Hegel: philosophy always understands an age only after it's already over

In the preface to 'Elements of the Philosophy of Right,' Hegel wrote that 'the owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk,' meaning philosophy can only grasp a form of life once it has matured and started to pass away. Wisdom, on this view, is inherently retrospective: you understand an era's logic only in hindsight, never in time to steer it.

— G.W.F. Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right — Preface, 1820
Go deeper: get the book →