Hegel's Three Stages

According to class lectures and the article “Hegel Knew There Would Be Days Like These,” the German philosopher, Hegel, demonstrates that although some people consider history merely as a recitation of the past events, history is of a cyclical nature which repeats itself in a dialectic of three stages: A thesis or catalyst, which is a new ideology or movement that intends to change the status quo; this stage is usually extreme and leads to a conflict to create a new world order. Second, an antithesis, which is a reaction to the new ideology, and it attempts to repress change and reserve the current order. Finally, a synthesis or equilibrium, which compromises the old and the new order to create a new status quo (“Hegel”). According to Ibn

A resistance led by the United States began as reaction to the new ideology. This, in Hegel’s terms, can be described as the antithesis, which turned into what is known as the Cold War. That period created a new balance of power, a bipolar global system, with the Soviet Union on one side and the United States on the other side. Although this conflict did not lead to a direct confrontation between the two major powers, it divided the world into two camps. The second stage of Hegel’s dialectic, the conflict, in this case lasted for almost a half century, and it occurred in multiple fields including proxy wars, militarism, and space race. Proxy wars, such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the War in Afghanistan, became an alternative way to gain more power in the global sphere. Militarism was another major part of the conflict, in which both the Soviet Union and the United States competed to develop advanced weapons especially nuclear weapons. For instance, one of the main incidents that enflamed the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union attempted to place nuclear missiles in Cuba. After that, the Soviet Union collapsed, and equilibrium took place. A synthesis of capitalism and communism produced a less extreme capitalist system in the United States with many social security programs, and social democratic systems in many European countries. The European Union also was created as a mean to increase cooperation and promote trade among the European