"Given this new understanding of Hegel, then, where is the general reader left in trying to apprehend the meaning of world history? History is fundamentally the striving of Spirit for its own freedom, Reason is consistently manifesting itself in the course of development, and the process is essentially a dialectical progression towards an end goal. Is this not deterministic? Accepting Hegelian boundaries, can we not approach the course of world history with foreknowledge or will contingency continue to confound such iron-clad predictability? In order to soften the impact of Hegel's statements, some interpretations have suggested that references to "necessary" events in history could be inferred as "rationally necessary." This would presumably reduce Hegel's argument from one of determinism to hopeful idealism. However, since Hegel states that "the rational, like the substantial, is necessary," no qualitative difference exists between the terms "necessary" and "rationally necessary." In addition, we have already proven that for either contingency or necessity to exist, the other must also exist. Any attempt to dilute the Hegelian meaning of "necessity" therefore will not help us to encompass the contingency often seen in world events. To understand the relative importance of contingency versus determinism in Hegel's philosophy, it is most important to note the distinction he makes between world history and particular history. "What world history has to record," he writes in his Introduction to the Philosophy of History, "are the actions of the Spirit of peoples. The individual configurations assumed by Spirit in external reality could be left to limited histories." Carefully analyzed in the context of Hegel's work, it becomes clear that Hegel views long-term history as the meaningful area for study of Spirit's activity, whereas "limited histories" merely reflect the "external reality" that Spirit assumes. This recognition uncloaks much of the historical misunderstanding of Hegelian philosophy."
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