Hegel's Pendulum Swing Theory — Claudia Merrill

When we look back at our history, it is easy to become distracted by all the chaos. There were many wars, injustices, and suffering by all peoples.When you look more closely, it is possible to see that the darker times were necessary to our development and growth as a civilization.Who was Hegel?Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was an 18th century German philosopher from Stuttgart. He led an academic life, studying with fellow philosophers like Schelling, and was particularly interested in existentialism.He drew heavily on Greek philosophy for his ideas and after observing events that occurred within his own lifetime, found patterns that appeared to reoccur in history.These patterns would prove to radically change the way we view history. History through Hegel's eyes isn't just a chronology of stories that occurred but rather repeating patterns that mirror the human psyche.The Pendulum TheoryAlso known as the Hegelian Dialectic, Hegel pioneered a new theory that aimed to explain the patter...