It argues that freedom is found in the state, but its most famous sections are those that outline the "four types of individual" and single out men like Caesar and Napoleon as "heroes," whose actions are dictated by what their age demands.  
Early on its author reflects on Anaxagoras' definition of "nous" and its implications for a shift from considering providence an element of the individual.  Divided into four primary sections that consider the Oriental, Greek, Roman, and German "worlds," it argues that human passions are driving forces and are important to developing a coherent version of the titular concept.  It argues that freedom is found in the state, but its most famous sections are those that outline the "four types of individual" and single out men like Caesar and Napoleon as "heroes," whose actions are dictated by what their age demands.  The lengthy introduction reasserts that the rational is the real and considers the "Original" purveyors of the title idea, including Thucydides and Herodotus, FTP, identify this series of lectures given during 1830 and 1831 by Hegel, which are concerned with the progress of the consciousness of Spirit through time.
Early on its author reflects on Anaxagoras' definition of "nous" and its implications for a shift from considering providence an element of the individual.  
Lectures on the Philosophy of History