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/

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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/

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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/

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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/

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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/

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Episode: S02EP29

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

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Pieper on the Teleology of Hope and History

Sunday 04 May 2025 is the 121st anniversary of the birth of Josef Pieper (04 May 1904 – 06 November 1997), who was born in the small German town of Elte, in North Rhine-Westphalia, on this date in 1904.

Pieper was a Catholic and a Thomist who wrote many philosophical works of a devotional character, and we could even call his philosophy of history “devotional” in a sense. While remaining true to an orthodox soteriology and eschatology, he takes his own positions. This isn’t just another providential philosophy of history, though we could assimilate Pieper’s thought to providentialism.

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

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Episode: S02EP28

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #Josef Pieper #Christendom #teleology #Thomism #hope

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Kardashev on Civilizations in Cosmological Context

Friday 25 April 2025 is the 93rd anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Semenovich Kardashev (25 April 1932 – 03 August 2019), who was born in Moscow 93 years ago on this date in 1932.

Kardashev will be remembered for his civilization types long after the science of his time is viewed as archaic and of only historical interest. This is a concept that transcends contemporaneous debates and postulates a standard of cosmological significance. But to understand what Kardashev was getting at, we have to read him carefully.

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

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Episode: S02EP27

#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #NikolaiKardashev #KardashevScale #FreemanDyson #CarlSagan #cosmology #Goodhart’sLaw #civilization

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Reinhart Koselleck on Critique and Crisis

Wednesday 23 April 2025 is the 102nd anniversary of the birth of Reinhart Koselleck (23 April 1923 to 03 February 2006), who was born in Görlitz, Germany on this date one hundred two years ago.

Koselleck’s first book, Critique and Crisis: Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern Society, analyzed the social and political milieu of pre-revolutionary France in terms of a rising bourgeoisie shut out of power by royal absolutism. Progressivist philosophy of history played a crucial role in the French Revolution as an ideology used to critique absolutism and to advance the fortunes of the bourgeoisie. But the Achilles heel of progressivist philosophy of history was its utopian character, which it developed precisely because it was developed in isolation from the exercise of political power.

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

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#philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #Koselleck #historiography #ConceptualHistory #FrenchRevolution #utopianism #progressivism #Enlightenment