Abstract

The aspect of The Meaning of Human History which is likely to be of greatest interest to readers of this journal is also that in which Cohen went farthest beyond his previous analyses. Running through the present work, expressing itself in variant forms in varied contexts, is Cohen's insistence that in the historical process discreteness and continuity are equally real and equally significant. This thesis is not, of course, new; nor does it come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Cohen's other work. However, it is important to see how he deals with history on this basis, since all philosophies of history, whatever their orientation, must ultimately face the issue of the sense in which the historical process is both continuous and discontinuous, and must seek to determine the relations of historical parts to historical wholes.