Papers in English by Jonas Ahlskog
Acta Philosophica Fennica, 2024
This article explores Georg Henrik von Wright’s (1916–2003) view of philosophical inquiry by way ... more This article explores Georg Henrik von Wright’s (1916–2003) view of philosophical inquiry by way of his later philosophy of action. Previous research on von Wright’s philosophy of action has primarily focused on his canonical book Explanation and Understanding (1971, henceforth EU; cf. Kusch 2003; Hannula 2022). As a result, von Wright’s later philosophy of action remains, with some notable exceptions, a comparatively underexplored part of his philosophical oeuvre (Martin 1990; 1999; Stoutland 1998; Kusch 2003; Meggle 2017; Ahlskog 2023). His later work, this article contends, demonstrates von Wright as a philosopher in his own right who develops Wittgensteinian ideas for responding to the rise of causalism from the mid-1970s onwards. The article highlights two different strands in von Wright’s response to causalism, both of which relate to Wittgensteinian views of philosophical inquiry. First, von Wright consistently argued that philosophy is not one of the sciences but conceptual inquiry. The task of the philosopher is to elucidate what one is looking for when looking for reasons for action. In contrast, causalists viewed philosophy as a branch of the sciences with the ontological task of determining what kind of item in the world a reason for action is. Second, von Wright’s later response to causalism turns away from logical constructivism—a philosophical method von Wright himself identified as a non-Wittgensteinian element in his philosophy. Instead, von Wright provides a perspicuous representation of everyday practices of understanding action in response to reasons. In conclusion, von Wright’s later response to causalism provides an important pathway for tracing the development of Wittgensteinian themes in von Wright’s work.
History and Theory, 2024
This article explores the relation between testimony and history by considering the recent “ethic... more This article explores the relation between testimony and history by considering the recent “ethical turn” toward experience and memory in historical research. By way of a brief history of the concept of testimony in historical research, the article pinpoints current discussions as being about historical understanding rather than factual knowledge about the past. With reference to the revaluation of history within the linguistic turn, influential historical theorists have argued that abandoning objectivism calls for a rapprochement between historical research and attempts to make sense of the past in accounts of memory. Both history and memory accounts, they argue, offer forms of understanding that are equally conditioned by language as well as politics, culture, and identity. Thus, the inclusion of testimony has been framed as not only legitimate but also important for an “ethical” understanding of the past within historiographical discourse. In relation to this development, the article shows that abandoning objectivism in the wake of the linguistic turn cannot justify a general rapprochement between history and memory accounts. On the contrary, abandoning objectivism only increases the importance of appreciating the conceptual distinction between testimony and history as different forms of understanding. For clarifying the conceptual distinction, the article reexamines R. G. Collingwood's (in)famous contention that “testimony … stops where history begins.” Collingwood's main point was not, as previous interpreters have argued, only about epistemology but was about the qualitative difference between historical and practical pasts. In conclusion, the article articulates the importance of the distinction between history and practice in relation to questions about the historian's ethical responsibility.
Minorities in Global History: Cultures of Integration and Patterns of Exclusion, 2024
Journal of the Philosophy of History, 2023
Prior to the narrativist turn in the 1970s, philosophy of history focused on action and agency. S... more Prior to the narrativist turn in the 1970s, philosophy of history focused on action and agency. Seminal pre-narrativist philosophers of history-from Collingwood and Oakeshott to Dilthey and Gadamer-argued that agent-centred action explanation constitutes an irreducible element of historical research. This paper reexamines the agentcentred perspective as one of the key insights of pre-narrativist philosophy of history. This insight has not only been neglected in philosophy of history after the narrativist turn but also fundamentally misunderstood. The paper advances two connected arguments: (i) that the agent-centred perspective is internal to the very idea of historical knowledge, and (ii) that the agent-centred perspective is epistemically prior to retrospective (re)description, which has been the focus of narrativist philosophy of history. In conclusion, the paper contends that the agent-centred and the retrospective perspective constitute two integral and irreducible modes of thought that belong to history.
Metaphilosophy, 2023
According to the received view, philosophy of action took a justified turn towards causalism beca... more According to the received view, philosophy of action took a justified turn towards causalism because anti-causalists failed the causalist challenge about efficacious reasons. This paper contests that view by examining the ways in which Georg Henrik von Wright responded to causalism in his later philosophy. First, von Wright attacked the subjectivism of causalism by arguing for an objectivist view that construes reasons not as subjective mental states but as external facts of the agent's situation. Second, von Wright fundamentally disagreed with the view of philosophical inquiry that underpinned causalism. For von Wright, the task of philosophy was conceptual: to explicate what one is looking for when one is looking for the real reasons for action. In contrast, for causalists the task was ontological: to determine what kind of item in the world the real reason for action is. Examining von Wright's account contributes to contemporary assessments of the metaphilosophical dimension of the reasons/causes debate.
