Originally published on November 5, 2015 (Episode 37)
Introduction
Continuing the series on great historical thinkers, Al turns to Jacob Burckhardt, often regarded as the founder of cultural history. A student of von Ranke, Burckhardt charted his own path: rejecting nationalism, staying in Basel, and creating a way of writing history that still shapes how we understand culture today.
Thomas Albert Howard joins Al to explore Burckhardt’s life, thought, and legacy—and to ask what it means to found a historical discipline.
About the Guest
Thomas Albert Howard is Professor of History and the Humanities at Valparaiso University where he also holds the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Ethics. He is the author of Religion and the Rise of Historicism and Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University.
For Further Investigation
Jacob Burckhardt, Reflections on History
Jacob Burckhardt, The Age of Constantine the Great (Routledge, 1949)
Jacob Burckhardt, Judgments on History and Historians (Routledge, 2007)
Jacob Burckhardt, The Letters of Jacob Burckhardt (Liberty Fund, 2001)
Lionel Gossman, Basel in the Age of Burckhardt: A Study in Unseasonable Ideas (Chicago, 2002)
💬 Listen & Discuss
Is Burckhardt best seen as a historian, a philosopher of culture, or both? How should we balance his insights with his 19th-century context? Share it with someone and discuss.
