Philosophy of History and Action: Papers Presented at the First Jerusalem Philosophical Encounter December 1974 (Philosophical Studies Series (11))

This volume contains the proceedings of the First Jerusalem Philosophical Encounter - started by the Hebrew University Institute of Philosophy (now the S. H. Bergman Centre for Philosophical Studies), which took place on December 28-31, 1974. In recent years the culture-gap that separates philosophers seems slowly - indeed much too slowly - to be narrowing. Although short­ circuits in communication still do happen and mutual disrespect has not vanished, it is becoming unfashionable to demonstrate ignorance of another philosophical tradition or to shrug it off with a supercilious smile. Perhaps dialectically, the insufficiency of any self-centred view that tries to immunize itself to challenges from without starts to disturb it from within. Moreover, as the culture- (and language-) bound nature of many philosophical divergencies is sinking more deeply into consciousness, the irony of an attitude of intolerance to them becomes more apparent. Our aim was to make a modest contribution to this development. We did not, however, mean to confuse genuine differences and problems in communication. Consequently, the more realistic term "encounter" was preferred to the idealizing "dialogue. " The Israeli hosts, themselves trained in a variety of philosophical traditions, felt that there is something in­ between real dialogue on the one hand and mutual estrangement on the other, and wished to provide a meeting place for it. This volume contains the proceedings of the First Jerusalem Philosophical Encounter - started by the Hebrew University Institute of Philosophy (now the S.H. Bergman Centre for Philosophical Studies), which took place on December 28-31, 1974. In recent years the culture-gap that separates philosophers seems slowly - indeed much too slowly - to be narrowing. Although shortƯ circuits in communication still do happen and mutual disrespect has not vanished, it is becoming unfashionable to demonstrate ignorance of another philosophical tradition or to shrug it off with a supercilious smile. Perhaps dialectically, the insufficiency of any self-centred view that tries to immunize itself to challenges from without starts to disturb it from within. Moreover, as the culture- (and language- ) bound nature of many philosophical divergencies is sinking more deeply into consciousness, the irony of an attitude of intolerance to them becomes more apparent. Our aim was to make a modest contribution to this development. We did not, however, mean to confuse genuine differences and problems in communication. Consequently, the more realistic term "encounter" was preferred to the idealizing "dialogue." The Israeli hosts, themselves trained in a variety of philosophical traditions, felt that there is something inƯ between real dialogue on the one hand and mutual estrangement on the other, and wished to provide a meeting place for it Front Matter....Pages i-xi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 History and Hermeneutics....Pages 3-20 Comments....Pages 21-25 Historical Interpretation....Pages 27-37 Comments....Pages 38-40 Intending....Pages 41-60 Comments....Pages 61-68 Historical Actions or Historical Events....Pages 69-84 Events....Pages 85-95 Descriptions of Actions and their Place in History....Pages 97-111 Front Matter....Pages 113-113 Kant and the History of Reason....Pages 115-132 Hegel’s Sittlichkeit and the Crisis of Representative Institutions....Pages 133-154 Comments....Pages 155-158 Marx Et Les Leçons De L’histoire....Pages 159-175 Demokratie und die Dialektische Theorie der Geschichte....Pages 177-190 Transhistoricity and the Impossibility of Aufhebung ....Pages 191-198 Front Matter....Pages 199-199 Farewell to the Philosophy of History....Pages 201-218 Is a Philosophy of History Possible?....Pages 219-240 Back Matter....Pages 241-244 Papers presented at the First Jerusalem Philosophical Encounter, December 1974