This article argues that, in order to understand Peter Winch's view of philosophy, it is profitab... more This article argues that, in order to understand Peter Winch's view of philosophy, it is profitable to read him together with R. G. Collingwood's philosophy of history. Collingwood was both an important source for Winch and a thinker engaged in a closely parallel philosophical pursuit. Collingwood and Winch shared the view that philosophy is an effort to understand the various ways in which human beings make reality intelligible. For both, this called for rapprochement between philosophy and the humanities. Like Collingwood, Winch wanted to reformulate philosophy as a form of human science. Both thinkers advanced a conception of logic where the validity of judgements, propositions, and thought are dependent on their function as instruments in human dialogue. In their treatments of logic, Winch and Collingwood were fleshing out their idea that questions concerning human meaningful behaviour also tie back to the question of what philosophical analysis is about. There is a deep connection between two main issues in both Collingwood's and Winch's writings: on the one hand, the need for 'internal' understanding of how human beings relate to reality, and on the other hand, their critique of the idea of logic as a self-sufficient system, external to historically embedded forms of life. At the core of their shared vision there was a comprehensive critique of metaphysical realism.
Philosophy as a Form of Life: Essays in Honour of Olli Lagerspetz on His Sixtieth Birthday, 2023
Peter Winch is a key source of inspiration for Olli Lagerspetz’s philosophical work. This is no c... more Peter Winch is a key source of inspiration for Olli Lagerspetz’s philosophical work. This is no co-incidence since Lagerspetz was Winch’s student. Naturally, there is comprehensive agreement in their respective views of philosophy, and one obvious expression of this is Lagerspetz’s many important defences of Winch against his critics. Against the background of their agreement, my aim in this paper is to articulate an apparent disagreement between Winch and Lagerspetz concerning the nature of philosophical inquiry. The articulation aims to show (i) that the disagreement is only apparent since Winch should, considering his earlier work, agree with Lagerspetz’s critique, and (ii) that the apparent disagreement illuminates the meaning and importance of what R. G. Collingwood called a “rapprochement between philosophy and history”, which he saw as the central task for philosophy in the twentieth century. In conclusion, I will discuss how Lagerspetz’s views on understanding the Resurrection raises important questions about the continuity between the personal and the philosophical.
This article offers a reassessment of the main import of Peter Winch’s philosophy of the social s... more This article offers a reassessment of the main import of Peter Winch’s philosophy of the social sciences. Critics argue that Winch presented a flawed methodology for the social sciences, while his supporters deny that Winch’s work is about methodology at all. Contrary to both, the author argues that Winch deals with fundamental questions about methodology, and that there is something substantial to learn from his account. Winch engages methodological questions without being committed to social ontology. Instead, Winch’s work on methodology is best described as a descriptive metaphysics of social inquiry. This alternative reading clarifies the close link between Winch’s argument for the autonomy of the social sciences and R. G. Collingwood’s philosophy of history.
While summarizing, Thomas A. Kohut writes that his book can be regarded "as a sort of primer on e... more While summarizing, Thomas A. Kohut writes that his book can be regarded "as a sort of primer on empathy for historians" (128). This is indeed a very fitting description. The book delivers an admirably broad introduction to the topic which includes not only an insightful review of the history of the concept of empathy in hermeneutics and historical scholarship, but also an account that shows how empathy as a way of knowing, which is often a rather unpopular supposition among historians, has received scientific credentials within presentday neuroscience. Kohut's book provides useful delineations of a wide-range of positions in current debates about empathy; from the contested role of empathy for 'scientific' historical knowledge to different theories within psychoanalysis and philosophy of mind, while simultaneously presenting the relevance of empathy for cultural self-understanding in anthropology and historical research. In addition to providing a well-written general introduction to theoretical discussions about empathy, the book also discusses case studies that highlight the role of empathy in historical research.
