SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: Department Of Philosophy

CONTRIBUTORS:

Otteh, A.C;
Odimegwu, i;

ABSTRACT:

Hegel with his triadic movement called the ‘dialectic’developed one of the enduring achievements; a philosophy of history based on change and freedom. He asserted that human nature like everything else changes from one historical epoch to another. Hegel’s enterprise was not purely a historical account, but a way to comprehend the entire evolution of human civilization in a comprehensive perspective, with an intention of understanding the meaning and rationality behind the evolution. This rationality of world history is the progress of consciousness of freedom. For the past few years, the Arab World which according to Hegel had been ‘static and outside the framework of world history’ owing to the unchanging nature of their civilization has experienced chains of conflicts. The region that endured abuse and misery for more than a century has risen against the despots to the wonder of the entire world. This study sets out to unveil the root causes of the Arab spring, the implications of the revolution and the resultant lessons. Employing philosophical analysisand dialectic as ourmethods, this research shall also critically discuss the dialectic of Hegel’s Philosophy of History to see to what extent it can help in the understanding andresolution of the conflicts in Arab world, and the possibility of incorporating them into philosophy of conflict perceived as the spirit of world history. This study discovers among other things, that the main cause of the events is the lack of freedomand social justice caused by actions of the dark shadows of autocratic and dictatorial regimes in each respective country. Our conclusion is that unless despotism is obliterated, human rights and freedom restored in the Arab world through a political system- democracy, there will be no end to conflicts in the region, as their monstrous form of monarchy is a failed option for the Arabs.