Phenomenology of Spirit, Preface, paragraph 41

As regards truth in matters of historical fact – to deal briefly with this subject – insofar as one is concerned with the purely historical in them, it will be readily granted that they have to do with particular existence, a content in terms of the aspect of its contingency and arbitrariness, determinations thereof that are not necessary. But even bare truths of the kind, such as those cited as examples, are not lacking the movement of self-consciousness. In order to know any one of them, there has to be a good deal of comparison; books must be consulted; one way or another inquiry has to be made. Even in a case of direct vision, first the knowledge thereof, along with the reasons behind it, are held to be something of real value, even if it is only the naked result itself that is held to be of any importance.