History and the absolute

William E. Hocking

pp. 423-463

in: Leroy Rouner (ed), Philosophy, religion, and the coming world civilization, Berlin, Springer, 1966

Abstract

History is human Fact spread out in time. The first series of these lectures had to do with the meaning of Fact, enquiring whether Fact, while presenting an aspect of the irrational, has a generic meaning. This second series has to do with Fact as we encounter it in the time-order which, considered as history, — a composite of purposive actions in a resisting world — is something more than factual sequence, an at least partially intelligible story. We ask whether historical Fact reveals any total significance.