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Meaning in History

The Theological Implications of the Philosophy of History

Modern man sees with one eye of faith and one eye of reason. Consequently, his view of history is confused. For centuries, the history of the Western world has been viewed from the Christian or classical standpoint—from a deep faith in the Kingdom of God or a belief in recurrent and eternal life-cycles. The modern mind, however, is neither Christian nor pagan—and its interpretations of history are Christian in derivation and anti-Christian in result. To develop this theory, Karl Löwith—beginning with the more accessible philosophies of history in the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries and working back to the Bible—analyzes the writings of outstanding historians both in antiquity and in Christian times. "A book of distinction and great importance. . . . The author is a master of philosophical interpretation, and each of his terse and substantial chapters has the balance of a work of art."—Helmut Kuhn, Journal of Philosophy

266 pages | 0.00 x 0.00 | © 1957

History: General History

Philosophy: Philosophy of Society

Table of Contents

Introduction
I. Burckhardt
II. Marx
III. Hegel
IV. Progress versus Providence
1. Proudhon
2. Conte
3. Condorcet and Turgot
V. Voltaire
VI. Vico
VII. Boussuet
VIII. Joachim
IX. Augustine
X. Orosius
XI. The Biblical View of History
Conclusion
Epilogue
Appendix
I. Modern Transfigurations of Joachism
II. Nietzsche’s Revival of the Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

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