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Analytic moral philosophers have generally failed to engage in any substantial way with the cultural history of morality. This is a shame, because a genealogy of morals can help us accomplish two important tasks. First, a genealogy can form the basis of an epistemological project, one that seeks to establish the epistemic status of our beliefs or values. Second, a genealogy can provide us with functional understanding, since a history of our beliefs, values or institutions can reveal some inherent dynamic or pattern which may be problematically obscured from our view. In this paper, I try to make good on these claims by offering a sketchy genealogy of emancipatory values, or values which call for the liberation of persons from systems of dominance and oppression. The real history of these values, I argue, is both epistemologically vindicatory and functionally enlightening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past eras of history were not, most of the times, permissive with the activity and manifestation of women within the society. For various reasons, women were neither helped nor encouraged to participate in large-scale social actions, they did not have access to ancient sports competitions, they were denied education to become painters, writers, philosophers or leaders. Despite all these impediments that intervened in history, women manifested themselves in society with a lot of power, either in literature (Sapho), philosophy (Hypathia) but also in state leadership (as pharaohs, in ancient Egypt). The present work brings to attention the names of great female personalities from ancient but also from recent history, women endowed with exceptional intelligence and character, who contributed to social progress and, above all, demonstrated that women can play an important role, which cannot be ignored in the history of humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interconnections between Hume's thought as a philosopher, a historian and an economist, illustrated with respect to his thought on history, development and happiness. It is argued that differences in the interpretation of Hume have an epistemological origin, reflecting either a closed-system approach or some kind of open-system approach. These differences are explored in relation to Hume's own epistemology, historiography, theory of economic development and theory of happiness. Patterns are identified in Hume's thought which support a particular, open-system, interpretation of his contributions in each area in terms of interdependent processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time of soul-searching and demoralization in Germany, a revival of the great philosopher of history might provide guidance—but many Germans prefer to avoid thinking about their country's history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the contemporary history of pride, specifically exploring the relationship between pride and the concept of equality. It reports the intersection of philosophies, combining the insights of poets and philosophers in dissecting pride, it discusses pride's relation to humility, and it emphasizing the pride of equality. It highlights the works of poet-philosophers and philosopher-poets in their contributions to understanding pride.

Whether we think history has a definite logic of its own, or is merely the emergent quality of an irreducible contingency - it is usually taken as granted that it the same way in all its course. This is the case with some philosophers who argue against a conception of history as having an inherent logic. In this paper I present Postone's critical reexamination of Marxian categories and argue that based on his project, we can criticize the presupposition of the "sameness" of history. For although there is no transhistorically valid "logic of history", something like it is constituted by the functioning of capitalism's elementary categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically surveys Georges Bataille's multiple engagements with G. W. F. Hegel from the early 1930s to the 1950s. It homes in on how Bataille's conceptual, experiential, and parodic demarcation from Hegel targets not the German philosopher's aspiration to totality but (via Bataille's dialogue with Alexandre Kojève) his action-centered framing of the movement of history and the character of actuality. Against the dialectical mastery of history, Bataille seeks to articulate an unpolitical image of sovereignty and play that is ultimately poetic or literary in kind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Alfred North Whitehead and Maurice Merleau-Ponty's attempts to develop a historical, dynamic ontology (a "process ontology", according to the former, and an "ontology of the flesh" for the latter). The claim of the paper is that their originality lies in the methods adopted to reach such ontologies, which show strong similarities. Both authors based their research on nature, conceived of as "the leaf of Being", and on perceptual experience, understood not as a chaos of bare, punctual, sense data, but as the complex, original source of meaning that constitutes the primary field of philosophical investigation—the only source from which one can gain new understanding of both nature and logos (things, happenings, values, subjectivity, laws, etc.). After some introductory remarks on the connections between Whitehead and Merleau-Ponty, the paper is divided into three parts. The first part clarifies why and how, according to the philosophers, ontology should start from a new scrutiny of nature. The second part specifies what this new conception of nature, based on perceptual experience, is. The third part focuses on how their ontologies must be construed as historic, insofar as behaviors, actions, and practices lie at the core of their concept of being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Black Notebooks, posthumous manuscripts by philosopher Martin Heidegger, are difficult to connect due to their fragmented