Full History

Steven G. Smith is Jennie Carlisle Golding Professor of Philosophy at Millsaps College, USA and the author of The Concept of the Spiritual (1988), Gender Thinking (1992), Worth Doing (2004), and Appeal and Attitude (2005).

Preface
Acknowledgements

Introduction

1What Is Historical Meaningfulness?
Toward full history: historical sense
Toward fullest history: historical meaningfulness
Evasions and reductions of history thinking
Historical realism in practical evaluation

2How Is History Real?
Archetypalism and experientialism
How action sharing is real

3How Is History Interesting?
Being interested in “history” and the historical
Three modes of historical interest
Three openings of historical interest
The most interesting new histories, #1: Natural history
The most interesting new histories, #2: Feminist history
The most interesting new histories, #3: Sports history

4How Is History Important?
Historical importance
The totalizing and chaotic views of historical mattering: Sartre and Foucault
Theses on historical importance

5How Is History Understandable?
Historical insight and historical judgment
Conditions of insight into shared action
The practical continuum as spiritual
The game model of the practical continuum
Is there such a thing as good historical judgment?
The classic historical judgment of Jeremiah
The modern historical judgment of Hannah Arendt

6How Can History Be Made?
The possibility of “making” history
The movement ideal
The problem of “historical injustice”
The problem of totalizing
Four modes of history making
The universal history maker

7How Can History Have an Aim?
Three historical goals: Utopia, Victory, Salvation
The best world and bad outcomes
Three themes of historical fulfillment: Freedom, Solidarity, Redemption
History as sacred

Epilogue: Difficult History
Notes
Index