Philosophy of History B

Teacher(s)

Maesschalck Marc;

Language

French

Main themes

The course will attempt to lay out the origin of the concept of a " philosophy of history " by distinguishing it from epistemological questions about the foundations of historical science.
The course will present a historical overview of the evolution of the concept of a philosophy of history.

Next, the course will present some observations on differing interpretations of the concept in order to point out the conflicts that set these interpretations against each other.
On this basis, a more specific debate shall be studied in order to provide an example of the general presentation.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Upon successful completion of the course, the student should : - Be able to identify the major schools of thought in the philosophy of history ; - Know the fundamental concepts associated with those schools of thought ; - Be able to explain briefly the conflicts of interpretation that have resulted within contemporary thought.

Content

Philosophy of history: from ontology to anthropology
The philosophy of history, at least since Schelling and Hegel granted it recognition as a standalone discipline, has demonstrated fierce independence from any theory of knowledge applied to the historical sciences. The 20th century has maintained this separation, in particular by exploring its anthropological valence through fundamental concepts such as historicity and historiality, but also the rich conceptual network of forgetfulness and memory, or that of beginnings and endings. Messianism, millenarianism, utopism and dystopia, or even archaism, futurism and non-contemporaneity, these are all anthropic distortions that touch the experienced time of shared histories, which have marked reflections on the progressive exit of philosophies of history. Nevertheless, it is worth examining the epistemological recourse to these schemas in order to question their anthropomorphism in favor of ontological radicalization. Indeed, we will explore the interest of aiming for a form of being that doesn’t necessarily emerge from the imaginary historical unity of a collective mental identity, but instead grows from the non-identity of a plural totality that is capable of coming together.

Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Students will be asked to write a 10 page on the basis of an author or a subject studied in the course. After emailing the paper, the student will receive a question on the paper to be prepared for the oral exam.
The student will have approximately 15 min. to present this answer during the oral exam.
The paper may be written in French, English, or Italian, with the professor's agreement.
Students are invited to discuss with the professor the subject on which they would like to write their paper.

Online resources

Reading material will be published on Moodle.

Bibliography

1. Agamben, G., La communauté qui vient: théorie de la singularité quelconque, Seuil, Paris, 2014.
2. Benjamin Andrew, Towards a Relational Ontology: Philosophy’s Other Possibility, State University of New York Press, 2015.
3. Das Saitya Brata, The Political Theology of Schelling, Edimburgh University Press, Edimburgh, 2018.
4. Kenneth R. (2005), “Universalism and the Jewish Exception: Lacan, Badiou, Rosenzweig”, in Umbr(a): The Dark God, No. 1, p. 43-71.
5. Kühn Rolf, Anfang und Vergessen: phänomenologische Lektüre des deutschen Idealismus; Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, 2004.
6. Matthews Bruce, Schelling’s Organic Form of Philosophy: Life as the Schema of Freedom, State University of New-York Press, Albany, 2011.
7. McGrath Sean J., The Dark Ground of Spirit. Schelling and the Unconscious, Routledge, London, 2013.
8. Zammito J.H., Kant, Herder, and the Birth of Anthropology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago/ London, 2002.

Faculty or entity

EFIL