The term ‘Philosophy
of History’ was coined by the French rationalist philosopher Voltaire. The philosophy of history is a philosophical view
of human destiny. Historians before the 19th century were generally indifferent to the ‘Philosophy of History’ idea. The German historian
Leopold Von Ranke believed that ‘god dwells in history’. G.M. Trevelyan wrote
that ‘there was no philosophy in history. Philosophy must be brought to history;
it cannot be extracted from it’. E.H. Carr wrote in ‘What is History’, ‘the age
of innocence and historians walked in the Garden of Eden, without a scarf of
philosophy to cover them, naked and unashamed before the God of history’. All
major philosophies of history, except two (the Greeco-Roman and the Medieval
Church Historiography) have been shaped in the past three centuries. Hegel's
philosophy of history is perhaps the most fully developed philosophical theory
of history. He regards history as an intelligible process moving towards a
specific condition – the realization of human freedom.
Empiricist
Philosophy of History
The term empiricism is derived from
the Greek word ‘empeiria’, which means experience. The philosophy of empiricism began
with the scientific methods of Sir Francis Bacon. Empiricism, in philosophy, possesses three broad views:
- All concepts originate in
experience,
- All concepts are about or
applicable to things that can be experienced,
- All rationally acceptable beliefs
or propositions are justifiable or knowable only through experience.
There are different stages of the
development of the empiricist philosophy.
Classical Empiricism
Classical empiricism was dominated by the ideas of John
Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume. Classical empiricism is characterised by
a rejection of innate, inborn knowledge or concepts. John Locke, well-known as
an empiricist, wrote of the mind being a tabula rasa, a “blank slate” when we enter the world. At birth we know nothing; it is only subsequently that
the mind is furnished with information by experience.
Radical Empiricism
In its most radical forms, empiricism holds that all knowledge is derived from the senses. Radical empiricism means our
knowledge of the world is based solely on our senses. This rejects all other
knowledge claims and places experiences as the only basis of human
knowledge.
Moderate Empiricism
Moderate empiricism means our experience is based on our
senses, but there are cases when our knowledge is not based on our senses. More
moderate empiricists, however, allow that there may be some cases in which the
senses do not ground our knowledge but hold that these are exceptions to a
general rule.
Facts as Experience in History
In historical explanations, a historian
uses facts to reconstruct historical events. Here facts represent the
experiences of the past and thereby its interpretation allows the historian to reconstruct
the past with factual experience. This method helps the historian indirectly experience the past and generate historical knowledge. The past is
different from the present in every aspect. The historian should try to understand
the reality of the past through the analysis of the facts. These facts allow the historian to experience the event in which he or she is studying.
