George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German Philosopher who was born in Stuttgart in 1770. As a young man, he studied theology, but was also impelled to explore philosophy due to the upheaval of this treacherous time in history. The Reign of Terror and French Revolution had a huge impact on Germany and Europe, and Hegel became caught up in the fervor and outrage of the period and wanted to take a deeper look at the events that were occurring. His look and analysis of the French Revolution is what began his reflection of history.
After graduation from the seminary, Hegel joined the faculty of the University of Jena, the philosophic center of Germany. While there, he wrote Phenomenology of Spirit, his first major book. Hegel left the
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Original historians relied heavily upon the writings of other contemporaries, because it would be impossible for them to have seen everything that occurred at once. Original history is where we get direct accounts of legend, folklore, and traditions because a person would have to have been there to truly know about these. The great advantage that original historians have over the others is that they lived through and were shaped by the events as they unfolded. They can descriptively write about them from their experience, as opposed to a historian writing accounts based on the writings of others hundreds of years later. Hegel said of these historians, “The influences that have formed the writer are identical with those which have moulded the events that constitute the matter of his story. The author’s spirit, and that of the actions he narrates, is one and the same” (www.marxists.org).
The second kind of history described in Hegel's Philosophy of History, Reflective history, is written after the time period being described has passed. These historians endeavor to show connections between and reasons for historical events. Hegel distinguishes four types of Reflective History: Universal, Pragmatic, Critical, and Specialized.
“Universal” history attempts to cover and describe a long period of time and gives an overview of, for example, an entire people or entire nations. This type of history is broad and represents general facts and
She carries the audience through her argument in a logical sequence. First, she makes her claim that student do not know history and explains her reasons (250). She then elaborates on what history students are taught and what exactly is wrong with the methods by which they learn (251). After this, she explains the job of a historian to the reader – how historians confront primary sources to “make some sense of what once happened” (252). To end the article, Simon describes how students can better learn history through exploring primary sources (253). This structuring and organization helps the reader to understand and to believe Simon’s
Before the ideas of the philosophers became widespread, the monarchy and old ways of thinking were not questioned. It was tradition and people knew not to question tradition. John Locke was the most important and influential philosopher. His idea about natural rights life, liberty, and property stirred the French people. They realized that they deserved much better than their positions in life.
Historiography is the writing of the past. It is also the study of the way history events has been written by historians with their perspective and interpretations. As everything is interpreted to each owns perspective, some parts of history could have been skewed while being written with biases and favoritism according to the authors. We all understand things slight differently according to how we were raised, social and culture background, experiences, etc.
In “The Essential Historiography Reader” by Caroline Hoefferle, and “The Penguin History of Europe” by J.M. Roberts, both authors write about what “modern history” is. Hoefferle, breaks down the evolution of history and how its recorded into three different periods of time. She starts with ancient history, then moves into medieval and finishes with modern history. Roberts, believes that modern history was shaped in three centuries. Both authors agree on what modern history is, but only Hoefferle really goes into detail about the transition from how history was recorded in the ancient world up until the evolution of modern history.
This paper deals with ways history can be interpreted and influences different interpretations have on society and individuals. This is explored through
To begin with, what is history? The answer to this question varies depending on whom is being inquired. Predominantly, history is regarded as the study of the evolution of ideas or events in chronological order. History is frequently applied to study topics such as economics, culture, politics and society. However, it can also be utilized to clarify alternative topics such as science, ideology, technology and more. The challenging aspect of history is to obtain documents and sources that are not biased or are coherent enough to trust.
In Telling the Truth About History, three historians discuss how the expanded skepticism and the position that relativism has reduced our capacity to really know and to expound on the past. The book talks about the written work of history and how individuals are battling with the issues of what is “truth.” It likewise examines the post-modernist development and how future historians
Hegel’s critique of Kant’s philosophy is quite prevalent throughout the unfolding of Hegel’s own dialectical philosophy. Several of Hegel’s critiques of Kant’s work can especially be seen in one of his earlier works, “The Phenomenology of Spirit.” This is particularly established once Hegel begins to undertake the developing of Spirit within his Phenomenology. Here, Hegel makes several attacks on Kantian philosophy principles, and at some of the foundations of Kant’s use of pure reason in philosophy. There are several passages within the section where Hegel gives criticism of Kant’s work; critiques that strike at the very heart of what Hegel himself is trying to elucidate through his own dialectic, while discounting one of the greatest German philosophers.
As presented in the Phenomenology of Spirit, the aim of Life is to free itself from confinement "in-itself" and to become "for-itself." Not only does Hegel place this unfolding of Life at the very beginning of the dialectical development of self-consciousness, but he characterizes self-consciousness itself as a form of Life and points to the advancement of self-consciousness in the Master/Slave dialectic as the development of Life becoming "for-itself." This paper seeks to delineate this often overlooked thread of dialectical insight as it unfolds in the Master/Slave dialectic. Hegel articulates a vision of the place of human self-consciousness in the process of Life as a whole and throws light on the role of death as an essential
George Hegel introduced to the world to the theory of ideas, known as the Hegelian dialectic, and it is quite astonishing as it contemplates and assesses contradicting ideas and ultimately generates a new idea. Hegel believes that all human ideas (thesis) are often in heated confrontations with their similar counterparts (antithesis), in which both may be equally feasible for a society. Hegel believes that these issues must be resolved through the synthesis of a new idea.
The way freedom develops itself is though the phenomenon of history. Freedom is essentially an internal idea, but it manifest itself externally thoughout history. It may seem that many of the actions throughout history are from mens needs, passions, and desires, but Hegel says that while some actions in history do come from these things, they are relatively small in comparison to the whole canvas of history. Hegel says that passions, private aims, and the satisfaction of selfish desires are what have really driven most men throughout history and there powers are that they respect none of the limitations which laws and morality would impose on them. These passions, private aims, and selfish desires are actually closer to our own human nature then the artificial and troublesome discipline that tend to move to order, self-restraint, law, and morality.
Hegel's philosophy of History, on of the greatest in the philosophy cannon, is the great philosophers greatest body of work. The philosophy of History is based on such ideals as the idea that Reason rules history. George Hegel used Immanuel Kant's system of
What is History? This is the question posed by historian E.H. Carr in his study of historiography. Carr debates the ongoing argument which historians have challenged for years, on the possibility that history could be neutral. In his book he discusses the link between historical facts and the historians themselves. Carr argues that history cannot be objective or unbiased, as for it to become history, knowledge of the past has been processed by the historian through interpretation and evaluation. He argues that it is the necessary interpretations which mean personal biases whether intentional or not, define what we see as history. A main point of the chapter is that historians select the facts they think are significant which ultimately
A person who views history as the actions of individuals is what brought about history believes in personality views, whereas a person how believes the culture and intellectual environment of a particular history era believes in the naturalistic history (Goodwin p. 10)
History is the study of past events leading up to the present day. It is a research, a narrative, or an account of past events and developments that are commonly related to a person, an institution, or a place. It is a branch of knowledge that records and analyzes