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Why History Matters to Philosophy

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(31, 03, 2010)

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Why History Matters to Philosophy

Introduction

History is a very important subject to every discipline of life and particularly

in philosophy. History is basically a representation of all the human activities,

event and processes. On the other part, history is the practices that human have

of collecting ands inferring happenings. History has been very important to

philosophers for a long time now. It’s hence important to assess why history is so

important to study for and practice of philosophy.

Conceptualizing History and Philosophy

There are some metaphysical questions that are used to describe what

history is all about and these questions integrate philosophy into it so well.

Basically what can be asked is like; does history have a plot? Does it have a

Pattern or shape? Does history have any ultimate objectives or goals on which

the whole event or process was progressing? (Wiltse, 1995) Describing history

relevance to philosophy is very critical to understand since the two disciplines are

very much intertwined. Considering that philosophy is basically the quest to

understand the reality of human existence and exercise wisdom, history is very

strong aspect in the quest (Wiltse, 1995). This is for the reason that people are

using history to make decision and understand current situations as well as the

future trends (Hegel and Sibree, 2004).

The way philosophers act is usually due to their perceived history trend.

Whereas some believe that history is a series of events in progress, others belief

that there are patterns which at times are recurrent; yet, others still dispute that
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there could be any prevailing patterns or logical order that is portrayed by the

morass of events in history (Wiltse, 1995).

Why History is Recorded

Defining philosophy is very difficult without considering the materials from

historical records. Basically this is because philosophy it deals with humanity and

describing or understanding reality. However it’s also evident that the reality

could b greatly affected by previous event of which could only be found in

historical records (Benn, 2008). History in fact preceded every aspect of living

including politics, ethics and economics. Actually man precedes the effort to

describe humanity or explain the world. The attempt to offer most valid

explanation can hence only be from the past knowledge. This knowledge can be

passed on to the next generation without distortion only if it’s recorded (Benn,

2008). As philosophy is about describing the world and humanity, the two

concepts also fall first in study of history (Hegel and Sibree, 2004). In this way,

while history answers the question “what”, social thinking will rely on philosophy

to answer “why”. The major reason to record history in philosophy is therefore

for the fact that it offers empirical information of life in a community (Benn, 2008).

Philosophy therefore relies on the information for deduction of principles,

interpretations and create tool for present application and future benefit (Hegel

and Sibree, 2004).

Conclusion

Though metaphysical hearsay concerning the profile or the significance of

history has fallen into disregard, it’s had to deny the lasting outcome some
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tentative theories have had on the real practice of philosophers. History records

the world event and man’s survival through it. It begins from dawn of

consciousness to current events; it’s more than just records as it is transcendent

and first-rate.
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Reference List

Benn, William. 2008. History of Modern Philosophy. BiblioBazaar, LLC. London

Hegel, Wilhelm and Sibree, Charles. 2004. The Philosophy of History

Dover philosophical classics. Courier Dover Publications. New York

Wiltse, Charles. 1995. History as Social Philosophy. International Journal of

Ethics, Vol. 46, No. 1. pp. 49-63