Friday 01 December 2023 — I have many times observed that most civilizations have had religions as their central projects. I have also said that, in light of this, civilization has a religion-shaped hole in it, and anything else that is not religion that fits that hole, or is made to fit that hole (the…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 940th anniversary of the birthday of Anna Komnene (in Greek: Ἄννα Κομνηνή, Romanized as Ánna Komnēnḗ; 01 December 1083–1153), who was born a true princess of the blood in the Porphyry chamber of the Great Palace of Constantinople on this date in 1083 AD. As part of…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 1,485th anniversary of the birth of Gregory of Tours (30 November 538–17 November 594), who was born in Auvergne (at the time, part of Austrasia in the Empire of the Franks) on this date in 538 AD — or thereabouts. There are some sources that give the…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 201st anniversary of the birth of Nikolay Yakovlevich Danilevsky (Никола́й Я́ковлевич Даниле́вский — his name is transliterated from the Cyrillic script in various ways; 28 November 1822–07 November 1885), who was born in the village of Oberets on this date in 1822. Nikolay Danilevsky is best known…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 149th anniversary of the birth of Charles A. Beard (27 November 1874–01 September1948), who was born in Knightstown, Indiana, on this date in 1874. Beard is remembered as among the most significant of American historical relativists, but “historical relativism” is little more than a slogan (or a…

Friday 24 November 2023 — In the past several newsletters I have discussed problems arising in connection with Clive Bell’s Civilization: An Essay, which I recently read, especially in relation to golden ages of civilizations. Out of curiosity I’ve started to read Bell’s Art, which was published in 1914, more than a decade prior to…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 202nd anniversary of the birthday of Henry Thomas Buckle (24 November 1821–29 May 1862), who was born in London on this date in 1821. He died at only forty years of age in Damascus, Syria. While largely forgotten today, Buckle gained reputation during his life and is…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 190th anniversary of the birth of Wilhelm Dilthey (19 November 1833–01 October 1911), who was born in Wiesbaden-Biebrich on this date in 1833. Dilthey has been one of the most influential philosophers of history, but he is not an easy read, and it is difficult to identify…

Friday 17 November 2023 — When in last week’s newsletter I discussed golden ages of civilization, I observed that there tends to be much more interest in studying civilizational failure and collapse than in studying golden ages, but, of course, both need to be studied in conjunction with each other. Golden ages of civilizations produce…