The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics — John Shaqi
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics
Philosophy
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics
Economics; Philosophy
Acknowledgment and thanks for permission to use the following selections
are herewith tendered to Houghton, Mifflin & Company, Boston, for
"Looking Backward," by Edward Bellamy; to Ginn & Company, Boston, for
the International School of Peace, for "The Future of War," by Jean
Bloch; and to Doubleday, Page & Company, New York, for "Progress and
Poverty," by Henry George.
_Philosophy_
HEGEL
The Philosophy of History
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born on August 27, 1770, at
Stuttgart, the capital of Würtemburg, in which state his father
occupied a humble position in government service. He was educated
at Tübingen for the ministry, and while there was, in private, a
diligent student of Kant and Rousseau. In 1805 he was Professor
Extraordinarius at the University of Jena, and in 1807 he gave the
world the first of his great works, the "Phenomenology." It was not
until 1816 that Hegel's growing fame as a writer secured for him a
professorship at Heidelberg, but, after two years, he exchanged it
for one at Berlin, where he remained until his death on November
14, 1831. On October 22, 1818, he began his famous lectures. "Our
business and vocation," he remarked to his listeners, "is to
cherish the philosophical development of the substantial foundation
which has renewed its youth and increased its strength." Although
the lectures on the "Philosophy of History" and on the "Philosophy
of Religion" (Vol. XIII) were delivered during this period, they
were not published until a year after his death, when his collected
works were issued.
_I.--In the East Began History_
Universal or world-history travels from east to west, for Europe is
absolutely the end of history, Asia the beginning. The history of the
world has an east in an absolute sense, for, although the earth forms a
sphere, history describes no orbit round it, but has, on the contrary, a
determinate orient--_viz._, Asia. Here rises the outward visible sun,
and in the west it sinks down; here also rises the sun of
self-consciousness. The history of the world is a discipline of the
uncontrolled natural will, bringing it into obedience to a universal
principle and conferring a subjective freedom. The East knew, and to
this day knows, freedom only for one; the Greek and Roman world knew
that some are free; the German world knows that all are free. The first
political form, therefore, that we see in history is despotism; the
second democracy and aristocracy; and the third monarchy.
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