The Philosophy of History - Taschenbuch

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 Excerpt: ...far as to propose the problem, is certainly this: that the Inner Being the Essence of Nature is Thought, which has its existence only in the human consciousness. But that time-honored antique solution given by OEdipus--who thus shows himself possessed of knowledge--is connected with a dire ignorance of the character of his own actions. The rise of spiritual illumination in the old royal house is disparaged by connection with abominations, the result of ignorance; and that primeval royalty must--in order to attain true knowledge and moral clearness--first be brought into shapely form, and be harmonized with the Spirit of the Beautiful, by civil laws and political freedom. The inward or ideal transition, from Egypt to Greece is as just exhibited. But Egypt became a province of the great Persian kingdom, and the historical transition takes place when the Persian world comes in contact with the Greek. Here, for the first time, an historical transition meets us, viz. in the fall of an empire. China and India, as already mentioned, have remained--Persia has not. The transition to Greece is, indeed, internal; but here it shows itself also externally, as a transmission of sovereignty--an occurrence which from this time forward is ever and anon repeated. For the Greeks surrender the sceptre of dominion and of civilization to the Romans, and the Romans are subdued by the Germans. If we examine this fact of transition more closely, the question suggests itself--for example, in this first case of the kind, viz. Persia--why it sank, while China and India remain. In the first place we must here banish from our minds the prejudice in favor of duration, as if it had any advantage as compared with transience: the imperishable mountains are not superior to the quickly disman...