Grand Strategy: The View from Oregon

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Carl von Clausewitz’s Moral Science of Warfare Saturday 01 June 2024 is the 244th anniversary of the birth of Carl von Clausewitz (01 June 1780 to 16 November 1831), who was born on this date in Burg bei Magdeburg in 1780. Clausewitz is remembered as the philosopher of war. He came of age during the Napoleonic Wars, experienced catastrophic defeats, and ultimately lived to see Napoleon’s defeat. His On War is a classical of military science, distinctively informed by his experience in combat. It is also the birthday of Jan Patočka, so I consider Clausewitz from the point of view of Ernst Jünger’s conception of war, and Jan Patočka’s discussion of Ernst Jünger. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/NHFPd3MM5Jb

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Giovanni Gentile and the Identification of res gestae with historia rerum gestarum Thursday 30 May 2024 is the 149th anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Gentile (30 May 1875 - 15 April 1944), who was born in Castelvetrano, Italy on this date in 1875. He was assassinated by communist partisans on 15 April 1944. Gentile was an idealist in the philosophy of history who arguably pursued idealism further than Collingwood, and so ran into some of the same problems that faced Collingwood, though in a more radical form. Gentile’s solution is likewise radical, involving the identification of res gestae with historia rerum gestarum. I take this identification of past actuality with its record as a springboard to consider epistemological problems of historical knowledge. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/GM273yXC2Jb

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Oswald Spengler and the Incommensurability of Civilizations It is the 144th anniversary of the birth of Oswald Spengler (29 May 1880 – 08 May 1936), who was born in Blankenburg, Germany, on this date in 1880. Spengler’s The Decline of the West was a sensation in its time, making Spengler briefly famous with the public, and notorious among historians and philosophers, who largely rejected his work. While Spengler’s fortunes have risen and fallen over time, he remains among the most influential philosophers of history, rivaled only by Toynbee in terms of his popular impact. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/Z255Lfhq0Jb

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: ibn Khaldūn and the Introduction to History Monday 27 May 2024 is the 692nd anniversary of the birth of Abū Zayd 'Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Khaldūn al-Ḥaḍramī, better known to posterity as Ibn Khaldūn (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406), who was born in Tunis, under the Hafsid Sultanate, on this date in 1332 AD. His dates in the Islamic lunar calendar are 732 to 808 of the Hejira Era. The Maqqadimmah by ibn Khaldūn, written as the introduction to a history proper, is a unique book that touches on many aspects of human life, such as one would need to know to understand history. In it, ibn Khaldūn depicts for us a world that is both strange and strangely familiar. Should we strip away this strange world to get at the perennial truths beneath it, or admire it intact, as an artifact and a monument to distant milieu? Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/tF8P49ncXJb #philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #ibnKhaldun #Maqqadimmah #IslamicPhilosophy #sorcery

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Heinrich Rickert and the Logical Concept of the Historical Saturday 25 May 2024 is the 161st anniversary of the birth of Heinrich Rickert (25 May 1863 – 25 July 1936), who was born in Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) on this date in 1863. Rickert built on the work of Windelband, formulating the idea of idiographical sciences in terms of the difference between concept formation in nature science and concept formation in history, which he pursued as a logical inquiry. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Jacob Burckhardt and the Elusiveness of Historical Understanding Saturday 25 May 2024 is the 206th anniversary of the birth of Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (25 May 1818 to 08 August 1897), who was born in Basel, Switzerland, on this date in 1818. Burckhardt was an historian, but also an elusive thinker who seemed to capture something more than history while explicitly foreswearing any engagement with philosophy of history. The most compact statement of his views is to be found in a short work of interconnected remarks, “Fortune and Misfortune in History,” but drawing any lesson of history from this is as seemingly elusive as any lesson to be found in his purely historical works. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Paul Oskar Kristeller and the Status of Historical Knowledge Wednesday 22 May 2024 is the 119th anniversary of the birth of Paul Oskar Kristeller (22 May 1905 – 07 June 1999), who was born in Berlin on this date in 1905. Kristeller was an historian of renown of renaissance thought, which gives his reflections on the philosophy of history a particular edge. Being himself an historian, we should not be surprised to find Kristeller holds that the philosopher of history should draw from the work of historians, but he also holds that historians take their guiding ideas from philosophers. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/YD1PtCLROJb

