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Showing posts with label Philosophy of History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philosophy of History. Show all posts

Monday, November 30, 2009

"The Life of Reason" by George Santayana,1905


..
The philosophy of history is an interpretation of man's past in the light of his ideal development.
.
The life of reason,which gives meaning to history,is the unity given to existence by a mind in love with the good.
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By the use of reason man distinguishes between spirit and nature,
and comes to understand his own wants and how to satisfy them.
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Instinct which originally showed itself only in animal impulses takes on ideal dimension and leads man into service for society and God.
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Finally,in art,which is the imposing of form on matter,
but most of all in science,
which puts the claims of reason to the test of fact,
the life of reason reaches its ideal consummation.
..

Thursday, November 19, 2009

"The Philosophy of History" by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,1832


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Spirit is freedom and self-consciousness acting to realize its own potentiality.
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The real is the rational,
and the rational is the real ;
Idea or Reason is the formative principle of all reality.
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The goal of history is the liberation of Spirit from its confinement in Nature in order that Spirit might be reunited with its essence as Idea.
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The Spirit could not realize its reunion with Idea were it not for the force of Will,
as derived from human passions.
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The individual as individual is unimportant ;
only the historically decisive actor,the hero,
makes a significant difference in history ;
but whether a man be a conventional citizen,a courageous person,a hero,or a victim,
he is nothing but the Spirit's instrument.
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The embodiment of the Spirit's freedom is the State ;
the State is the concrete unity of freedom and passion.
..