Hegel excluded Africa entirely from world history

Evidence

Where Africans were concerned, Hegel (2001, p.109) suspended the category of universality of reason, saying, “[with reference to Africans], we must quite give up the principle which naturally accompanies all our ideas – the category of universality”. Consequently, Hegel (2001, pp.110–111) characterized Africans as people whose “consciousness has not yet attained to the realization of any substantial objective existence – as for example, God or law”. This means that, for Hegel, Africans had not yet reached the level of consciousness necessary for knowing God. Part of the explanation for this was that, for Hegel (2001, p.111), Africans still “[exhibit] the natural man in his completely wild and untamed state”. As such, Hegel calls on his fellow Europeans to “lay aside all thought of reverence and morality” (2001, p.111) among Africans and to understand that religion among Africans was a form of “sorcery”, “fetishism” or “magic” (2001, pp.111–112). In short, for Hegel, Africans did not have reason, the engine of creativity, and for that reason it was impossible for them to know God or to have a culture, history or morality. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 126 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

  • XREF: connects to: Hegel declared Africans incapable of universalist consciousness and therefore naturally enslaved; Hegel denied Africans the universal category of reason and knowledge of God — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 126; African thought has no concept of history ending or reaching a climax

Broader Connections