He compares this with the Christian notion of providence. What does Hegel mean by reason in history? He has in mind a ‘teleological’ account – the idea that history conforms to some specific purpose or design (this idea is also called ‘historicism’). In his introduction to those lectures Hegel said that there is reason in history because ‘reason rules the world’ hence world history is the progress of reason. Hegel’s philosophy of history is most lucidly set out in his Lectures on the Philosophy of World History, given at the University of Berlin in 1822, 18. I will argue that these are gravely mistaken views and also that Hegel can be exonerated from the idea that he believed in ‘the end of history’, which is to say, the idea that history was fulfilled in his own particular historical moment. This misconception has often been accompanied by the accusation that Hegel sought to impose his own metaphysical scheme onto the historical facts, to conform them to his theory. This has led some to the mistaken belief that Hegel thought history followed some predetermined path, such that his philosophy could somehow reveal the future course of events. Yet Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) thought that world history was not just a random sequence of happenings but progressed rationally, according to a specific purpose. We are often taught that history is nothing but the record of past events. ![]() SUBSCRIBE NOW Articles Hegel on History Lawrence Evans rationally interprets Hegel’s rational interpretation of history.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |