Philosophy of History
Week 1
Lecture
why make it complicated?
- the study n writing of history is a self-evident activity
- does common sense realism suffice?
- lot of historical phenomena dont really make sense; not understandable by common sense, have to
emerge yourself in different ways of thinking —> need other techniques such as concepts n theories
- complexities surrounding the past as a subject matter
- what are viable historical methods and to what extent can or should we be anachronistic?
- what is the goal and validation of the (academic) study and writing of history?
conditions of scientific knowledge:
the development of scientific disciplines went and goes hand in hand with reflecting on the foundation of our
knowledge, our methods and our presuppositions;
science n scholarly knowledge r bound to certain rules: how to develop proper explanation and question.
have to be able to somehow emulate this in history
observations —> hypotheses —> controlled experiments —> conclusions
history as an academic discipline:
- necessity of methodological and epistemological reflection
- have to choose own methodological core: topics wanting to study; find a way to make it as scientific as
possible, methodology
- competition with social sciences that have scientific claims
- does history as a proper discipline also have a typical historical method?
- existing traditions of philosophical reflection on history
- only in the 19th c did history become a distinct discipline
what kind of philosophy of history?
- substantial / speculative philosophy of history: the nature and the goal of the historical process
- what is the goal of history?
- what type of deep causes n deep reasons r behind a historical process
- is the oldest one; since the beginning of time
- critical or analytical philosophy of historye: the formal characteristics of historical knowledge and the
validity of methods used
cynical speculative conceptions
- an eternal return of subsequent phases of history
- history itself was a kind of unending cycle
- golden past —> sth happends —> decay —> huge cleansing process —> cycle starts again
- (often) analogies with natural and cosmological processes / cycles
- a golden “first age”
- hesiod, ovid, polybius
- the “long” calendar cycles in maya culture
- in late antiquity it was replaced with a linear view - the christian notion of four world empires > moving
from a cynical view to a more linear view of the historical process
- beyond history: heaven n eternity; history leads eventually to an end of time from a beginning of time;
things going downhill until the end of time; optimism: eventually all will be redeemed
cynical view of history linear view of history
1 of 16
,linear historical speculations within christianity:
- most christian historical speculations have a fundamental linear character
- we live in old age of the world —> final recovering after the 1st arrival of christ
- aetates (analogy with days of creation and the lifecycle of man)
- christian historical periodization
- history unfolds between creation and ultimate judgement and visio beatifica
- > two main traditions
augustine de civitate dei: salvation history <> secular history
- secular history (civitas terrena) not very relevant
- salvation history concerns the civitas dei
- only being concerned about being good believers is necessary, leave behind all the bad people in history
- difference between ppl who embraced faith and those of the earthly city
- distinguishing 6 aetates in history but no real wish to speculate over length final periods and the coming of
the end
expansionist christian historical / theological speculations
- the complete history of mankind as a part of god’s plan
- if u read the bible properly, you can already define when end is coming n who is acting towards its goal n
who r your enemies
- sometimes very detailed chronologies connected with 6 aetates and speculations about the coming of the
end
- u can read god’s plan in history; looking at events around them by people, indicating that things were
happening with god’s plan; then youd know when the end was and how to defend yourself
- culmination of this tradition: joachim of fiore - history as a self-expression of the trinity; history as a
message of gods divine plan
influence christian speculations on the course of history and the nature of the historical process
- late medieval chiliast movements
- all kinds of things happening in history but all fits into god’s plan
- apocalyptic thought in early protestantism (and present-day evangelical protestantims)
- divine providence according to boussuet
- leibniz: we r living in the best possible world god’s providence could’ve created, and god wills what is
happening (théodicé-principle)
historical speculations in the enlightenment:
- linear vision gets secularized
marie jean antoine, nicolas de ceritat, merquis de condorcet —> a scientific approach to history; 10 stages
hegel:
- weltgeschichtliche vorlesungen
- decides on a number of phases n tries to see what kinds of mechanisms are at use that make historical
discourse
- there is an entity that is either ad (conservative) and good (progress); eventually progress wins
