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The Philosophy of History (Dover Philosophical Classics) Paperback – September 10, 2004

by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (Author), G. W. F. Hegel (Author), J. Sibree (Translator),

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Hegel wrote this classic as an introduction to a series of lectures on the "philosophy of history" — a novel concept in the early nineteenth century. With this work, he created the history of philosophy as a scientific study. He reveals philosophical theory as neither an accident nor an artificial construct, but as an exemplar of its age, fashioned by its antecedents and contemporary circumstances, and serving as a model for the future. The author himself appears to have regarded this book as a popular introduction to his philosophy as a whole, and it remains the most readable and accessible of all his philosophical writings.
Eschewing the methods of original history (written during the period in question) and reflective history (written after the period has passed), Hegel embraces philosophic history, which employs a priori philosophical thought to interpret history as a rational process. Reason rules history, he asserts, through its infinite freedom (being self-sufficient, it depends on nothing beyond its own laws and conclusions) and power (through which it forms its own laws). Hegel argues that all of history is caused and guided by a rational process, and God's seemingly unknowable plan is rendered intelligible through philosophy. The notion that reason rules the world, he concludes, is both necessary to the practice of philosophic history and a conclusion drawn from that practice.

The Philosophy of History (Dover Philosophical Classics)

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From the Back Cover

Here is one volume is an important series of the lectures of philosopher Georg Hegel on the philosophy of history, including:

* "Original History"
* "Reflective History"
* "Philosophical History"
* "Reason Governs the World"
* "Essential Destiny of Reason"
* "The Abstract Characteristics of the Nature of Spirit"
* "The Means Spirit Uses to Realize Its Idea"
* "The Embodiment Spirit Assumes - the State"
* and more.

This essential volume belongs in the library of all students of philosophy and of 19th-century intellectualism. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) was a German philosopher and a major figure in German Idealism.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

Series: Dover Philosophical Classics
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Dover Publications; Reissue edition (September 10, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0486437558
ISBN-13: 978-0486437552
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #227,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #179 in Books > History > Historical Study & Educational Resources > Historiography
- #503 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Movements
- #515 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Modern

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3.8 out of 5 stars

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Top Customer Reviews

Avoid OCR Copies!!

ByAscencionon January 10, 2011

Verified Purchase

Obviously this said somewhere in the fine print while I was ordering but this is a so called OCR copy of the book. What this means is the book has no index, no table of contents or the preliminary pages, no major/visible chapter headings or pages diving chapters. Its one continuous long string of text from the first page to the last. I had no idea that I was ordering an OCR copy when I placed the order and so receiving it was an absolute disappointment. While I am going to return this book right away it is a warning to all future buyers to carefully check if their orders are an OCR copy. Amazon should place information about the book being an OCR copy upfront rather than below where the book description is.

33 comments 74 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Horrible copy for an academic text

Bycbriceon January 22, 2012

Verified Purchase

An OCR copy should not be the first copy to come up on Amazon's site. I ordered this because I was ordering roughly 30 academic texts and did not have the time to pour through each description. There is absolutely no formatting, no table of contents, no index and the footnotes are muddled for the most part. Considering that this is already a difficult work in German, let alone in translation, it is impossible to decipher in the provided format. Worthless in an academic setting and should not be at the top of Amazon's list when you search for the work.

*This is not a review of the work itself, which is important for any understanding of Western philosophy.

0Comment 20 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Survey all of Western History through the idea of Freedom.

ByPaul Trejoon July 1, 1998

Hegel's Philosophy of History is his easiest book to read. He angered some people by saying that History is Freedom, and so those countries which did not have Free States (in 1821, the year he wrote his book) were not truly part of History but part of the Pre-historic period. He begins with a narrative of Africa in 1821 which was steeped in Slavery, both internal and external. He stated that all nations were once at this level of Pre-history, where no king could last more than a year. But China was the first nation to make One but only One Person free, namely, the Emperor. This was the beginning of History. From this point Hegel traces those nations which increased Freedom slowly - from Egypt to Assyria to Babylon to Persia to Greece to Rome to Spain and then Europe as we know it today. The Idea of a Free Republic was born in Greece, but was first made material in Rome. Caesar opposed the Republic because he knew that the fullness of time had not yet come for it; so he opened up barbarian Europe instead. The Free Republic eventually grew to a point where a great, courageous World Historical Individual, Napoleon Bonaparte, overthrew the Medieval structures and paved the way for the eventual abolition of Slavery. Hegel was an Abolitionist and lived to see England and Spain renounce Slavery, but died long before Lincoln, so his view of the USA was pretty pessimistic.

