Is a philosophy of history possible?

Isaiah Berlin

Stuart Hampshire

Max Black

Paul RICOEUR

Yirmiahu Yovel

Raymond Polin

Donald Davidson

Nathan Rotenstreich

Charles Taylor

pp. 219-240

in: Yirmiahu Yovel (ed), Philosophy of history and action, Berlin, Springer, 1978

Abstract

Charles Taylor: So far we have heard mostly negative statements about the philosophy of history. We have heard, for instance, about assumptions which can no longer form a tenable basis for it. So now, at the end, let us try to answer the positive question: what can the philosophy of history be today? Can there still be such a discipline as a meaningful area of study, as a distinctive and fruitful kind of philosophical inquiry? Or, to put it bluntly, who needs philosophy of history? And what could be the philosophy of history today?

Cited authors

Taylor Charles