'Hegel argues that the history of civilizations is the history of Essay

Hegel argues that the story of civilizations is the autobiography of Reason and rationality permeating mankind To what extent is h - evidence ExampleUsing Horkheimer and Adorno, it will be argued that human nature cannot be completely subjected, and second, that the elimination of irrational notion has also brought about the conquest of nature in general. Therefore, there is a cash advance of reason, but whatever important limitations too so it cannot be maintained to have completely permeated humankind. For Hegel, history is the succession of stages of ken, and these stages of consciousness culminate in a notion which might be said to be a prevalentity of reason or a notion reflecting wide-scale enlightenment.Hegel, 1952 216. To realize universal reason, is to understand history, and to have therefore, ego-understanding. Hegel addresses the nature of history at the end of the Philosophy of Right. Concerning these stages, Hegel identifies four main periods. These are the Oriental realm, the Greek kingdom, the Roman realm, and finally the Germanic realm Hegel, 1995 220-223. Of the first realm, he states that they are both declarative mood of natural and patriarchal communities. Further, he identifies these as forms of consciousness where pantheistic views of nature dominate all forms of explanations, and indeed, where history itself is poetry Hegel, 1952 222. While the Greeks eliminate many of the limitations of the irrational that preceded them, they still had slavery which he suggests that as universe a compromise of freedom. Slaves, for example, are like Oedipus before he discovered his own identity. In other words, if history is about memory or recollection, and it is about self consciousness or self awareness, then, in this regard we can understand how a society with slaves cannot be a society with universal reason. Slaves are denied the possibility of real self understanding, but by virtue of being enslaved. Reason is meaty to freedom Galla gher, 1997 128. The second last stage is the Roman realm which like the Greeks is a divided society. First, he argues that there is equality and private rights, however, the nature of the relations among individuals is both formal and abstract Hegel, 1952 221-2. A component part persists between the classes, however, the division in the Roman realm is between those who follow there intuition or senses (superstition), and those who use reason and self-understanding as a guiding principle. Hegel, 1952 221. In this sense, Rome had an educated elite, but an un-educated and superstitious majority. In the Germanic realm, reason is reconciled with irrationality. This occurs in a two-fold sense, according to Hegel. First, those who follow passion, belief, aesthesis or the law of the heart, become elevated toward the head, so to speak. Second, reason which had been abstracted from the senses becomes corporate in this world. There exists a mutual learning in each others rational capacitie s, and this mutual recognition entails that universality is no longer abstract, but rather, manifest in a community of rational individuals Pinkard, 2002 160. For Horkheimer and Adorno, the progress of reason is also viewed as a product of the Enlightenment, however, the progress is viewed as a means of subjugation rather than emancipation. While the progress of history promises the emancipation of people through enlightenment and reason,