TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Čapek’s Bergsonian Analysis of the Eternal Return

It is the 117th anniversary of the birth of Milič Čapek, (26 January 1909 – 17 November 1997), who was born in Třebechovice, Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary, on this date in 1909.

Čapek took the unusual stance of defending a Bergsonian conception of time in natural science, which means defending a conception of time as a fundamental reality of the world, not to be denied or explained away. He applied this conception of time in a critique of cyclical time, using Nietzsche’s eternal return as an example. I consider what consequences this has for history.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/AHVsXpJFGG

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

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

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #MiličČapek #HenriBergson #BerrandRussell #duration #EternalReturn #CyclicalTime #CyclicalHistory #MythofPassage #becoming

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Lessing’s Broad and Ugly Ditch

Monday 22 January 2026 is the 297th anniversary of the birth of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781), who was born in Kamenz in Saxony on this date in 1729.

In a controversy known as the Fragmentenstreit (Fragments Controversy), Lessing said that there was a broad and ugly ditch that separates contingent historical truths and necessary truths of reason, and that he couldn’t leap this ditch. Like a twenty-first century surveyor, I take a look at this ditch for myself to assess its leapability.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/AHVsXpJFGG

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

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

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory # GottholdEphraimLessing #BroadUglyDitch #Fragmentenstreit #ArthurOLovejoy #CarlBecker #deism

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Gomperz on Logical Positivism in Historical Research

Sunday 18 January 2026 is the 153rd anniversary of the birth of Heinrich Gomperz (January 18, 1873 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary – December 27, 1942 in Los Angeles, California), who was born in Vienna on the 18th of January in 1873.

Gomperz wrote a paper—“The Concept of History”—and a monograph—Interpretation: Logical Analysis of a Method of Historical Research—on philosophy of history, which give us, in turn, his overall conception of history and a detailed analysis of one part of his conception of history. We could bring them together into a whole that was greater than these two parts if we developed each in the light of the other.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/AHVsXpJFGG

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

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

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #HeinrichGomperz #LogicalEmpiricism #LogicalPositivism #interpretation #HeinrichRickert #LogicalAnalysis #ViennaCircle #positivism

I’ve created another show on Spotify called Grand Strategy: The View from Oregon, where I’ll post the spoken word production of my newsletters, and anything else I produce, so as to keep Today in Philosophy of History exclusively about philosophy of history.

I have some upcoming episodes that will be in a gray zone between philosophy of history and other concerns, and I’ll treat these on a case-by-case basis as to which show I’ll use to upload them. The description of this announcement includes a link to the new show.

https://open.spotify.com/show/298J25ozbG7HICUkBOMViJ?si=bW6U-BlgR-agPB6m6LGVUA

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: How Schliemann Made Archaeology Scientific: A Just-So Story

Tuesday 06 January 2026 is the 204th anniversary of the birth of Johann Ludwig Heinrich Julius Schliemann (06 January 1822 – 26 December 1890), better known to posterity as Heinrich Schliemann, who was born in Neubukow, on the Baltic coast of Germany, on this date in 1822.

Schliemann has been called the Father of Archaeology even while he is reviled by many archaeologists because of his destructive methods in excavating Troy and Mycenae. Contemporary archaeologists go through the excavated remains that Schliemann’s diggers tossed aside, and still make discoveries in it. For all his faults, however, Schliemann marked the beginning of scientific archaeology.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/AHVsXpJFGG

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

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

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #HeinrichSchliemann #archaeology #Troy #TrojanWar #CyclicalHistory #SpiralHistory #nomothetic #idiographic #WilhelmWindelband

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Le Goff on the Perils of Periodization

Thursday 01 January 2026 is the 102nd anniversary of the birth of Jacques Le Goff (01 January 1924 – 01 April 2014), who was born in Toulon on this date in 1924.

Le Goff was a medievalist who was educated in the milieu of the Annales school and continued to develop many of the distinctive approaches of the school, although he renamed his own efforts “the new history” (“nouvelle histoire”), while others called it “total history.” Le Goff argued for a “long” Middle Ages extending up through the middle of the eighteenth century. I consider his case for a “long” Middle Ages in the context of his final book, Must We Divide History Into Periods?

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/AHVsXpJFGG

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

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

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #JacquesLeGoff #periodization #MiddleAges #medieval #LongNineteenthCentury #ShortTwentiethCentury #LongMiddleAges

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: A Philosophy of History Manifesto

After two years of talking weekly about the philosophy of history, I am more convinced than ever that they way forward for philosophy of history is to adopt the philosophical naturalism of our time. In this way, philosophy of history can also be of our time, rather than serving the interests, often unwittingly, of Enlightenment progressivism or romantic idealism. The naturalistic philosophy of history I envision is of history founded on the metaphysics of time, which offers the possibility of a foundation that philosophy of history heretofore has lacked.

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/AHVsXpJFGG

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

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

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #manifesto #naturalism #time #PhilosophyofTime #modernity

N E W S L E T T E R 3 7 3: ASI Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born

Friday 26 December 2025

Grand Strategy Newsletter

The View from Oregon – 373

ASI Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born

https://mailchi.mp/35b5b0948371/the-view-from-oregon-373

Links toreferences:

AI2027: https://ai-2027.com/
AI Futures Project: https://ai-futures.org/

Newsletter 356: https://mailchi.mp/1b22042bb877/the-view-from-oregon-356

Bostromon the maxipok rule: https://existential-risk.com/concept.pdf

Callingfor a ban on ASI research: https://superintelligence-statement.org/
BIPM: https://www.bipm.org/en/

Halfhour explanatory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KVDDfAkRgc

ICS: https://stratigraphy.org/

Newletter 370: https://mailchi.mp/a40fab3210d4/the-view-from-oregon-370

Harrison marine chronometers: https://www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observatory/attractions/john-harrisons-marine-timekeepers