The Philosophy of History with Reflections and Aphorisms

With Reflections and Aphorisms

By: John William Miller

Write A Review

Paperback | 1 December 2000 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
196 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.08 x 12.95 x 1.27

Paperback

RRP $29.65

$27.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $6.94 with

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

John William Miller (1895-1978) taught at Williams College, where from 1945 to 1960 he was Mark Hopkins Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy. His extraordinary teaching is described in Masters: Portraits of Great Teachers, edited by Joseph Epstein. While deeply indebted to Plato, Kant, and Hegel, Miller arrived at a strikingly original reinterpretation of the history of philosophy, which, he believed, resolved long-standing epistemological and moral problems generated by that history.

The Philosophy of History criticizes all attempts to interpret history on premises not themselves historical. Miller holds that "to view history philosophically is to consider it as a constitutional mode of experience, a way of organization no less fundamental than physics or logic".

In The Definition of the Thing, an unusually provocative and original essay, Miller had already worked out a number of the basic contentions of his mature philosophy.

Industry Reviews

The philosophy of history is not much in vogue in philosophy circles in the US these days, and the relative neglect of historical reflection is one of the characteristics of our contemporary mind-set that bothers the late professor Miller most. (This is the third in a series - following The Paradox of Cause and The Definition of the Thing.) His "reflections" are couched in the sensibility of European idealist philosophy, with emphasis on the primacy of the will, On action as the initiator of history, and therefore on history as an arena of freedom. The preponderance of mathematical reasoning, and the couching of public discourse in the certitudes of mathematics deprives us not only of a sense of "yesterday" but also of a sense of freedom, since the awareness of change and contingency and the action that shapes them into history is necessary for our collective ability to confront the present and future. Although only a part of this volume is devoted to "reflections and aphorisms," the whole structure is episodic rather than devoted to a sustained argument, with sections entitled "Time and Immediacy," "Memory and the Humanities," "Cause," "Purpose," etc. This format leads to much repetition of the basic themes, while the aphorisms sometimes fall flat. But especially if read randomly, Miller's dogged insistence on the centrality of history, conveyed in sometimes beautifully written passages, is a real antidote to the one-dimensionality of so much that passes for reflection. (Kirkus Reviews)

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Philosophy History of Western Philosophy History History Theory & Methods Historiography

Preface	p. 9
The Utility of Historical Study	p. 13
Motives	p. 18
Explanation	p. 23
Cause	p. 27
Purpose	p. 32
Psychology	p. 37
Accidents	p. 40
The Static Ideal	p. 44
Mistrust of Time	p. 51
Alliance with Time	p. 61
A Victory Is in Time	p. 66
The Sense of Time	p. 70
Time and Immediacy	p. 74
The Sense of History	p. 80
The Simultaneous and the Successive	p. 87
Memory and Morals	p. 91
Memory and the Humanities	p. 95
The Past as an Influence	p. 98
Memory as Control	p. 100
Prediction	p. 102
Documentation	p. 107
The "Referent" of a Statement in History	p. 116
The Facts	p. 123
Order and Disorder	p. 127
The Common and the Unique	p. 130
Action and Immediacy	p. 136
The Free Act	p. 139
Power	p. 142
Might and Right	p. 144
Action Is Inherently Historical	p. 147
Myth and Error	p. 151
Myth and Control	p. 157
The Role of the Actual	p. 165
Judgment	p. 168
Reflections and Aphorisms	p. 174
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

The Philosophy of History with Reflections and Aphorisms

With Reflections and Aphorisms

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in History

Looking from the North

Australian history from the top down

The Courageous Life of Weary Dunlop

Surgeon, prisoner-of-war, life-saving leader and legend of the Thai-Burma Railway

Jane Austen at Home

A Biography

SAS Brothers in Arms

Paddy Mayne's Desperadoes: Blood-and-Guts Defiance at Britain's Darkest Hour.

An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West

Threads of Life

History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle

The Twins of Auschwitz

The inspiring true story of a young girl surviving Mengele's hell

Unwell Women

A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World

Pax

War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age - THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Straya Day: from the bestselling author of RUM and GOLD, with 45 trivia quiz questions to test your history

The unofficial history of Australia's national day

The Missing Thread

A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It

Day of the Caesars : Eagles of the Empire

Eagles of the Empire : Book 16

38 Londres Street

On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia

History's Greatest Drinking Games

From the Notorious to the Wisely Forgotten

Turning to Stone

Shadows of the Workhouse

The Drama of Life in Postwar London

Long Walk To Freedom

'Essential reading' Barack Obama

Hiroshima

The extraordinary stories of the last survivors of the atomic bomb who can still recall the day the world changed forever

The Gnostic Gospels

The Golden Thread

How Fabric Changed History

The World of King Arthur

A 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle by Adam Simpson

Henry V

The Astonishing Rise of England's Greatest Warrior King

Sovietistan

Journey Through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

The Australian Wars

The truth about the bloody battles fought to establish the nation

This product is categorised by