Does History Make Sense?

This book tackles what is far and away the most controversial and uniformly rejected aspect of Hegel’s philosophy, his claim about the rationality, even the necessity, of the course of human history. Terry Pinkard has written both an extremely accessible and lucid book, as well as one that offers the sophisticated philosophical reader a number of fascinating and important animadversions on the issues motivating Hegel’s philosophy of history. This is clearly the product of a scholar’s lifelong work. It is philosophically provocative and valuable.
-- Robert B. Pippin, University of Chicago

History is the theme for which Hegel is best known to non-philosophers, but it is also one of the easiest ways to misunderstand what Hegel is all about. Does History Make Sense? is an excellent companion to Hegel’s actual text on history, and fulfills a pressing need in Hegel scholarship. Pinkard is one of the leading interpreters of Hegel, and this is the most accessible book-length presentation of his views on a host of issues that are of interest to Hegel scholars and to a wide range of systematic philosophers. Pinkard makes Hegel intelligible without in any sense ignoring the difficulties of the text or of the system as a whole.
-- Dean Moyar, Johns Hopkins University

Pinkard examines Hegel’s philosophy of history with care; he is one of a surprisingly small number of writers to do so.
-- M. Blitz Choice