Philosophy of History

The term philosophy of history refers to the hypothetical aspect of the history, in two senses. It is important to differentiate the critical philosophy of history from the speculative philosophy of history. Generally, the ‘critical philosophy of history’ is the hypothesis concept of the field of academic history, and generally deals with questions such as the degree to which impartiality is possible, the nature of the historical records, etc. The speculative philosophy of history is the field of philosophy which deals with the eventual importance, if any, of the human history. In addition, speculative philosophy of history speculates as to the probable teleological end to its growth, i.e. it asks if there is a purpose, design, finality or directive principle in the processes of the human history.

The example of the ‘speculative philosophy of history’ is the “Part of Marxism”. Although there is some overlap between the two, they could generally be differentiated; modern specialized historians generally are skeptical about the speculative philosophy of history. At times the critical philosophy of history is considered under the historiography. The philosophy of history must no be related with the history of philosophy, since it deals with the study of the progress of the philosophical concepts through time.

 The speculative philosophy of history generally asks three fundamental questions:  

• What is the correct unit for the study of the human history or past such as the individual subject? The sovereign territory or polis ("city")? The culture or civilization? Or the complete of the human species?
• Are there any open models or patterns which we could distinguish via the study of the human history? Are there any cycles or patterns of the progress? Is history deterministic? Or are there no cycles or patterns, and is human history random? Related to this are the study of separate agency and its impact in the history, working within, or against, bigger patterns and trends.
• If history could indeed be said to develop, what is its final direction? What (if any) is the driving force of which develop?

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