Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 130th anniversary of the birth of Reinhold Niebuhr (21 June 1892–01 June 1971), who was born on this date in 1892. Niebuhr, author of the widely familiar “Serenity Prayer,” is remembered as a theologian, but his theological writings generously overlap with the philosophy of history. One can…

Friday 17 June 2022 — In last week’s newsletter I discussed, among other matters, the possibility of worlds that are chemically distinct from our world, though still an expression of the familiar laws of chemistry. In that brief sketch of chemical diversity I failed to note that not all isotopes are stable, and unstable isotopes…

Friday 10 June 2022 — NoRCEL took the trouble to contact me a couple of times to ask if I am interested in participating in the conference this summer. I’ve pulled back somewhat from this kind of activity, but, as I said, they actually reached out to me, so I have been seriously thinking about…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 113th anniversary of the birth of Isaiah Berlin (06 June 1909–5 November 1997), who was born on this date in 1909. Berlin focused on the Enlightenment and the romantic reaction against the Enlightenment, writing detailed studies on Vico, Herder, Hamann, Helvétius, Rousseau, Ficthe, Hegel, Saint-Simon, and de…

Friday 03 June 2022 A week ago I was interviewed by Jeff Greenblatt and Eric Ward about space ethics on Our Future in Space, produced by Orbital Assembly Corporation. Frank White had referred them to me, for which I am grateful. It is always an interesting experience to be interviewed…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 142nd anniversary of the birth of Oswald Spengler (29 May 1880–08 May 1936), who was born on this date in 1880. In a letter to Albert Erich Brinkman, Spengler wrote of his recently published book, a copy of which he sent to Brinkman: “Although the book is…

Friday 27 May 2022 — In my discussions of civilization I have made the concept of a central project the central idea. I have a couple of unfinished essays in which I delve into this idea more deeply, but the idea continues to develop and unfold, so that my formulations are always incrementally improving —…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 690th anniversary of the birth of Abū Zayd ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Khaldūn al-Ḥaḍramī (better known to posterity as Ibn Khaldūn), who was born on this date in 1332 AD. Ibn Khaldūn was a Tunisian Arabic philosopher who wrote a singular treatise, The Maqqadimmah, which discusses…

Part of a Series on the Philosophy of History — Today is the 204th anniversary of the birth of Jacob Burckhardt (25 May 1818–08 August 1897), who was born on this date in 1818. Burckhardt was a student of Leopold von Ranke and a teacher of Friedrich Nietzsche, which places him in a particular lineage of Germanophone history and philosophy…