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: J. G. Fichte and a priori Providentialism Sunday 19 May 2024 is the 262nd anniversary of the birth of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814), who was born in Rammenau, Saxony, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, on this day in 1762. Fichte is often understood to be a transitional figure in German idealism between Kant and Hegel, and Fichte’s philosophy of history is not as well known as Kant’s before him and Hegel’s after him, but it constitutes a significant and distinctive part of his philosophical work. His delineation of Five Principle Epochs of human history is a stadial and teleological account of human progress toward moral perfection, but this is a theory of stages in the development of moral progress with a difference, since Fichte allows that moral progress is exclusively a matter of Inward Being. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Text post: Video: Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/73G2BY64JJb #philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #Fichte #idealism #providentialism

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Further Elaborations on the Coming Coeval Age An essay of mine, The Coming Coeval Age, has just appeared in Isonomia Quarterly for summer 2024. This essay isn’t specifically about philosophy of history, but it does touch on some philosophical problems, so I will consider some of these problems in the context of philosophy of history. In particular, I will discuss the relative complexity of terrestrial history, which is the simplest history possible in a relativistic universe. When we have access to different inertial frames of reference, and the ability to travel between then, history will be dramatically complexified. Nielsen, J. N. (2024). The Coming Coeval Age. Isonomia Quarterly. Volume 2, Issue 2. Essay: https://isonomiaquarterly.com/archive/volume-2-issue-2/the-coming-coeval-age/ Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/xkVzIKAcIJb #philosophy #history #philosophyofhistory #coevalism #civilization #isonomia #SpaceExploration #spacefaring #expansion #future #futurism

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Wilhelm Windelband and the Place of History among the Sciences Saturday 11 May 2024 is the 176th anniversary of the birth of Wilhelm Windelband (11 May 1848 – 22 October 1915), who was born in Potsdam on this date in 1848. Windelband formulated a distinction between nomothetic sciences and idiographic sciences, placing history in the latter category with its own distinctive methodology. The nomothetic is the lawlike, the regular, and the universal; the idiographic is the individual, the particular, and the unique. But does this distinction hold up as a rudimentary taxonomy of the sciences? Are the sciences one or many? Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/0Z9fEPyCvJb

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Niccolò Machiavelli and the Vicissitudes of Fortune Friday 03 May 2024 is the 555th anniversary of the birth of Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (03 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), who was born in Florence on this date in 1469. Machiavelli’s influential political thought shocked his contemporaries and those who followed him with his honesty and directness, but no one could neglect him. Even when Machiavelli was condemned, it was understood that he had written things that were relevant, even if repellant. It could be argued that Machiavelli’s thought was too powerful for his time, and it is only in subsequent centuries that he could be put in proper perspective—a process that we begin to see in the nineteenth century with Fichte and Clausewitz. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Niccol-Machiavelli-and-the-Vicissitudes-of-Fortune-e2j84so

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Karl Marx and the Permutations of Historical Materialism Sunday 05 May 2024 is the 206th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx (05 May 1818 – 14 March 1883), who was born in Trier on this date in 1818. Marx, like Kant, didn’t write explicitly on the philosophy of history, but he left enough clues across many books and manuscripts to allow us to reconstruct a Marxian philosophy of history. Several elements enter into Marx’s conception of history, and we can see the many possible permutations of historical materialism as we consider alternative formulations of the elements that Marx combined into an organic whole. Prising apart this whole gives us greater philosophical insight into Marx than accepting the whole that has become entrenched in Marxist ideology. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/XEgIjL2YmJb

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: David Hume and a Deflationary Philosophy of History Tuesday 07 May 2024 is the 313th anniversary of the birth of David Hume (07 May 1711 New Style, 26 April 1711 Old Style, to 25 August 1776), who was born in Edinburgh on this date in 1711. Hume’s reputation as a philosopher only continues to grow with time, but during his life he was a failure as a philosopher though found success as an historian. Hume’s distinctively empiricist and skeptical philosophical views provide little in the way of a positive philosophy of history, but they can be understood as a deflationary philosophy of history that gives us a robust principle of selection for history. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/7VZ9mD9LpJb

