Quote #44

Two things must be distinguished in consciousness; first, the fact that I know; secondly, what I know. In self consciousness these are merged in one; for Spirit knows itself. It involves an appreciation of its own nature, as also an energy enabling it to realise itself; to make itself actually that which it is potentially. According to this abstract definition it may be said of Universal History, that it is the exhibition of Spirit in the process of working out the knowledge of that which it is potentially. And as the germ bears in itself the whole nature of the tree, and the taste and form of its fruits, so do the first traces of Spirit virtually contain the whole of that History.

More from Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel

  1. Matter possesses gravity in virtue of its tendency towards a central point. It is essentially composite; consisting of parts that exclude e…
  2. The History of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of Freedom; a progress whose development according to the nec…
  3. As the essence of Matter is Gravity, so, on the other hand, we may affirm that the substance, the essence of Spirit is Freedom. All will re…
  4. The destiny of the spiritual World, and, - since this is the substantial World, while the physical remains subordinate to it, or, in the la…
  5. The present is not the occasion for unfolding the idea of Spirit speculatively; for whatever has a place in an Introduction, must, as alrea…
  6. Although Freedom is, primarily, an undeveloped idea, the means it uses are external and phenomenal; presenting themselves in History to our…
  7. On the stage on which we are observing it, - Universal History - Spirit displays itself in its most concrete reality.
  8. The first remark we have to make, and which - though already presented more than once - cannot be too often repeated when the occasion seem…

All Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel quotes