Today is the 147th anniversary of the birth of Charles A. Beard (27 November 1874–01 September 1948), who was born on this date in 1874.
Happy Birthday Charles!
Richard Hofstadter, in his book The Progressive Historians: Turner, Beard, Perrington, identified Beard as one of the three major progressive historians, that…
Returning to my perennial interest in the theory of civilization, I’ve come to realize that the two weakest points in my model are 1) schematizing the developmental stage of a civilization, and 2) distinguishing between what I have called “orders of civilization.”
The developmental stage of civilization may be too…
Today is the bicentennial of the birthday of Henry Thomas Buckle (24 November 1821–29 May 1862), who was born on this date in 1821.
Happy Birthday Henry!
While largely forgotten today, Buckle is sometimes called the Father of Scientific History. Wilhelm Dilthey wrote of Buckle:
“He asserts that among historians…
Today is the 327th anniversary of the birth of François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694–30 May 1778), better known as Voltaire, who was born on this date in 1694.
Happy Birthday Voltaire!
I think Voltaire was the first person to write a book titled Philosophy of History, so it would be…
Today is the 188th anniversary of the birth of Wilhelm Dilthey (19 November 1833–01 October 1911), who was born on this date in 1833.
Dilthey was a major figure in the development of the human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften), but he is not well known in the Anglophone world as his books…
How a new science comes into being is of the utmost importance to understanding science, and with a recent science like astrobiology all of the stages of the emergence of a new science have been on full view, as it were. …
The 14th of November 2021 is the 160th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Jackson Turner (14 November 1861–14 March 1932), who was born on this date in 1861.
Happy Birthday Frederick!
Turner is most famous for formulating what is now called the Frontier Thesis. Turner read his paper “The…
The 13th of November 2021 is the 1,667th anniversary of the birth of Saint Augustine (13 November 354–28 August 430), who areas born Aurelius Augustinus on this date in 354 AD.
Happy Birthday Aurelius!
The birthday of Saint Augustine represents an important milestone in the philosophy of history. The philosophy…
The end of last week was pretty intense for me as I ended up participating in the NSS-NIAC-TransAstra Space Settlement Workshop on Thursday and Friday, and on Saturday I participated in NoRCEL’s International Frontiers of Sciences 2021. I have been casting about for a topic for a presentation for NoRCEL’s…
Rio de Janeiro is a city that is as easy to love as Paris. Although I am now returned to Portland after my two and a half weeks in Brazil, the enchantment of Rio has not yet fully worn off, and I hope to carry it with me for as…