character. There are also no new concepts to be found as in his previously published works. However, these notebooks contain a unique sphere of thought on the concept of Being that is separate from Heidegger's other writings and lectures. The Black Notebooks can be seen as the final "instructions and notes" for all the other Heidegger's collected works and form a closely linked chain of thought. In the Black Notebooks, Heidegger presents a new framework of thought prepared for further reflection on his own works and for a radical confrontation with them. They contain the transformation of the concept of hermeneutics, through self-criticism, the deepening of Being-historical thinking, and the retroactive consideration of the event of Thinking. This transformation of hermeneutics in the Black Notebooks allows for a deeper understanding of Heidegger's thought as a whole and opens various possibilities of a future time-space in which we will re-live. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his critique of Modernity and the modern Gnosis, the prominent Italian Catholic philosopher Augusto Del Noce was particularly influenced by Eric Voegelin's use of the two concepts in his political theory. The aim of this article is to present the various aspects of the idea of history proposed by Voegelin followed by Del Noce's response and interpretation of them in order to show the similarities and differences between their views. More specifically, the comparison between Voegelin and Del Noce centers on the question of the eidos or "form" of history and on the difference, important for Del Noce, between ancient and modern Gnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I consider the thought of two Jewish existentialists from the first half of the 20th century, showing how their critique of pantheistic and panentheistic thinking grounded novel ideas about politics, history and human thought. In place of a concept of history directed towards a teleological redemption of suffering in the future, Lev Shestov (1866–1938) and Benjamin Fondane (1898–1944) abandoned notions of philosophical rationality in order to avow a 'reversal' of history according to which historical suffering could be expiated through the unforeseeable powers of the divine. From here, I look at the work of a contemporaneous philosopher – Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) – for the way in which his own conception of history as 'rescuing' the past provides an alternative panentheism, one according to which political responsibility derives from a need to redeem God whose existence has been exiled throughout the mundane world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My paper aims at laying out the main tenets of Patočka's unusual and highly provocative position with regard to the question of history, drawing essentially on his Heretical Essays on the Philosophy of History, while also gathering insights from other works such as Eternity and Historicity and Europe and post-Europe. In the first part, I set in place the overall framework of this analysis, and show that three distinct, yet entwined concepts of history are operative in Patočka's work: the understanding of history as a specific regime of meaning, as an existential possibility of the human Dasein, and as a "epochal" dynamic. In the second part, I reconstruct the criticism Patočka mounts against the classical philosophies of history and indicate that his rejection of a teleological account of history is compatible with the attempt of establishing an intrinsic correlation between meaning and history. In the final part, I stress the importance acquired by the experience of the "shattering of meaning" for Patočka's threefold understanding of history and argue for the possibility of crafting a unitary framework which would encompass his analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The point of doing the history of philosophy is to confront that which is completely foreign to us and seems unassimilable, in the hope of thereby getting some distance from our own form of life, and of learning to treat what is alien on its own terms. This is more difficult to do than might first seem to be the case, because of our almost irresistable tendency to assimilate that which is radically different to that which seems familiar to us. In history, one of the major forms this takes is anachronism. How can one avoid making them-then too much like us-now? The motivation for doing the history of philosophy is, therefore, basically ethical and political. In a society characterised by the division of labour, it is perfectly permissible for individual philosophers to pursue different goals, and deploy different parts of the huge corpus of knowledge which we have at our disposal. There is no need for each individual philosopher to integrate the study of the history of philosophy into each of their individual projects. The essay leaves it to the judgment of the reader to decide to what extent the active, sympathetic engagement with the alien is an ethical and political goal which is desirable — perhaps even so desirable as to count as a demand. In any case, this is a demand on the institution, not on individuals. Even if one thought that it was highly advisable that the history of philosophy form an integral part of the discipline of philosophy, it is hard to see this as a “necessity”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Hysteria’ is a historical term that encompasses several modern-day neuropsychiatric conditions. The chronicle of this illness is fraught with prejudice from the time of its inception through subsequent adaptations. Relics of cultural misconceptions have been carried forward into contemporary correlates of the illness. The consequences of these follies in present-day are best understood through a detailed account of prevailing cultural norms at the time of their inception. The saga of hysteria serves as a reminder that social pressures and misogyny can and do continue to impact care. Furthermore, better understanding