Western History 172: What was Hegel's philosophy of history?

 G.W.F. Hegel (1770–1831) was the leading philosopher of the German idealist school. He follows on from Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) who developed the ‘idea of the absolute ego’ within the context of the spirit of German nationalism. Hegel incorporated this idea into his philosophy but took it much further.

Hegel departed from Kant in believing whatever is, is essentially knowable. For him there were no limits to what was knowable as is summarised in the phrase “The Real is Rational, and the Rational is Real’”

In Hegel’s view the world was a gigantic organism that is dynamic. Everything is related and inter-connected. He saw history as evolving along a triadic structure - the Dialectic. This involved two opposing ideas (thesis and antithesis) resolving itself into a synthesis, that in turn would form the thesis for the next iteration of thesis-antithesis resolution. In so doing he pictured history marching on toward an ultimate synthesis or absolute Idea/Ego (which he borrowed from Fichte).

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel source; The times

German history for example was a dynamic tug-of-war between Kant/Post-Kantian idealism (thesis) and Christianity (antithesis). Hegel saw this in a synthesis representing German Romanticism that would manifest itself in a grand entity. For Hegel this was the Prussian super state.

He spoke about this notion as well in his Philosophy of Right (1821) where he fused the ideas of the stoics and their idea of universally binding conduct (thesis), with Rousseau’s morality, that believed that right or wrong was dictated ultimately by individual conscious.

Hegel’s social ethics synthesis argues that the idea of right must be held by the society as a whole. It was not abstract (his chief criticism of the stoics) and must be expressed in the General Will (taken from Rousseau) - the State

Hegel in many ways is the Father of the modern left. His dialectic underpins Marxist thought and his influence on the Fabians in the UK and the Progressives in the US is profound.

For Hegel history has direction and is never static. He saw it as having an end goal that was inevitable. The function of the state was to direct history towards that ideal. History is essentially the story of the march of reason toward the ideal. Reaching the ideal is possible. In the Hegelian worldview history has a right (or forward moving) side to it which is a sentiment all too often echoed in Progressive thinking.

As for the individual Hegel saw it as a unit (part of a jigsaw) that has meaning only as part of the broader picture. This bears sharp contrast to Scottish Enlightenment thinking and its emphasis on individual rights but for Hegel it makes sense. He was a monist and a believer in one totality. For him the Truth was the system and the movement toward the ideal should govern all aspects of the Zeitgeist (Time-Spirit).

Cartoon Source: Philosophy Now.