Background
Xenopol, Alexandru Dimltrie was born in 1847 in Iasy, Romania.
historian Philosopher of history
Xenopol, Alexandru Dimltrie was born in 1847 in Iasy, Romania.
Professor, University of Iasy.
Xenopol, who wrote in French as well as Romanian, was a well-known historian of his generation in Europe.The goal of Xenopol’s philosophy of history is to show that history is a science, but of a kind distinct from natural science. He divides changes into two classes, repetitions and successions. A repetition is a change in which the recurring elements are more similar to one another than dissimilar; a succession is a sequence in which the dissimilarity of its elements outweighs their similarity. Natural science studies repetitious change; history studies successive change. Xenopol argues further that to each of these major modes of change corresponds a type of causality. Causality of repetition is such that the cause is always concomitant with the effect; in causality of succession the cause always precedes the effect. Causality of repetition manifests itself as a law of natural science; causality of succession as what Xenopol calls a historical series. A series is a succession of diverse phenomena, the result of the causal interaction of the multifarious and constantly changing forces at work in history. A historical series is unique, and this has an important corollary for what type of 'laws’ are possible in the science of history. The laws of natural science, which pertain to repetitious change, can predict precisely what phenomena will recur when given conditions obtain. Historical laws, which pertain to successive change, cannot in principle predict the exact nature of future historical events, but only the direction or tendency which events will have, granted the historical conditions obtaining.