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Hegel: Reason in History

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German-Prussian romantic in the sense that he saw the finite man as an element that moves toward the infinite. To him self-consciousness comes from thoughts thinking about themselves and this becomes a path to Absolute Knowledge. Absolute Knowledge is the highest form of spirit as a free thinking and logical rationality. Society is seen as pushing people closer and closer to the development of an ideal where thoughts and reality are intertwined. Understanding history helps mankind to understand the overall development of society and governmental systems as synonymous with the development of the freedom of spirit.  Hegel discussed three analytical approaches to understanding history in his work Reason in History. His argument is that history can be seen as original history, reflective history, and philosophical history. Each provides a different vantage point and way to look at historically significant events.  Original History: The un