Customer Reviews

Philosophy of History: A Guide for Students

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The forward and introduction are horribly obscure, even for the philosophy of History. And while the author's selections are wonderful, the writings, aside from a historical standpoint, on these philosophers are also quite obscure. Just read the works by these thinkers.

I read this book after reading Hegel who was the first philosopher who put together a comprehensive system involving history. So I just read it for my own enjoyment.

My primary interest was how philosophers "made sense" of history rather than an analytical philosophy criticizing history's methods for example. The book explores both aspects, but less so on analytical philosophy.

The author is very good with history itself. He also has a good understanding of philosophy, although I would have highlighted different points along the way. (I was a philosophy major.) For example, in my opinion, Hegel doesn't do a very good job of integrating Christianity into his philosophy of history - Christianity appears to be tacked on in an ad hoc fashion. This isn't mentioned in the book although he does say "...the most likely objection to Hegel...[is that] his thought is simply religion posing as philosophy." So in effect, he conveys the main idea. On the other hand, most of the time when I read an interpretation of philosophers I am familiar with (since I've read their work), I disagree with their interpretations somewhat.

The author's writing style doesn't always have a "flow" to it, although explaining complex ideas can be difficult. Writing about philosophy is not easy since a writer has to be so careful with implications. So I'll give him a pass on that one.

Overall, the book is very well done and organized well. If you're interested in the topic, I recommend it.