Empiricist Philosophy of History

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.