Transcendental History

Transcendental Historydefends the claim that historicality is the very condition for human knowledge, and hence that human being is always strictly an historical being. This is a thesis vital to the present trajectory of European philosophy. Tracing its development from Kant and Hegel to Derrida and Agamben - in a tale of how transcendental and speculative philosophy gradually gave way to historical thinking in the shape of phenomenology, hermeneutics, and deconstruction - this book not only enriches our understanding of the history of philosophy, but also contributes to epistemology, the philosophy of history, and philosophical anthropology.Transcendental Historyalso addresses itself to all those interested in the questions and controversies motivating contemporary European philosophy and its critical engagement with its past.

SOREN GOSVIG OLESEN is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Preface
PART I: THREE LESSONS IN THINKING ABOUT HISTORY
Husserl and the History of Reason
Heidegger and the History of Being
Merleau-Ponty and History Deconstructed
PART II: THE HISTORY OF THE SUBJECT
The Call of the Subject
The Heyday of the Subject
The Shipwreck of the Subject
The History of the Subject
PART III: TRANSCENDENTAL HISTORY
A Preliminary Concept of History
A Philosophical Concept of History
Transcendental Logic as a Project
Necessary Truth
Tautology
The Incarnation of the Truth
Technology and History
Summary
Bibliography
Index