Friday 21 January 2022 — I have been writing material for my philosophy of history space on Quora by writing profiles of philosophers of history and historians. When a birthday of someone I wish to profile comes up, I write my profile the same day, without much thinking about it first. I was a bit…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 201st anniversary of the birth of Ferdinand Gregorovius (19 January 1821–01 May 1891), who was born on this date in 1821. Gregorovius is mostly remembered for his Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter (1859–1872), translated into English as The History of Rome in the Middle Ages (1894–1902)…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 108th anniversary of the birth of Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper (15 January 1914–26 January 2003), who was born on this date in 1914. Trevor-Roper was among the most eminent of British historians of the twentieth century. Unlike the other historians I have mentioned in relation to philosophy history…

Friday 14 January 2022 — My newsletter 165 from a couple of weeks ago, in which I discussed social problems and how they are solved, or are allowed to remain unresolved, resulted in four readers writing to me about the issues I raised. This is an unusually large response. Most of what I write I…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 125th anniversary of the birth of Karl Löwith (09 January 1897–26 May 1973), who was born on this date in 1897. Löwith wrote one of the most influential books in twentieth century philosophy of history, Meaning in History: The Theological Implications of the Philosophy of History, as…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 117th anniversary of the birth of Carl Gustav “Peter” Hempel (08 January 1905–09 November 1997), who was born on this date in 1905. Hempel is primarily remembered as a philosopher of science (perhaps best known for the paradox of the ravens, which you should read about if…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 121st anniversary of the birth of Erich Hermann Wilhelm Vögelin (03 January 1901–19 January 1985), known today as Eric Voegelin, who was born on this date in 1901. Many philosophers of history are better known as political philosophers, since the two fields overlap considerably; why the political…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 156th anniversary of the birth of George Gilbert Aimé Murray (02 January 1866–20 May 1957), more commonly known as Gilbert Murray, who was born on this date in 1866. Murray was among the greatest classicists of his generation. One of my favorite passages from Murray is his…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 98th anniversary of the birth of Arthur Danto (01 January 1924–25 October 2013), who was born on this date in 1924. Danto was among the most influential philosophers who focused on what is sometimes called analytical philosophy of history as compared to speculative philosophy of history (Maurice…