Essence of History

This book brings together historical thinkers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds to offer original interpretations of the essence of history. It addresses why it is that the essence of history itself cannot be so easily thematised or conceptualised.

List of contents

Introduction: What is called History? Part 1: Does History have an Essence? 1. The Essence of History 2. If History had an Essence, it wouldn't be History Part 2: History as Past, Past as History? 3. "The Past" is an Ambiguous Expression 4. Alain Badiou, the Metaphysics of the Event, and the Meaning of History 5. Time's Travellers 6. Historical Reflection and the Passive Presence of the Historical Past Part 3: The End of History? 7. Temporality, History and Crisis 8. Freedom and Homelessness: The Historical Ground of Political Life 9. The Last Consequences of Historical Consciousness

About the author

Aaron Turner is the Assistant Director of the Knapp Foundation and a Research Associate at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the editor of Reconciling Ancient and Modern Philosophies of History (2020) and Heidegger and Classical Thought (2024). He is currently writing his monograph, Thucydides and the Ground of History.

Product details

• Authors: Aaron (Royal Holloway Turner
• Assisted by: Aaron Turner (Editor)
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 16.09.2025
• EAN: 9781032836300
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3283630-0
• No. of pages: 216
• Series: Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; History: theory & methods, PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / General, HISTORY / Historiography, Ancient History, Classical history / classical civilisation, Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500, History: theory and methods