REASON ACCOMPLISHED? NOTES ABOUT HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY

The understanding of Hegel on human history and its eventual "end" (das Ende) aligns, in the same horizon, both the theological-Christian and the Enlightenment perspective of history. In a way, in this regard, Hegel summarizes the precedent thoughts about History. At the same time, he dialectically surpasses them, by describing a "philosophical history" whose core is the immanent realization of the freedom of Absolute Spirit - that is, Reason - through the progress of human consciousness. In this article, it is to revisit the main elements of the Hegelian conception of history, to eventually look into one of the biggest controversies arising of his thought: the thesis that, in the modern times, history would have come to an end.