Dale, Eric Michael. Hegel, the end of history, and the future. Cambridge, 2014. 256p bibl Index ISBN 9781107063020 cloth, $95.00
52-4687
D16
2014-11958 CIP
Perhaps no claim in all of Hegel's works has elicited more controversy and skepticism than his end of history thesis. In this illuminating study, Dale (Emerson College) argues that when understood in the broader context of his philosophy of history, Hegel's assertion of the end of history is not the outrageous claim that history has ended (something he explicitly rejects). Instead it is the contention that philosophy can grasp that the realization of freedom is history's necessary end, even as it "can have no actual insight into the necessity of [history's] ongoing course." Dale develops his own case with reference to the conflicting interpretations of Hegel's end of history in Nietzsche, Engels, and Kojeve, and introduces his discussion of Hegel's philosophy of history with chapters dedicated to the contrasting approaches of Herder and Fichte. Dale's writing is accessible and free of jargon, and he is deft in his use of a broad range of sources, especially from 19th- and 20th-century Continental philosophy. This book will be of particular interest to students of Hegel's social and political thought. Summing Up: ** Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers.--J. A. Gauthier, University of Portland