TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Bossuet on Particular Providence and Nominalism

Friday 27 September 2024 is the 397th anniversary of the birth of Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704), who was born in Dijon on this date in 1627, and who came to be known as the Eagle of Meaux, as his diocese was Meaux.

Providential philosophy of history constitutes one of the fundamental divisions of Western philosophy of history, originating with St. Augustine, who was himself the source and origin of philosophy of history in the Western tradition. Bossuet represents a distinctive permutation among providential philosophies of history, emphasizing particular providence over general providence and coupled with universal history and a hint of nominalism.

Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

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#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #Bossuet # #providentialism #DivineProvidence #universalism #UniversalHistory #nominalism #ParticularProvidence

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Hans Reichenbach on the Direction of Time

Thursday 26 September 2024 is the 133rd anniversary of the birth of Hans Reichenbach (26 September 1891 – 09 April 1953), who was born in Hamburg on this date in 1891.

Reichenbach is remembered as a philosopher of science and no one links him to philosophy of history, but he wrote extensively about time, and for any philosophy of history that takes time seriously, there are implications for the philosophy of history. Reichenbach’s conception of time, as a thorough-going scientific account based on the fundamental physics of thermodynamics, provides a rigorous basis for scientific history.

Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/

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Text post: https://geopolicraticus.substack.com/p/hans-reichenbach-and-the-direction

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #HansReichenbach #time #naturalism #LogicalEmpiricism #CausalTheory #thermodynamics #directionality

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Condorcet and the Progress of the Human Mind

Tuesday 17 September 2024 is the 281st anniversary of the birth of Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, also known as the Marquis of Condorcet, and usually known to posterity simply as Condorcet. He was born in Ribemont in Picardy, on this date in 1743.

Condorcet was a true believer in the Enlightenment creed of the indefinite perfectibility of man, and he wrote a history of humanity to illustrate this progress in the past and to predict continued progress in the future.

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#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #Condorcet #Enlightenment #perfectibility #progress #repugnantconclusion #BishopButler

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Bruce Mazlish and the Claims of Psychohistory

It is the 101st anniversary of the birth of Bruce Mazlish (15 September 1923 – 27 November 2016), who was born in Brooklyn on this date in 1923.

Mazlish was an important figure in the development of psychohistory, the attempt to bring the insights of psychology and the social sciences to bear on history. But can the insights of psychology and psychotherapy offer any clarification for history, or do they only threaten to deepen the confusion?

Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/

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#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #BruceMazlish #psychodynamic #psychotherapy #psychohistory #psychologism

ADDENDUM ON NAPOLEON: Historical Exemplarism in Short-Lived Empires and Long-Lived Influence

Following up on my episode on Napoleon, in which I mentioned Johan Huizinga on historical ideals, I revisit these historical ideals and consider them in the light of moral exemplarism. Why have historical exemplars been drawn from the long-lived influence of short-lived empires and the singular men who presided over them? Let us re-imagine figures like Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, and Napoleon as historical exemplars who give focus to the role of virtue ethics in history.

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#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #AlexandertheGreat #Charlemagne #Napoleon #JohanHuizinga #HistoricalIdeals #exemplars #exemplarism #HistoricalExemplarism #NineWorthies

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Carl Becker and the Problem of Historical Facts

It is the 151st anniversary of the birth of Carl Becker (07 September 1873 – 10 April 1945), who was born in Waterloo, Iowa, on this date in 1873.

Becker was among the most noteworthy of American historians, and he reflected on his historical practice in several works, especially “What Are Historical Facts?” and “Everyman His Own Historian.” The problem of historical facts is one we have encountered before and will encounter again, so I take up Becker on historical facts and how interpretations of facts are shaped by worldviews.

Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/

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#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #CarlBecker #facts #HistoricalFacts #everyman #worldviews #BertrandRussell #FrankRamsey #humanism

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: McTaggart on the A-Series, the B-Series, and the C-Series

It is the 158th anniversary of the birth of John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart (03 September 1866 to 18 January 1925), better known to posterity as J. M. E. McTaggart, was born in London on this date in 1866. It is also the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Louis O. Mink (03 September 1921 – 19 January 1983), who was born in Ada, Ohio, on this date in 1921.

McTaggart denied the reality of time, so it would seem paradoxical to attribute to him a philosophy of history, but Mink, who was a philosopher of history, wrote a paper on McTaggart that was somewhat sympathetic, implying that a philosopher of history can appreciate the problems with time identified by McTaggart. To what extent are philosophies of history based on conceptions of time, and to what extent ought they to be so based?

Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/

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#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #McTaggart #time #idealism #LouisOMink #PersonalIdealism #BritishIdealism #A-series #B-series #C-series #supervenience #naturalism

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: The Second World War Begins

On Friday, 01 September 1939, eighty-five years ago today, Germany invaded Poland, transforming a dangerous and ambiguous military and political situation into a “hot” war. It is this date that is most frequently employed for the beginning of the Second World War. What was the nature of the war? What kind of war was it? This deceptive simple question is difficult to answer.

Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/

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#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #WWII #WorldWarTwo #SecondWorldWar #taxonomy #Germany #Poland