HEGEL FILOSOFO DELLA STORIA SECONDO IL MANOSCRITTO DI SUO FIGLIO KARL

The publication of Volume XXVII/4 of the Gesammelte Werke provides the public with the definitive version of the transcript of the 1830/31 course on the philosophy of history, Hegel’s last, written by his son Karl, the future editor of theVorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte in 1840. It is the ideal benchmark for evaluating the quality of the nineteenth-century edition, as well as for measuring the different approach to the subject compared to the first course the philosopher held on the topic in 1822/23. While the general considerations on history are more concise, the treatment of modern history is, on the contrary, more extensive than in any previous Hegelian course. The events of 1830 must have weighed heavily and forced the philosopher to focus on the history of the Christian-Germanic realm more than he had done in the past. Without this course, the fifth in the series of those taught by the author in Berlin, the familiar notion of Hegel’s conception of history would be very different and the overall impression less appealing.