History - Philosophy of History

Philosophy of History

History's philosophical questions
  • What is the proper unit for the study of the human past—the individual? The polis? The civilization? The culture? Or the nation state?
  • Are there broad patterns and progress? Are there cycles? Is human history random and devoid of any meaning?

Philosophy of history is a branch of philosophy concerning the eventual significance, if any, of human history. Furthermore, it speculates as to a possible teleological end to its development—that is, it asks if there is a design, purpose, directive principle, or finality in the processes of human history. Philosophy of history should not be confused with historiography, which is the study of history as an academic discipline, and thus concerns its methods and practices, and its development as a discipline over time. Nor should philosophy of history be confused with the history of philosophy, which is the study of the development of philosophical ideas through time.

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Famous quotes containing the words philosophy and/or history:

    “Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.”
    —Francis Bacon (1561–1626)

    “When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies that could have been your own, when the staves of history fall awry and the barrel of time bursts apart, some turn to prayer, some to poetry: words in the memory, a stained book carried close to the body, the notebook scribbled by hand—a center of gravity.”
    —Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)