At the Nexus of Philosophy and History

Book excerpt: The relationship between philosophy and history has long been a matter of contention. Philosophers have claimed that their pursuit of universal law and eternal verities elevated them beyond historians, who merely dabbled with the vagaries of the particular and the contingent. Historians responded with the argument that philosophy was important only in relation to its contribution to concrete, historical truth. A greater challenge for both philosophers and historians than the defense of either of these positions has been to understand the convoluted issues surrounding the intersection of their respective disciplines. In At the Nexus of Philosophy and History, Bernard P. Dauenhauer has collected eleven essays that explore the relationship between the two disciplines and provide a significant, innovative response to the problems created by such exploration. The original essays collected in this volume challenge the artificial distinctions and disciplinary parochialism that have too often characterized traditional academic debate. Instead of advancing any one elaborate theory, At the Nexus of Philosophy and History seeks to encourage a balanced approach toward the exploration of the two fields by demonstrating that a full understanding of the one is impossible without knowledge of the other.