HISTÓRIA DA HISTORIOGRAFIA, 2019
This essay explores the existential and ethical dimension of the historical past from two d... more This essay explores the existential and ethical dimension of the historical past from two different perspectives. In the first part, the essay approaches the issue by examining the personal dimension of the historical past from the perspective of the individual subject. This examination elaborates the individual’s perspective by literary illustrations from W. G. Sebald’s Austerlitz. In the second part, the essay approaches the issue from a conceptual perspective in order to articulate the ways in which the idea of a historical past connects with the concept of history as self-knowledge. The essay engages with R. G. Collingwood’s philosophy of history to show that there are significant ethical and existential aspects of the concept of historical past. In conclusion, the essay argues that, from both the perspective of the individual and conceptually, there is an important personal dimension residing within and not only beyond the historical past.
Labor History, 2019
The interpenetration of nationalism and socialism is a seminal problem for understanding 20th cen... more The interpenetration of nationalism and socialism is a seminal problem for understanding 20th century labour movement history. This article approaches the issue of ideological interpenetration by way of a close examination of the relationship between minority nationalism and socialist unity during a formative phase for the Finnish labour movement in the post-war period. More precisely, the article investigates the Swedish-speaking minority within the Finnish labour movement and its attempt to unify different ideological factions in the labour movement through minority nationalism. The article contributes to the study of the relation between socialism and nationalism by extending the discussion to include national minorities and their relation to the socialist labour movement. The main theoretical innovation of the article is the concept of socialist minority nationalism. This concept will function as a heuristic tool for analysing the intersection of nationalism and socialist class-consciousness within the Finnish labour movement. The Swedish-speaking agents of the Finnish labour movement, and their socialist Finland-Swedish identity-project, has hitherto been neglected in Finnish labour history. Through historical investigations of national or ethnic minorities, or other past and present marginalized groups and individuals in labour history, it is possible to problematize the hegemonic historical narratives of the majority.
Collingwood on Philosophical Methodology, 2019
In this essay, Ahlskog examines R. G. Collingwood’s conception of the philosophy of history and i... more In this essay, Ahlskog examines R. G. Collingwood’s conception of the philosophy of history and its metaphilosophical import. Ahlskog shows that Collingwood’s philosophy of history is simultaneously both a descriptive metaphysics of history and an elucidation of the relation between historical and philosophical thought. As a descriptive metaphysics, Ahlskog argues that Collingwood’s account has an irreducible and underexplored role for contemporary issues in the philosophy of history. The metaphilosophical import of Collingwood’s philosophy of history is unpacked through an elaboration of Collingwood’s ideas about the historicity of human experience and understanding. In conclusion, Ahlskog argues that the metaphilosophical dimension of Collingwood’s philosophy of history is integrally connected with the concept of history as self-knowledge.
Rethinking History: The Journal of Theory and Practice
It has recently been argued that the philosophical study of professional history constitutes a su... more It has recently been argued that the philosophical study of professional history constitutes a subfield of epistemology. Consequently, the philosophy of history is cast as only one particular species of the general study of the relationship between evidence and theory in scientific practice. This view is based upon an absolute separation between substantive and critical philosophy of history. By such a separation, substantive philosophy of history is dismissed as speculative metaphysics, while critical philosophy of history is vindicated as a respectable branch of epistemology. The attempt to delineate a strictly epistemological realm of history was a central part of the programme for analytically styled philosophy of history in the 1950–1970s era. This programme has been resurrected by contemporary empiricist trends. In this essay, I will argue against the basic ideas of this programme through a reassessment of Hayden White’s so-called narrativist philosophy of history. As I will show, criticizing the distinction between metaphysics and epistemology in history is an essential and important feature of White’s contribution to the philosophy of history. This feature has, I claim, been overshadowed by formalist interpretations of White’s ‘narrativism’. In conclusion, I argue that White’s concept of prefiguration will fundamentally question the viability of current attempts to develop a purely epistemological philosophy of history.
Journal of the Philosophy of History , 2017
This essay examines recent theories about the presence of the past from the perspective of Collin... more This essay examines recent theories about the presence of the past from the perspective of Collingwood’s philosophy of history. In the work of Eelco Runia and Frank Ankersmit among others, elaborate theories are offered for explaining how the past conditions and moves the present. Collingwood addresses the same kind of issues in his philosophy of history, but his ideas are very seldom discussed in presence theory. The aim of this essay is to place Collingwood’s philosophy of history in dialogue with presence theory. I show that, even though Collingwood and presence theory have similar aims, Collingwood offers a fundamentally different account of how the past lives on in the here and now. Not only is Collingwood’s account different – his conception of history undermines central presuppositions of presence theory. In conclusion, I argue that Collingwood’s account shows how questions about the presence of the past are intimately connected with self-knowledge.
