TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: White on Metahistory and the Role of the Historian

Saturday 12 July 2025 is the 97th anniversary of the birth of Hayden V. White (12 July 1928 – 05 March 2018), who was born in Martin, Tennessee, on this date in 1928.

White is particularly known for his book Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe, which has been very influential, but also widely criticized. I discuss some of these influences and some of the criticisms, especially in relation to the role of the historian in the construction of history, which remains ambiguous despite attempts, like those of White, to clarify the problem.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #HaydenWhite #metahistory #GeoffreyElton #historian

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: American Independence and the Meaning of Liberty

On Thursday 04 July 1776—249 years ago today—the Continental Congress of the not-yet-existing United States approved the Declaration of Independence, which had been submitted two days previously. Today we celebrate this anniversary of the United States of America, which Thomas Jefferson imagined as an “Empire of Liberty,” but what did liberty mean for the Founding Fathers, and what does it mean for us?

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #USA #IndependenceDay #4thofJuly #JulyFourth #freedom #liberty #JohnStuartMill #BenedictSpinoza #ThomasHobbes #GeorgeWashington #ThomasJefferson

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Tunguska: Tuesday 30 June 1908

At about 7:17 AM local time on Tuesday 30 June 1908—117 years ago today —an enormous explosion occurred in Siberia at Tunguska. Some people refer to the 30th of June as “Asteroid Day” as a kind of commemoration of the Tunguska incident. It is but one of many incidents that remind us we are not isolated from the rest of the universe, but are rather vulnerable to a variety of existential risks that could render us as extinct as the dinosaurs.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #Tunguska #meteor #asteroid #impact #ExistentialRisk #anthropocene

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: J. R. Lucas’ Indeterminism and Temporal Realism

Wednesday 18 June 2025 is the 96th anniversary of the birth of John Randolph Lucas (18 June 1929 – 05 April 2020), better known to posterity as J. R. Lucas, who was born in Guildford in Surrey, on the outskirts of London, on this date in 1929.

Lucas stands within the tradition of analytical philosophy, but he brought theological interests to his philosophical work that distinguished his views from the prevailing naturalism of his time. He wrote extensively on the philosophy of time and its relation, through Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, to the philosophy of mind. These interests in turn suggest perspectives on the philosophy of history that engage with fundamental metaphysical questions.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

Episode: S02EP33

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #JRLucas #time #PhilosophyofTime #cosmology #naturalism #KurtGödel #incompleteness #determinism #mechanism #relativity

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Whitrow’s Natural Philosophy of Time in History

Monday 09 June 2025 is the 113th anniversary of the birth of Gerald James Whitrow (9 June 1912 – 2 June 2000), better known to posterity as G. J. Whitrow, who was born at Kimmeridge in Dorset, on the English Channel, on this date in 1912.

G. J. Whitrow’s two books, The Natural Philosophy of Time and Time in History are essentially reading in the philosophy of time that naturally flows into the role of time in history. And insofar as time constitutes history, our conception and analysis of time will bear upon our conception and analysis of history. No philosophy of history can ultimately evade the problems of time, so it’s better to make them explicit and incorporate them ab initio.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

Episode: S02EP32

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #GJWhitrow #time #PhilosophyofTime #PunctiformPresent #industrialization #disenchantment

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: An Addendum on J. Glenn Gray and Hannah Arendt on Thinking

In my episode on J. Glenn Gray I quoted Timothy Fuller on Hannah Arendt, and that quote stuck in my mind as something I wanted to further examine. In this episode I consider the claim attributed by Fuller to Arendt that thinking and acting can’t be combined, and along the way I touch on the work of Antony Flew, Susan Stebbing, Jürgen Habermas, Jan Patočka, and Peter Paret, among others. This isn’t as closely connected to philosophy of history as my other episodes, but it’s still relevant.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

Episode: S02EP31

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #JGlennGray #HannahArendt #thinking #thought #AntonyFlew #SusanStebbing #MartinHeidegger #PeterParet #war

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arendt, H. (1981). The life of the mind: The groundbreaking investigation on how we think. HMH.

Arendt, H. (2021). Thinking without a banister: Essays in understanding, 1953-1975. Schocken.

Bloch, M. (1999). Strange defeat: A statement of evidence written in 1940 (No. 371). WW Norton & Company.

Bradley, F. H. (1962). Ethical studies. Second Edition. Oxford University Press.

Descartes, R. (2012). Principles of philosophy. Simon and Schuster.

Fichte, J. G. (1994). Introductions to the Wissenschaftslehre and other writings, 1797-1800. Hackett Publishing.

Flew, A. (1976). Thinking about thinking: (or, Do I Sincerely Want to be Right?). Fontana/Collins: Glasgow.

Fuller, T. (2014). J. Glenn Gray: A Personal Remembrance. Juniata Voices, 14, 49.

Gray, J. G. (1970). The warriors: Reflections on men in battle. Harper & Row.

Habermas, J. (1992). Postmetaphysical thinking: Philosophical essays. MIT Press.

Heidegger, M. (2014). Introduction to metaphysics. Yale University Press.

Paret, P. (2009). The cognitive challenge of war: Prussia 1806. Princeton University Press.

Patočka, J. (1996). Heretical essays in the philosophy of history. Open Court Publishing.

Stebbing, S. (1948). Thinking to some purpose. Penguin: Harmondsworth.

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Patočka’s Heretical Solidarity of the Shaken

Sunday 01 June 2025 is the 118th anniversary of the birth of Jan Patočka (01 June 1907 – 13 March 1977), who was born in Turnov, Bohemia, on this date in 1907.

Patočka found himself as a philosopher behind the Iron Curtain when Czechoslokia was surrendered to the Soviet sphere after the Second World War. As a result, he was largely banned from teaching and publishing, but he brought a unique experience to understanding the violence and intensity of the twentieth century that he described in his Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

Episode: S02EP30

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #JanPatočka #phenomenology #Charter77 #PhilosophyofWar #ErnstJünger #Czechoslovakia #phenomenology #prehistory

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: J. Glenn Gray and the Lived Experience of Combat

Tuesday 27 May 2025 is the 112th anniversary of the birth of Jesse Glenn Gray (27 May 1913 – 30 October 1977), better known as J. Glenn Gray, who was born in rural Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, on this date in 1913.

J. Glenn Gray wrote a classic memoir of combat experience, The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle, which was, at the same time, a philosophical examination of war and an attempt to settle accounts with his own conscience. Gray came to be deeply influenced by Heidegger and was a key figure in bringing phenomenology and existentialism to America.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD

Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

Episode: S02EP29

#philosophy #history#PhilosophyofHistory #JGlennGray #PhilosophyofWar #MartinHeidegger #technology#battle #warrior #combat #ErnstJünger