Reviews for Introduction to the Philosophy of History

The average rating for Introduction to the Philosophy of History based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-03-28 00:00:00 Shannon Keen This is a very difficult text, but if you are curious enough about Hegel's Philosophy of History to be reading this review, you are likely prepared for the intellectual rigours that absorbing and understanding Hegel will involve. Give yourself the time to digest it slowly; one wants to linger over the beauty of certain passages, or just lay the book aside and recline in wonder and admiration over his beautiful dream. And I ask myself, How could he dream this up; what sort of an inspired, romantic genius was he? He helps me to understand the world, and to make sense of all the pain and the horrours that our race has witnessed upon the slaughter-bench of history. (p. 24) Hegel perceives that "world history is not the place for happiness. Periods of happiness are empty pages in history," (p. 29) but his philosophical construction of history is magical and full of wonders. “Our approach is a theodicy,” writes Hegel, “a justification of the ways of God.” (p.18) Is Hegel’s philosophy a scientific analogue to Milton’s Paradise Lost, the concern of which was "to justify the ways of God to men? I believe it is. Hegel's Philosophy of History is interesting, beautiful, and frightening all at once; because of this, reading him handsomely repays one’s efforts. It will change how you see the world. Here are a few of my favourite selections (but they do no justice to the majesty of Hegel's whole conception, nor in isolation can all their richness be perceived): This restless succession of individuals and peoples that are here for a time and then disappear suggests one general thought, one category above all, that of universally prevalent change. And what leads us to apprehend this change in its negative aspect is the sight of the ruins of some vanished splendor. What traveler, amidst the ruins of Carthage, Palmyra, Persepolis, or Rome, has not been led to contemplate the transiency of empires and of men, and to sorrow at a once vigorous and rich life that is now gone? This is not a sorrow that dwells upon personal losses and the transiency of one’s own aims; instead, it is a disinterested sorrow at the decline of a radiant and cultured life. (p. 76) This reminded us today of Shelley’s Ozymandias: I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said––“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.” And Hegel had also written, daß nichts Großes in der Welt ohne Leidenschaft vollbracht worden ist, “that nothing great was ever accomplished in the world without passion.” (p.26) Brief Comparison to Hartman's Translation Last year I read Hartman’s translation and wrote a brief review there. Hartman includes a forty-two page introduction; Rauch’s translation is more readable and natural in English, and includes chapters on the Geographical Basis of History and on the Divisions of History, as well as relevant passages from Hegel’s Philosophy of Right that Hartman does not include, but I still like the feel of Hartman’s edition, the sturdiness of its binding, and its compact size more than the Hacket version with the Rauch translation. It’s not a bad thing to read or own them both.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-10-18 00:00:00 James Mann [ I've been wondering for weeks now, what's truth and what's lie [fraud], I mean, falsehood, in the 2020 USA elections' results...if only Hegel could shed a bit of light (hide spoiler)]