Storia Della Storiografia, 2017
The concept of evidence is a cornerstone for the modern idea of history. As the story goes, pre-m... more The concept of evidence is a cornerstone for the modern idea of history. As the story goes, pre-modern history was based on testimony from authorities in the past – modern history is, in contrast, based on treating material from the past strictly as evidence. Through this transformation history became a science of inference from evidence in the present to causes in the past. This transformation has been labelled the birth of an evidential paradigm in historical research. Understanding the change this paradigm brought about was a central concern for seminal authors such as Marc Bloch, R. G. Collingwood, Michel Foucault, Carlo Ginzburg and Paul Ricoeur. My aim in this essay is to examine a specific idea that is often associated with the evidential paradigm; namely, the idea that the modern historian’s relation to material from the past is evidential through and through.The main aim of the essay is to show that this evidentialist idea is deeply problematic. I will argue that the evidentialist idea is in conflict with both the phenomenology and the epistemology of historical research. My central claims are that material from the past does not enter the historian’s experience merely in the form of evidence, and that the very possibility of historical knowledge is, in fact, significantly dependent on not treating material from the past only as inferential evidence. I will, concurrently, connect these issues with contemporary trends in the philosophy of history.
Acta Philosophica Fennica, 2017
Michael Oakeshott’s distinction between the practical and the historical past has been the focus ... more Michael Oakeshott’s distinction between the practical and the historical past has been the focus of much discussion in contemporary theory of history. This is primarily due to Hayden White’s appeal to Oakeshott’s distinction in several recent works. However, the philosophical underpinnings of Oakeshott’s distinction are seldom discussed. This essay provides a philosophical elaboration and critique of both Oakeshott’s distinction and White’s use of it. Oakeshott’s distinction is expounded as an integral part of his idealist philosophy. My contention is that in order to properly understand the distinction, we must first understand Oakeshott’s theories about different modes of understanding to which different kinds of past belong. Besides comparing White and Oakeshott, this essay will also develop a critique of the distinction between history and practice. The main claim of the essay is that there are important internal connections between history and practice that Oakeshott’s distinction neglects. In conclusion, I argue that the ethical and existential dimension of history can only be appreciated by dissolving Oakeshott’s absolute distinction between the practical and the historical past.
Clio: Journal of Literature, History and the Philosophy of History 45:2 (2016)., 2016
In what sense is historical knowledge dependent on testimony? The essay approaches this question ... more In what sense is historical knowledge dependent on testimony? The essay approaches this question by examining one of the most important philosophers of history during the twentieth century, Robin George Collingwood, and his controversial account of historical testimony. The general aim of the essay is to show both the errors of previous interpretations of Collingwood and, concurrently, to demonstrate the relevance of Collingwood’s account for understanding the role of testimony in the human sciences. The main argument of the essay is that Collingwood spoke of “testimony” with a specific sense of reliance in mind. This fact is crucial both for accurately understanding Collingwood’s philosophy of history and for understanding the relation between testimony and history as different forms of knowledge.
Journal of the Philosophy of History, 2018
The essay examines the recent discussion about a “crisis of testimony” in historiography. Central... more The essay examines the recent discussion about a “crisis of testimony” in historiography. Central to this discussion is the question of how it is possible for human testimony to convey information about the limit experiences of 20th century history. Given that the credibility of testimony is assessed by appealing to our previous understanding of what is credible, testimony to limit experiences risks being dismissed as unbelievable or implausible. This issue has recently been addressed in the work of Paul Ricoeur, Hayden White and Gert-Jan van der Heiden among others. In the first part of this essay, I show that the current idea of a crisis of testimony is a consequence of focusing too exclusively on the content of extraordinary testimony. I argue that such a focus has affinities with David Hume’s reductionist understanding of testimonial knowledge; even though the authors discussed cannot properly be labelled reductionists themselves. In the second part of the essay, I open up the issue of extraordinary testimony from a perspective that places the relationship between the speaker and the addressee at the heart of testimonial knowledge. My aim is to show that if we attend to the way in which testimonial knowledge involves dependence on the authority of another person, then the current idea of a crisis of testimony will dissolve itself. In conclusion, I argue that there is an important ethical dimension to the question of understanding extraordinary testimony.
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Papers in English by Jonas Ahlskog
Addressing the former problem, we argue that it is profitable to use examples from the history of the multinational Finnish labour movement. Here, questions about nationalism were not synonymous with concerns for the nation state. Our case studies make it possible to delineate a clear analytical division between the concepts of nation and nation state in the history of the socialist labour movement – a division often neglected in the historiog- raphy. Addressing the latter problem, we introduce (in a Swedish context) the concept of minority nationalism, a concept that partly transcends the dichotomy between class struggle and nation state loyalty. The concept of minority nationalism has great heuristic value for understanding how it was possible for the agents of the socialist labour movement to combine nationalist projects with an ongoing class struggle against the bourgeoisie.