44 comments 35 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Good place to start with Hegelian philosophy

ByGregon October 22, 2006

Hegel's lectures on History (along with those of his on Law) probably represent the most accessible introduction to the thought of this very important German idealist.

Hegel's ideas on history and social organisation and Law had a critical influence on many key 19th and 20th century Philosophers, including Karl Marx, Isaiah Berlin and Karl Popper. While some philosophers followed Hegel, many also vigorously rejected his ideas and thought, and it is only more recently Hegel is undergoing a kind of rehabilitation in Philosophy.

This reaction though is understandable since Hegel is a very difficult philosopher to both read and understand. His prose is certainly in my experience the most awfully written and most obscure of any philosopher, and much of the time Hegel seems to be writing nonsense which makes little sense (especially in his more idealist works like phenomeology of spirit). It is understandable then why Schopenhauer called him a 'charlatan' who spouted nothing but 'sophistry' which ruined the intellectual background of Germany, and Bertrand Russell said his philosopy stems from a 'set of simple logical mistakes.'

Nevertheless Hegel is a great Philosopher, and the fact he is extremely obscure does not invalidate some very original and profound and interesting ideas which are to be found in his philosophy, especially in his notion of the dialectic, of Spirit manifesting itself through history and historical events, of his interesting reaction to Kant, his ideas on Art and the reactions to his philosophy from students like Marx. His idealism also influenced important philosophers like Fichte and Schelling in the 19th century, and in the 20th century idealists such as McTaggart, F.H. Bradley, and J.N. Findlay, who built on his thought and provided valuable new philosophical ways of thinking about the Absolute and in bringing religion and mystical experience back into a better relationship with Philosophy, given much of Philosophy since the time of Hume has savagely attacked religion as meaningless nonsense. In the 21st century, it is probably Hegel's thought on ethics, art, history and religion which have the most relevance.

0Comment 22 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Brilliant

ByTaimur Rahmanon June 27, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Its difficult to review a book with so many different and new ideas. In parts I found the book downright racist. In other parts, I found it absolutely brilliant. In certain parts, I found it plain boring. In other parts, I just didn't know how to judge the arguments advanced because I had no other knowledge of the historical incidents being described.
But overall, I think its a fascinatingly ambitious book in the way that it tries to weave together nearly all of human history into a single narrative. One can very clearly see how historical materialism is only a step removed from Hegel. Aside from the rather long and abstract introduction (that lays down the Hegelian system of history) the rest of the book is actually quite easy to read (with the exceptional passages). Perhaps the best part of the book is his discussion of freedom and necessity and the connection of individual and collective interests as a stimulus to history. These parts, I thought, were absolutely brilliant.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Three Stars

very difficult reading and hard concepts to grasp.

Published 23 days ago by steve nasiri

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excelent understanding of forces intervening in world affairs

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great

Published on January 7, 2015 by robert

Five Stars

VERY GOOD

Published on December 18, 2014 by Curtis Ackeret

An excellent book to understand Hegel's thought

An excellent book to understand Hegel's thought, it is important to note the period in which it was written.

Published on October 13, 2014 by Adriano Becattini

ARE WE NOW IN THE "PERIOD OF THE SPIRIT" IN THE GERMANIC WORLD?

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) was a German Idealist philosopher, who was very influential on later Philosophy of History, Philosophy of Religion, and even...Read more

Published on September 23, 2014 by Steven H Propp

Classic

A bit theoretical and difficult to follow, because the text was based on the original lectures given by Hegel long time ago.Read more

Published on September 20, 2014 by Risto Tuominen

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