Philosophy of History Having run through the basic types of
recorded history, Hegel turns to the idea that history is
essentially a rational process. What philosophy brings to
history, Hegel writes, is "the thought that Reason rules the
world, and that world history has therefore been rational in its
course." Hegel sets this up as a presupposition in his
historical method, but also says that the principle will be
demonstrated as his lectures continue. Hegel next claims three
characteristics of Reason itself: it is the substance of the
historical world, it is infinite power, and it is infinite
content. It is the substance of the world treated in history
because all reality comes to be by virtue of Reason--anything
actual came about because of reason. Similarly, Reason is
infinite power because it is not just an abstraction but also
"actualizing"--it brings things into existence. Reason is
infinite content because it needs nothing outside of itself to
create content; it is, Hegel writes, "the only material on w