the history of hysteria may suggest a need for diagnostic reconsideration and inform better practices today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few years, philosophers and other researchers have been focusing on a post-truth era and its symptoms across society and various disciplines. One of the most glaring manifestations is the declining trust in science experts and the rise of populist attacks on professional communities. Historical sciences are encountering a similar onslaught as well. This paper aims to examine one particular clash between a professional discourse regarding a new archaeological discovery with groundbreaking potential and a populist reaction to it. The study utilises contemporary theory and philosophy of history and its view of historical inquiry to tackle its main goal - uncover strategies populists use to vilify experts and professionals. Even though historiography has been abused throughout its existence, it is argued that recent attacks are substantially different and potentially more dangerous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PEOPLE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT STORIES. WHERE YOU FIND A SMALL GROUP, THERE IS A STORY THAT HOLDS IT TOGETHER. HUMANKIND HAS LONG SINCE MOVED BEYOND THE STAGE OF KINSHIP-BASED SOCIAL COHESION. GROUPS ARE LARGER, THEIR MEMBERS DON'T KNOW EACH OTHER OR HAVE ANY CONNECTION BEYOND STORIES ABOUT THEMSELVES, WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN, WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY WILL BE. THESE STORIES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF PEOPLES, THE SOURCE OF GROUP VALUES AND IDENTITY. THE MOST ATTRACTIVE STORY IS THE END-OF-THE-WORLD, ESCHATOLOGICAL STORY. ALL RELIGIONS HAVE IT, AND WE CAN HARDLY SPEAK OF A RELIGION UNLESS WE ATTACH TO IT A STORY OF THE ENDLESS END. IT WAS ONLY WHEN PHILOSOPHERS STOLE THE IDEA THAT THE GREAT SYSTEMS WERE BORN, WHICH ARE STILL BEING DISCUSSED CENTURIES LATER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Johannes Jessenius or Ján Jesenský (1566–1621) can be considered as a contradictory and inconsistent personality of the early modern history. Being not only a physician, but also scientist, teacher, philosopher and even historian and politician, he definitively ranks among the outstanding polymaths of his time in the region of Central Europe. His scientific interest was focused on human anatomy (the first public dissection in Central Europe in 1600 and the first description of "septum scroti" in males), study of malaria, new methods of treatment in surgery, hygiene and healthy eating, examination of blood, history of education in Prague, but also human embryology and philosophical considerations about the significance of the number "seven" for human life. Jessenius life was full of moving from town to town, increases and declines, striving for positions and acknowledgement of the emperors lined with disappointment and finally, it was closed at the execution ground after he got involved in politics in turbulent period 400 years ago. He paid the highest price, his life – both for his religion and political conviction. His life was connected with places in nowadays Poland, Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Italy but full translations of his medical textbook themselves appear only in Slovak and Czech languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The project of integrated HPS ('integrated history and philosophy of science') has occupied philosophers of science in one form or another since at least the 1960s. Yet, despite this substantial interest in bringing together philosophical and historical reflections on the nature of science, history of science and formal philosophy of science remain as divided as ever. In this paper, I will argue that the continuing separation between historical and formal philosophy of science is ill-founded. I will argue for this in both abstract and concrete terms. At the abstract level, I reconstruct two possible arguments for the incompatibility of historical and formal philosophy of science and argue that they are both wanting. At the concrete level, I discuss how historical and formal philosophy of science have been brought together in practice, namely: in the form of a largely forgotten research tradition that I will refer to here as the study of formalized macro-units. After a brief exposition, I argue that this research tradition has been unduly overlooked by historically minded philosophers of science. Bringing together these observations, I argue that the divide between historical and formal philosophy of science is not grounded in any substantive arguments, but can be primarily attributed to disciplinary happenstance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political philosophy in the last decades has turned away from universal narratives of progress, on grounds that these narratives produce exclusion and justify domination. However, the universal values that underlie emancipatory political projects seem to presuppose universal history, which explains its persistence in some contemporary political philosophers committed to such projects. In order to find a response to the paradox according to which universal history is inherently exclusionary and yet necessary to uphold universal values, I examine the contrast between Adorno's and Lyotard's perspectives on the problem of writing history 'after Auschwitz'. For both philosophers, Auschwitz interrupts our fundamental normative and cognitive values, because any attempt to identify the meaning of the camps by means of these values misunderstands the suffering that took place in them. Yet this interruption produces a feeling that calls for the institution of new universal normative values. For Adorno, this value is a purely negative command to act in such a way that Auschwitz does not repeat itself. For Lyotard, by contrast, it is the demand to invent new idioms that make it possible to find meaning in Auschwitz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]