Abstract

Do both man and nature undergo essential change through time such that a time-transcendent metaphysical knowledge becomes impossible? Labeling this the problem of historicity, Fackenheim attempts to show that the answer one gives to this question is not an empirical generalization but a metaphysical thesis which rests on certain assumptions and categories. These rule out historicism or skepticism; and consequently enable one to counter the most serious challenge to metaphysical knowledge. A probing, scholarly, and tightly argued essay.--D. D. O.