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Edward Gibbon and the Civilizational Perspective Wednesday 08 May 2024 is the 287th anniversary of the birth of Edward Gibbon (08 May 1737 to 16 January 1794), who was born on this date in 1737. Gibbon is possibly the greatest Anglophone historian to date, and his monumental Enlightenment history of the decline and fall of Rome has influenced all subsequent history. What philosophical themes, if any, do we find in Gibbon? Does he exemplify the deflationary history implied by Hume? Can Enlightenment history be objective, or must it impose its universalist template on all history, regardless of the scope of a given historical inquiry? In what way does Gibbon exhibit a civilizational perspective on history? Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/viV5sbtesJb

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Morton White and the Regularity Theory of Historical Explanation Monday 29 April 2024 is the 107th anniversary of the birth of Morton White (29 April 1917 – 27 May 2016), who was born in New York City on this date in 1917. White was an analytical philosopher of history who rejected speculative philosophy of history, but in rejecting historical generalizations while accepting a form of Hempel’s covering law model of historical explanation he created a problem for himself. How can we formulate regularities of historical explanation without approximating a speculative philosophy of history that sees regularity in the events that comprise history? Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/64tLDTq7cJb #philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory # MortonWhite #CoveringLaw #regularity #HistoricalExplanation

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Francesco Petrarca’s ascent of Mount Ventoux On Thursday 26 April 1336—688 years ago today—the Italian poet Petrarch climbed Mount Ventoux, and, when he returned from his hike, he wrote a letter about it to his father that is still extant. Petrarch’s ascent of Mount Ventoux has been described as the first modern instance of climbing a mountain simply to enjoy the view, and Petrarch himself has been called the first modern man. Both the claim that Petrarch was modern and that he was not at all modern have been made, and both claims have been disputed. So was Petrarch already modern in the early 14th century, or was he still a thoroughly medieval man? Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Video: https://youtu.be/u93Qryg5u5A Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Francesco-Petrarcas-ascent-of-Mount-Ventoux-e2iuksq

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Franciscus Patricius and Historical Pyrrhonism Thursday 25 April 2024 is the 495th anniversary of the birth of Franciscus Patricius (25 April 1529 – 6 February 1597), who was born on this day in 1529. Patricius is known in Italian as Francesco Patrizi of Cherso (sometimes spelled with one “z” and sometimes with two), and known in Croatian as Franjo Petriš or Frane Petrić (he came from the island of Cres). Franciscus Patricius was a literal renaissance man who wrote a number of treatises and dialogues on philosophical topics common to his time, distancing himself from Scholasticism by attacking the authority of Aristotle, and advocating a radical form of skepticism that has been called historical Pyrrhonism. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Franciscus-Patricius-and-Historical-Pyrrhonism-e2it99o

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Reinhart Koselleck and the Role of Conceptual History Tuesday 23 April 2024 is the 101st anniversary of the birth of Reinhart Koselleck (23 April 1923 to 03 February 2006), who was born in Görlitz, Germany on this date one hundred one years ago. Koselleck’s historical thought is of a piece with late twentieth century historiography, in its conceptual sophistication coupled with a suspicion of explicitly formulated philosophies of history, which cannot but appear to be folly in hindsight. But, in the light of Hayden White’s influence, which is pervasive in this historiographical milieu, can we not find a philosophy of history implicit even within skeptical historiography, as White found a philosophy of history implicit in all history? Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Reinhart-Koselleck-and-the-Role-of-Conceptual-History-e2ionj8 #philosophy #history #PhilosophyofHistory #Koselleck #historiography #ConceptualHistory

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Immanuel Kant and the Hope for Cosmological Progress Monday 22 April 2024 is the tricentennial of the birth of Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 to 12 February 1804), who was born three hundred years ago today in Königsberg, now Kaliningrad, on this day in 1724. Kant is counted among the greatest of philosophers, and his legacy is both large and complicated. Reconstructing his philosophy of history we find elements of providentialism, progressivism, and naturalism, all unified by Kant’s Enlightenment outlook. These several parallel influences in Kant’s thought yields a distinctive conception of historical progress in which human beings are a means to a cosmological end. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Immanuel-Kant-and-the-Hope-for-Cosmological-Progress-e2in3pb #philosophy #history #philosophyofhistory #Kant #progress #Enlightenment

