Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of World History brings together the works of Georg W. F. Hegel (1770–1831), one of the greatest philosophers of history, who, prior to his death, did not execute a treatise setting forth his philosophy of world history.All that remains are fragmented and truncated manuscript materials and meticulous student transcripts from his lectures on the philosophy of world history, which are assembled in this book to present what Hegel might call the “essential phases” or “moments” in his philosophy of world history as an articulated, unfolding, organic whole.Drawing from historical-critical editions, Thomas L. Pangle has compiled a range of passages that provide the fullest and clearest expression of Hegel’s teachings on the philosophy of history as divine reason expressing itself dynamically in the whole of existence. Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of World History provides lucid, vivid, and concrete access to Hegel’s political philosophy, as the most ambitious and thorough attempt to demonstrate that world history overall, starting with ancient China and India, exhibits God’s providence for humanity as a truly rational divine plan.
Thomas L. Pangle
Thomas L. Pangle is Joe R. Long Endowed Chair in Democratic Studies in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, Codirector of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Core Texts and Ideas, and Lifetime Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Editorial Reviews
“An impressive volume. Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of World History is an immense and important undertaking to scholars not only in philosophy and critical studies but also theology, sociology, and beyond.”
—Jeffrey Church, author of Kant, Liberalism, and the Meaning of Life
“Thomas L. Pangle provides a desperately needed new translation that includes judicious selections from the new critical edition of the student transcripts of his lectures.”
—Mark Alznauer, author of Hegel’s Theory of Responsibility