Two empirical case studies of minority nationalism in the Finland- Swedish labour movement provides analytical depth. The first examines the notion of “nation” in the political work of K.H. Wiik, one of the main protagonists of the socialist labour movement in Finland. In the second, we examine how minority nationalism was the catalyst for the establishment of a unified socialist organization for the education of Finland-Swedish workers. Both case studies show how questions of a minority national identity were seamlessly integrated with the class struggle for a socialist Finnish society. By studying cases of minority nationalism in correlation with majority nationalism we gain a deeper understanding of the complex interrelations between nationalism and socialism in the history of the labour movement.
Keywords: Finland, 20th century, socialism, nationalism, minority nationalism, labour movement, Swedish-speaking Finns
och deterministiska tolkningar av förflutna handlingar och händelser. Historikern Joan W. Scott tar däremot strid för psykoanalysen i sina senaste verk. Scott argumenterar utförligt för att psykoanalysen är fruktbar som en radikal utmaning
till traditionell historieforskning. Denna uppsats granskar Scotts argument och möjligheterna att använda psykoanalysen inom historieforskningen.
Summary
Psychoanalysis as a method in historical research: Joan W. Scott and the idea of a psychoanalytic reading practice
In recent writings, the historian Joan W. Scott argues that psychoanalysis can contribute to critical historical research. Although history and psychoanalysis have different conceptions of time and causality Scott claims there can still be a productive relationship between them. Psychoanalysis can force historians to question their assumptions about rationality, causes and facts. With the use of psychoanalysis the historian can introduce disquieting notions about unconscious motivations and fantasy in the making of history. According to Scott, history and psychoanalysis are in fact incommensurable and the latter poses a critical challenge to the very concept of history itself. However, only by embracing this incommensurability can we begin to appreciate how psychoanalysis can enrich historical research.
This article is an assessment of Scott’s arguments. I focus on two issues that are central to Scott’s claims. Firstly, I discuss the idea that psychoanalysis provides an alternative version of history itself. I argue that there is no such thing as a psychoanalytic version of history and that a psychoanalytic interpretation presupposes that we already have a historical understanding of the evens that we interpret. Hence, the critical challenge of psychoanalysis cannot be that it provides an alternative conception of history itself.
Secondly, I discuss the idea that psychoanalysis can be used as a critical tool for exploring the human subject’s experiences when reading testimonies from the past. By using different empirical examples, I argue that in this case psychoanalysis should not be used as a scientific theory, but rather as form of hermeneutic tool in the historian’s descriptions of the past. This is due to the fact that it remains unclear how psychoanalysis, conceived as a scientific theory, can be used to deepen the historian’s understanding of social and historical phenomena
https://www.historiadahistoriografia.com.br/revista/article/view/1501/805
Table of Contents
1. The Primacy of Method in Historical Research
2. Metaphilosophy, Empiricism and the Historical Past
3. Narrativism and the Reality of the Historical Past
4. The Internal Relation Between Practice and History
5. The Presence of the Past
6. The Existential Relevance of the Historical Past
7. Historical Evidence and the Perspective of Meaning
8. Testimonial Knowledge and the Method of History
9. Historical Method and the Limits of Hermeneutics of Suspicion
10. Conclusion: History as the Primacy of Method
https://www.routledge.com/The-Primacy-of-Method-in-Historical-Research-Philosophy-of-History-and/Ahlskog/p/book/9780367642907
1968 står således inte bara för året då studenterna vid Stockholms universitet ockuperade sitt eget kårhus och miljontals människor demonstrerade på gatorna i Paris och många andra storstäder runt om i världen utan också mycket annat som hände vid den här tiden och som kan kopplas till sextio- och sjuttiotalets bredare vänsterradikalisering. Och förutom själva pedagogikämnet handlar det om skolsystemet, universiteten och folkbildningen liksom den vidare diskussionen om hur ett gott samhälle kan skapas med hjälp av skola och utbildning.
Samtidigt aktualiseras frågan om vad vi idag, drygt femtio år senare, har att lära av denna tid då man fortfarande var övertygad om att en annan värld – och därmed en annan skola och pedagogik – var möjlig och då det ansågs vara realistiskt att kräva det omöjliga.