Humanism and medieval narrative in Max Weber´s iron cage: the case of Hayden White
Miguel Ángel SANZ LOROÑO
Original title: Humanismo y narrativas medievales en la jaula de hierro de Max Weber: el caso de Hayden White
Published in
Keywords: Cold War, Philosophy of History, Weber, White.
This paper attempts to read the “content of the form” of the medievalist work published by Hayden White in his early academic career. Taking Max Weber as the main guide, White plotted the history of papal schism of 1130 with typical tools of social science: Weberian typology and narrative. Also, White began, from the contradictions and limits of the German sociologist, to develop a personal vision of the humanistic and moral function of historiography. The limits to his humanism that he found in Weber's quasi dystopian narrative of modernization, strongly embodied by the realities of the Cold War, were equally important for this development. Over time, these limitations (from political prohibition to antihumanism) led White from Max Weber to Benedetto Croce. Finally, the neo-Kantian dualism of Weber's epistemology, which dramatically embodied the ontological gap opened up by modernity, had developed by the humanist idealism of the Neapolitan philosopher.
In perfect future. The End of Time in Augustine, the apocalyptic and Gnostic
Luis Felipe JIMÉNEZ JIMÉNEZ
Original title: En futuro perfecto. El fin del tiempo en Agustín, los apocalípticos y los gnósticos
Published in The Time and the Eternity in the Ancient and Medieval World
Keywords: Apocalypse, Christianity, Culture, Gnosticism, Philosophy of History, Time.
Augustine's reflection on time, from the level of individual salvation and the transcendence of the heavenly city located from the beginning on Earth, able to characterize or shape of medieval culture, but it is also clear that the expectations generated apocalyptic positions – better known as millenarian sects – and the Gnostics did not fail to weigh heavily in the collective imagination that went through the end of the Roman Empire and the so-called Middle Ages. So the contrast between conceived notions about the future in these three directions, it allows you to understand the full extent the meaning and significance of the choice of linear and finite time, hidden under mythical notions as Revelation, Last Judgment, Kingdom of God, eternal salvation, is at the bottom of the beliefs that have been – and somehow still blowing – life to Western culture.
Time, History, and Providence in the Philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa
Jason ALEKSANDER
Original title: Time, History, and Providence in the Philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa
Published in Nicholas of Cusa in Dialogue
Keywords: Divine Providence, Nicholas of Cusa, Philosophy of History, Temporality, Time.
Although Nicholas of Cusa occasionally discussed how the universe must be understood as the unfolding of the absolutely infinite in time, he left open questions about any distinction between natural time and historical time, how either notion of time might depend upon the nature of divine providence, and how his understanding of divine providence relates to other traditional philosophical views. From texts in which Cusanus discussed these questions, this paper will attempt to make explicit how Cusanus understood divine providence. The paper will also discuss how Nicholas of Cusa’s view of the question of providence might shed light on Renaissance philosophy’s contribution in the historical transition in Western philosophy from an overtly theological or eschatological understanding of historical time to a secularized or naturalized philosophy of history.
