Necessity in Hegel’s Philosophy of History
October 2, 2018
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
A lecture by Sally Sedgewick, Dept. of Philosophy
Hegel tells us in his Lectures on the Philosophy of History that world history follows a rational and necessary course, a course that is governed by “providence”. He announces, in addition, that his philosophic approach to history indeed reveals that necessary course. He seems to imply that he has successfully separated the “essential from the so-called inessential” and thereby eliminated all forms of contingency from his system. In this study, I argue that Hegel does not even undertake to eliminate all forms of contingency from his historical narrative. His objective of revealing the necessity in history does not rest on the assumption that there are no contingencies or accidents in human affairs. Moreover, it is not his view that history has been pre-determined or fated to unfold along a single path.
Date posted
Jun 16, 2020
Date updated
Sep 25, 2020