In the Philosophy of History, Hegel describes world history as the progress of the consciousness of freedom. Spirit realises itself in time through the actions of individuals and peoples. But individuals act from their passions and interests; they do not intend the universal result. Hegel calls this the "cunning of reason" (List der Vernunft): reason uses the particular aims of human beings to achieve its own end.

This does not mean that history is a hidden plan imposed from outside. Spirit is not a separate agent; it is the self-unfolding of freedom in the world. The state, for Hegel, is the actuality of the ethical idea—the institution in which freedom becomes concrete. World-historical individuals are those whose particular purposes coincide with the next necessary stage of the universal.

The thesis is controversial: it can sound like a theodicy that justifies suffering. Hegel's claim is rather that philosophy comprehends what has happened, not that everything that happens is good.