- in the course of history reason is inheritant n history will become more rational
- self-realization of universal reason
- the course of history is based on a dialectic process
- each form of political organization and epoch has a proper individuality —> zeitgeist principle
- eventually all move to democratic, rational way of life
- becomes important when it becomes impossible to use own methods ox explanation of our society on
ppl from different societies - have to see how their rationality n mentality worked
auguste comte:
- theological phase / stage ?—> belief in supernatural powers
- animism
- polytheism
- monotheism
- metaphysical phase / stage ?—> belief in abstract powers
- isolated speculation
- branches of philosophy
2 of 16
, - philosophical systems
- positivist phase
- “positive philosophy” - the idea of enlightenment and belief in progress
karl marx:
- created a complete study of history starting from early antiquity up to the present day
- “history as a predictable process of succeeding economic systems of production with connected class
formations”
- many other speculative thinkers: marx goes more in depth into history; ppl saw him as a historian
- upcoming communist revolution and arrival of a classless society without exploitation n alienation
- materialist theory of history:
- how stuff is produced is what matters most; this is the base of society
- the superstructure —> the rules, customs, laws, beliefs determining how the wealth should be
distributed
- economic base —> economic relations determine social relations, and social institutional practices
speculative / substantial philosophy of history in the 20th century
- cynical speculation:
- oswald spengler
- arnold toynbee
- paul kennedy
- linear & finalist
- alexandre kojeve & francis fukuyama
criticism of speculative systems:
- karl popper
- isaiah berlin
- 20th c —> realisation of what communism did in russia n china; treat history as if it was a natural science
with law; if u look properly, it is full with misunderstandings n different outcomes
- history not able to act according to certain laws
- against ideas of choice, especially if u use it in a way to predict things
continual attraction of historical speculations and discernment of patterns n directions:
- historical “lessons” and “useful” historical explanations
- latent beliefs about historical meaning
- (Lawful) Historical Processes in Global History & Quantitative (Socio-Economic) History
quantitive (socio-economic) history:
- scientifically explained societal and economic cycles and processes with predictive power
- peter turchin
- andrey korotayev
global history:
- jared diamond
- nayef al-rodhan
- “how sustainable history is propelled by good governance, which balances the tensions between the
attributes of human nature - emotionality, amorality, and egoisms - and human dignity needs, such as
reason, security, human right, justice etc. the author proposes minimum criteria for good governance
that are sensitive to local culture and histories but meet certain common global values to ensure
maximum and sustainable moral and political cooperation”
- need some ultimate mechanisms that are at basis of historical developments
- believe to a certain extent that there are some mechanisms at play to see how societies function but not use
it in a predictive matter
- still models, not entirely reliable reality
- comparative history: at some point u have to decide for yourself what history is about and what
mechanisms are at play to come u with explanation for phenomena
3 of 16
Week 1
Lecture
why make it complicated?
- the study n writing of history is a self-evident activity
- does common sense realism suffice?
- lot of historical phenomena dont really make sense; not understandable by common sense, have to
emerge yourself in different ways of thinking —> need other techniques such as concepts n theories
- complexities surrounding the past as a subject matter
- what are viable historical methods and to what extent can or should we be anachronistic?
- what is the goal and validation of the (academic) study and writing of history?
conditions of scientific knowledge:
the development of scientific disciplines went and goes hand in hand with reflecting on the foundation of our
knowledge, our methods and our presuppositions;
science n scholarly knowledge r bound to certain rules: how to develop proper explanation and question.
have to be able to somehow emulate this in history
observations —> hypotheses —> controlled experiments —> conclusions
history as an academic discipline:
- necessity of methodological and epistemological reflection
- have to choose own methodological core: topics wanting to study; find a way to make it as scientific as
possible, methodology
- competition with social sciences that have scientific claims
- does history as a proper discipline also have a typical historical method?
- existing traditions of philosophical reflection on history
- only in the 19th c did history become a distinct discipline
what kind of philosophy of history?
- substantial / speculative philosophy of history: the nature and the goal of the historical process
- what is the goal of history?