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: A Complexity Ladder for Big History A paper of mine has just appeared in the Journal of Big History special issue on complexity. This paper isn’t specifically about philosophy of history, but it does touch on some philosophical problems, so I will consider some of these problems in the context of philosophy of history. In particular, I will discuss definitions and the use of scientific measurement in the increasing formalization of knowledge and what this could portend for history. Nielsen, J. N. (2024). A Complexity Ladder for Big History. Journal of Big History, VII(2); 1-8. DOI | https://doi.org/10.22339/jbh.v7i2.7202 Paper: https://jbh.journals.villanova.edu/index.php/JBH/article/view/2976/2780 Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/A-Complexity-Ladder-for-Big-History-e2iksuo

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Leonard Woolley on Digging Up the Past Wednesday 17 April 2024 is the 144th anniversary of the birth of Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, better known to posterity as C. Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880 – 20 February 1960), who was born on the outskirts of London on this day in 1880. Woolley was the archaeologist who was chosen as Field Director for the joint University of Pennsylvania and British Museum excavation at Ur, and in this position her oversaw the recovery of some of the greatest treasures of the ancient world yet discovered. Woolley was an indefatigable worker, known for his long days and nights in the field, and his many popular books and lectures. He lacks the name recognition of Howard Carter, but this finds were of similar significance, and he stands at the head of archaeologists who have and are increasingly shaping our understanding of the past. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Video: https://youtu.be/kulAHTnt_8E Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Leonard-Woolley-on-Digging-Up-the-Past-e2igon7

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Arnold Toynbee and Thought Experiments in Civilization Sunday 14 April 2024 is the 135th anniversary of the birth of Arnold Joseph Toynbee (14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975), who was born in London on this date in 1889. Toynbee is one of the most influential figures in philosophy of history, though neither historians nor philosophers want to claim him for their own. His epic multi-volume A Study of History, which brought him fame during the mid-twentieth century, is now little more than a curiosity. His scholarship is both praised as epoch-making and condemned as shoddy. Do we still have something to learn from Toynbee today? Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Arnold-Toynbee-and-Thought-Experiments-in-Civilization-e2icem0 #philosophy #history #philosophyofhistory #Toynbee #civilization #ThoughtExperiment

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Husserl and Philosophy of History as a Crisis Discipline Monday 08 April 2024 is the 165th anniversary of the birth of Edmund Husserl (08 April 1859 – 27 April 1938), who was born in Proßnitz, Moravia, on this date in 1859. Husserl is known for developing the method of phenomenology, but in the final years of his life he turned to the problems of history as a philosophical response to contemporaneous crises. Husserl was an arch-rationalist who saw the pursuit of reason as the infinite task of humanity. I argue that there is a path that can be traced from Plato through Pelagius and Siger of Brabant to Husserl, and it is in this tradition that Husserl’s philosophy of history is to be located. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Husserl-and-Philosophy-of-History-as-a-Crisis-Discipline-e2i5mja

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Thinking Historically about the Future A comment on my episode on Ernst Jünger made me aware of a statement by Friedrich Engels made in 1887 that anticipates some of the most surprising characteristics of the First World War, and this a generation prior to the war. This instance of historical prediction is an opportunity to discuss the relationship of prediction to history and philosophy of history. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Thinking-Historically-about-the-Future-e2i30r6

TODAY IN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY: Ernst Jünger and Mechanized War as a Boundary Condition Friday 29 March 2024 is the 129th anniversary of the birth of Ernst Jünger (29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998), who was born in Heidelberg on this date in 1895. He served in both world wars of the twentieth century and lived more than a century. Jünger is mostly remembered for his memoir of the First World War, Storm of Steel, but during the inter-war period he also produced a number of controversial books and essays that prophesied the future conditions of mechanized war, and of society transformed by mechanized war. I argue that, for Jünger, mechanized war is a boundary condition from which other historical novelties emerge. Quora: https://philosophyofhistory.quora.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/r3dudQvGxD Links: https://jnnielsen.carrd.co/ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dMh0_-/ Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nick-nielsen94/episodes/Ernst-Jnger-and-Mechanized-War-as-a-Boundary-Condition-e2hndu0 #philosophy #history #philosophyofhistory #Jünger # Materialschlacht #war #warfare #industrialization #worker