History of the Philosophy of History
- Jonathon
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
This lecture series by Dr. (now Professor) Darren Staloff was produced by The Teaching Company (now operating as The Great Courses) in 1995. It is an excellent introduction to the history of the philosophy of History with an emphasis on European scholars. Many of the issues, themes, questions and thinkers remain central to discussions about the nature of History and some of its problems as a discipline.
In total, there are 16 lectures arranged in the following structure:
Issues and problems
Mircea Eliade's Cosmos and history and cyclical time
Vico's New science of history
Kant's idea for a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of view
Hegel's philosophy of history
Marx's historical materialism
Nietzche's 'On the advantages and disadvantages of history for life'
Weber's historical sociology
Arnold Toynbee and world historical speculation
R.G. Collingwood's The idea of history
The positivist conception of historical knowledge (Carl Hempel)
Arthur Danto's Narration and knowledge
Social history, structuralism, and the long duree, (Fernand Brandel) On history
Post-structuralism and the linguistic turn (Hayden White)
William McNeill's 'Plagues and Peoples'
Conclusion: The heterogeneity of historical understanding
There are obviously limitations to the series. Most obviously with a transparent focus on historical thinking within the 'western tradition' the series needs to be supplemented by a wider consideration of perspectives now more accessible in books such as Daniel Woolf's A Global History of History (2011). Since the series was produced in 1995, it is also obviously a little dated - it would be great if Staloff revisited and updated the series to see which ideas would change the most, and what ideas and scholars he might add to the selection.
Despite these limitations, for me Staloff's lectures have three main benefits. First, he articulately raises important questions about the nature of History as a discipline, many of which remain foundational. Second, his explanation and analysis of key European thinkers on these questions contains valuable content that can help to deepen knowledge about how History has been conceived and practised. Finally, Staloff is, in my view, an excellent teacher; his explanations are clear, his delivery balances the complexity of the ideas he grapples with and the more general audience for which they are packaged and many of his anecdotes and analogies are deeply insightful - all worthy traits to try to emulate when teaching History I would suggest. Although Rick Roderick's philosophy series 'The Self Under Siege' from the same company is still probably one of my favourite lectures series in this broad genre, Staloff's is more directly relevant to teaching History and, more specifically, to teaching courses that touch on the philosophy of History such as History Extension in NSW.
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