- what type of deep causes n deep reasons r behind a historical process
- is the oldest one; since the beginning of time
- critical or analytical philosophy of historye: the formal characteristics of historical knowledge and the
validity of methods used
cynical speculative conceptions
- an eternal return of subsequent phases of history
- history itself was a kind of unending cycle
- golden past —> sth happends —> decay —> huge cleansing process —> cycle starts again
- (often) analogies with natural and cosmological processes / cycles
- a golden “first age”
- hesiod, ovid, polybius
- the “long” calendar cycles in maya culture
- in late antiquity it was replaced with a linear view - the christian notion of four world empires > moving
from a cynical view to a more linear view of the historical process
- beyond history: heaven n eternity; history leads eventually to an end of time from a beginning of time;
things going downhill until the end of time; optimism: eventually all will be redeemed
cynical view of history linear view of history
1 of 16
,linear historical speculations within christianity:
- most christian historical speculations have a fundamental linear character
- we live in old age of the world —> final recovering after the 1st arrival of christ
- aetates (analogy with days of creation and the lifecycle of man)
- christian historical periodization
- history unfolds between creation and ultimate judgement and visio beatifica
- > two main traditions
augustine de civitate dei: salvation history <> secular history
- secular history (civitas terrena) not very relevant
- salvation history concerns the civitas dei
- only being concerned about being good believers is necessary, leave behind all the bad people in history
- difference between ppl who embraced faith and those of the earthly city
- distinguishing 6 aetates in history but no real wish to speculate over length final periods and the coming of
the end
expansionist christian historical / theological speculations
- the complete history of mankind as a part of god’s plan
- if u read the bible properly, you can already define when end is coming n who is acting towards its goal n
who r your enemies
- sometimes very detailed chronologies connected with 6 aetates and speculations about the coming of the
end
- u can read god’s plan in history; looking at events around them by people, indicating that things were
happening with god’s plan; then youd know when the end was and how to defend yourself
- culmination of this tradition: joachim of fiore - history as a self-expression of the trinity; history as a
message of gods divine plan
influence christian speculations on the course of history and the nature of the historical process
- late medieval chiliast movements
- all kinds of things happening in history but all fits into god’s plan
- apocalyptic thought in early protestantism (and present-day evangelical protestantims)
- divine providence according to boussuet
- leibniz: we r living in the best possible world god’s providence could’ve created, and god wills what is
happening (théodicé-principle)
historical speculations in the enlightenment:
- linear vision gets secularized
marie jean antoine, nicolas de ceritat, merquis de condorcet —> a scientific approach to history; 10 stages
hegel:
- weltgeschichtliche vorlesungen
- decides on a number of phases n tries to see what kinds of mechanisms are at use that make historical
discourse
- there is an entity that is either ad (conservative) and good (progress); eventually progress wins
- in the course of history reason is inheritant n history will become more rational
- self-realization of universal reason
- the course of history is based on a dialectic process
- each form of political organization and epoch has a proper individuality —> zeitgeist principle
- eventually all move to democratic, rational way of life
- becomes important when it becomes impossible to use own methods ox explanation of our society on
ppl from different societies - have to see how their rationality n mentality worked
auguste comte:
- theological phase / stage ?—> belief in supernatural powers
- animism
- polytheism
- monotheism
- metaphysical phase / stage ?—> belief in abstract powers
- isolated speculation
- branches of philosophy
2 of 16
, - philosophical systems
- positivist phase
- “positive philosophy” - the idea of enlightenment and belief in progress
karl marx:
- created a complete study of history starting from early antiquity up to the present day
- “history as a predictable process of succeeding economic systems of production with connected class
formations”
- many other speculative thinkers: marx goes more in depth into history; ppl saw him as a historian
- upcoming communist revolution and arrival of a classless society without exploitation n alienation
- materialist theory of history:
- how stuff is produced is what matters most; this is the base of society
- the superstructure —> the rules, customs, laws, beliefs determining how the wealth should be
distributed
- economic base —> economic relations determine social relations, and social institutional practices
speculative / substantial philosophy of history in the 20th century
- cynical speculation:
- oswald spengler
- arnold toynbee
- paul kennedy
- linear & finalist
- alexandre kojeve & francis fukuyama
criticism of speculative systems:
- karl popper
- isaiah berlin
- 20th c —> realisation of what communism did in russia n china; treat history as if it was a natural science
with law; if u look properly, it is full with misunderstandings n different outcomes
- history not able to act according to certain laws
- against ideas of choice, especially if u use it in a way to predict things
continual attraction of historical speculations and discernment of patterns n directions:
- historical “lessons” and “useful” historical explanations
- latent beliefs about historical meaning
- (Lawful) Historical Processes in Global History & Quantitative (Socio-Economic) History
quantitive (socio-economic) history:
- scientifically explained societal and economic cycles and processes with predictive power
- peter turchin
- andrey korotayev
global history:
- jared diamond
- nayef al-rodhan
- “how sustainable history is propelled by good governance, which balances the tensions between the
attributes of human nature - emotionality, amorality, and egoisms - and human dignity needs, such as
reason, security, human right, justice etc. the author proposes minimum criteria for good governance
that are sensitive to local culture and histories but meet certain common global values to ensure
maximum and sustainable moral and political cooperation”
- need some ultimate mechanisms that are at basis of historical developments
- believe to a certain extent that there are some mechanisms at play to see how societies function but not use
it in a predictive matter
- still models, not entirely reliable reality
- comparative history: at some point u have to decide for yourself what history is about and what
mechanisms are at play to come u with explanation for phenomena
3 of 16
