Date of Award

8-1978

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

William D. Miller

Abstract

Metaphysics, or that branch of philosophy which deals with first principles, has been dismissed by many modern scholars who have chosen instead to study fragments of the historical process in greater detail rather than attempting to explain the whole. The core of this paper deals with the metaphysical explanation of history as presented by Nicolas Berdyaev in his book, The Meaning of History. Berdyaev, a Russian Christian existentialist, put forth his philosophy or metaphysics of history in a series of lectures delivered in Moscow at the Liberal Academy" of Spiritual culture during 1919 - 1920. Born in 1874 in Kiev, Berdyaev lived in Russia until 1922 when he was banished by the Soviets because he affirmed the existence of spiritual reality as the basis for his philosophical thought. He first went to Berlin and then to Clamart, a suburb of Paris, where he lived, lectured and wrote fifteen of his most important books until his death on March 23, 1948. He was buried in France according to the rite of the Orthodox Church. In 1937, Berdyaev wrote a summary of his thought for a German publisher. The first paragraph states: "The center of my philosophical work in the problem of man to put the problem of man is to put the problem of freedom of creativity, of the person, of the spirit and of history. Hence I have been principally concerned with the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of history and with social and ethical philosophy." This paper will examine his philosophy of history which deals with the fundamental problems and mysteries of human existence and, therefore, human history.

Comments

An Essay submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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