LÖWITH,LÖWITH'S HEIDEGGER,AND THE UNITY OF HISTORY

This article is about the problem of the unity of history as seen through the writings of Karl Löwith. By “unity of history” I understand the notion that all history constitutes one and only one range of kinds of objects and/or one field of knowledge. The article argues that the problem of the unity of history—though often neglected as a matter of mere argumentative infrastructure—is central to a number of wider problems, most prominently the possibility of a plural understanding of historicity and the possibility of ultimately avoiding a unified historical teleology. The article revisits Löwith's writings and proposes a variety of novel interpretations with the aim of evincing the centrality, and of exploring diverse aspects, of the problematic of the unity of history. This problematic is shown to have informed Löwith's work on the secularization thesis as well as his debate with Hans Blumenberg. The foundations of Löwith's discussion of the problem are pursued across his ambivalent critique and appropriation of Heidegger's model of an ontology of historicity as marked by inevitable internal conflict and thus disunity. The paper reconstructs the manner in which, after the Second World War, Löwith's philosophy of history sought to salvage basic traits of the Heideggerian model when it tried to establish the possibility of plural historicity from a notion of the natural cosmos. It is demonstrated that the motives for this salvage operation ultimately extended beyond the problem of Löwith's reception of Heidegger and concerned the possibility of continuing any debate on the philosophy of history.     

One 6 and nine 0's

This article reports the proceedings of two population meetings: the UN meeting in New York and the Youth Forum. Representatives of UN Member States and 24 accredited nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) attended the 5-year review and appraisal of the Cairo Conference of 1994. A consensus on sex education was reached in the Special Summit. However, not all participants agreed on the relevance of the consensus in the summit for reasons that it is time-consuming and that there are more meaningful matters to be attended to. Meanwhile, in the Youth Forum held just before The Hague Forum of Governments, young people from all over the world were given the opportunity to express their opinions and say what they considered important to create a sustainable population and development. Their views were presented in a report to their national delegations and NGOs who will attend in The Hague. In the report, the youth stated that they hope their needs would be translated into practical national policies and legislation supporting young people's development and rights.