalness but acting according to rational standards. Therefore, history is the process by which our rational potential gradually realizes itself as freedom—a story of rational freedom. Hegel's "philosophy of history" achieves a complete or systematic analysis, but this is merely by highlighting its guiding concepts while, within the limits possible, attempting to dispel people's aversion to it. This is because it reduces facts to mystical absurdities and explains them from a pre-determined perspective. When citing a theory, some facts are inevitably distorted, some are exaggerated beyond proportion, and others are entirely ignored.