There was a significant interest in Philosophy of History in the nineteenth century , and the human interest was directed towards the origin of anything and how it originated concerning abstract or concrete things . This method in founding human interest issues was used in the nineteenth century. In primitive ages which are based on myths (prehistory ages) we see stories that tackle the origin of the world and the deity . In history – like all human knowledge in its first stages- mythical elements mix with life events , history is based on documents , and documents include behaviors and instructions left by the predecessors. By the absence of documents , we do not know part of human history.
The essence of history is made clear in Ibn Khaldon Introduction (1333-1406)"History is a very skilled and useful art as it shows us the conditions of the former nations in its morality, the prophets in their biographies and the kings in their kingdoms in order that we can follow their examples ". Historic events are unique and human and independent of its historians . Perhaps the historian contributes to awaken nationalism spirit because knowing the past including its great events helps in creating the nation character but this is one element among other elements like culture , language and interdependence between historic unity individuals.
Philosophy of history is a branch of philosophy and it concentrates on studying history from a philosophical perspective . It is a concept about the past, the present and the future. Also it expresses temporality and eternity. History refers to a sequence of world events through the ages or the events that took place in the past and it is the basis of the present and allows to predict the future. This means history is developing continuously. In " A Thesis About Morality and Spirit of Nations " Voltaire said the historian job is to think of human history as a whole and inquire about the meaning of history. This may make the historian integrate with the philosopher.
Philosophy of history reached its peak in the nineteenth century because of the considerable interest in history in light of searching for a public , communicative law bearing progress as an expansion of historic temporality. Also , several philosophies had an interest in history like ideal philosophy , analytic philosophy , critical philosophy , realistic philosophy and existential philosophy. Existentialism discussed the concept of time in light of human existence reflected in his living experiences as time – as Heidegger said- is the existence reality.
Existentialism is the philosophical school that concentrates on the individual and it appeared as a reaction to the church hegemony on human being arbitrarily in the name of religion. It began in Germany after the Second World War, then in France and Italy etc. It spread wide as it drew attention to war atrocities and risks on human being . It called for human existence , so the thinkers sought to find thought that regains the human value , promotes his existence by proclaiming their thoughts through poetry, literature and drama until it became one of the human philosophical trends in Europe . Existence can be recognized only as history or temporality as said by Heidegger . Also kierkegaard advocated this idea.
Thanks to the efforts of Soren Kierkegaard and Netsha, existentialism appeared in the nineteenth century . Kierkegaard is the father of existentialism and his philosophy had a big impact on later philosophies like the religious existential philosophy . Kierkegaard was one of the most famous philosophers affected by Kierkegaard philosophy . His philosophy of history did not take much thought from Kierkegaard philosophy . He presented history regarding the image of Jesus and said history is just gossip and repetition without thought . Netsha had a big impact on western philosophy and modern thought history in which he was one of the pioneers of individual disposition where he gave a big weight to the individual . So Kierkegaard and Netsha are actually the source from which contemporary thinkers like Heidegger, Sartre and Jaspers took their thoughts . Heidegger and Jaspers gave detailed and long writings about Netsha and considered him as the main character in establishing existentialism and philosophy history in general because he ended the classic age in western philosophy and became a guide in the current world .
The two contemporary philosophers Heidegger and Jaspers studied Philosophy of History through existential school . Heidegger revealed human being is related to time , time is connected with history and as temporality is finite historicity is possible in which it requires the deep unity of the three temporal elements – the past, the present and the future . History consists of individual existence and society as a whole . So history reflects actions and experiences of the human society through ages and generations.
Carl Jaspers is one of the contemporary philosophers in Existentialism . He studied history and Philosophy of History from a philosophical perspective in which he expressed the importance and aim of history .In his book "Philosophy Approach" he said history is a mirror of the present , in it and and through it we distinguish the things and without history we lose the grant of our minds ". He emphasized whoever does not reflect on his existence against a background of thousands of years he will not know his self and will not recognize the aim of the past , the present and the future . So history and legacy connect the past with the present in an eternal moment , the moment of the present action , the moment of the free , responsible awareness . History is a record of human being . It is the temporal domain in which accurate facts going beyond every time are reached . Historic existence in Jaspers is the outer form of the truth but history is not important for the truth itself .
Study Aims:-
1-This study aims at indicating Existentialism term , its most important issues , its most famous philosophers and its impact on Contemporary thought .
2-Identifying the beginnings of existential thought in philosophy of history especially in Heidegger and Jaspers.
This thesis consists of introduction , four chapters and conclusion .
Chapter 1 :Existentialism.
Chapter 2 : Signs of Existential Thought .
Chapter 3 : The Paradox between Heidegger Dialectic and Jaspers Humanity.
Chapter 4: Temporality in Heidegger .
Chapter 5 : Philosophy of History in Carl Jaspers.
Conclusion
1-Existential Thought was a result of human crises brought about world wars and nuclear arms race based technological progress which led to a decline of cultural , political and moral values .
2-From his point of view about temporality and history Heidegger emphasized the finite human existence and at the same time he called on human being to look forward to the future to survive . Heidegger thought is characterized by atheism.
3-Jaspers studied human existence to ascend to God which includes human unity through history.
4-Studying Existentialism is a proof of human thought development . It helps us to transform from ideal philosophical studies that are based on mind only to quite realistic studies though they include metaphysics of existence , nothingness and destiny.
5-Philosophy of History has developed especially in contemporary age through Hegel , Veko, Deltai , Shling and Netsha which had a big impact on some existential philosophers .
|
