(P/B) THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY

Παρουσίαση

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.( From the publisher)

Περιεχόμενα

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Original History
I.Reflective History
II.Philosophical History
III.Geographical Basis of History
CLASSIFICATION OF HISTORIC DATE
PART I THE ORIENTAL WORLD
Principle of the Oriental World
SECTION I China
SECTION II India
SECTION III Persia
PART II. THE GREEK WORLD
The region of Spirit
SECTION I The Elements of the Greek Spirit
SECTION II Phases of Individuality Aesthetically Conditioned
SECTION III Fall of the Greek Spirit
PART III. THE ROMAN WORLD
Distinction between the Roman, Persian and Greek Principle
SECTION I Rome to the Time of the Second Punic War
SECTION II Rome from the Second Punic War to the Emperors
PART IV THE GERMAN WORLD
The Principle of Spiritual Freedom
SECTION I The Elements of the Christian German World
SECTION II The Middle Ages
SECTION III The Modern Time