Faith and the Philosophy of History

This book collects works by the late Professor Martin Wight (1913-1972), an historian and scholar of international relations. Wight conducted research on many topics, including British colonial history, European studies, international institutions, and the history of states-systems. He is nonetheless best known for his lectures about the political philosophy of international relations at the London School of Economics (1949-1961) and the University of Sussex (1961-1972). He is widely regarded as an intellectual ancestor and pathbreaker of the 'English School' of international relations, even though this term only gained currency nine years after his death. While there is no generally accepted definition of the 'English School', it is usually construed as signifying an approach to the study of international relations more rooted in historical and humanistic learning than in the social sciences. Wight's achievements are consistent with this broad definition. This volume draws together a number of Wight's published works as well as many of his previously unpublished, obscurely published, and anonymous writings about faith and the philosophy of history. Owing to his premature death at the age of 58, he was unable to complete several works in progress, partly because his perfectionism led him to refrain from publishing many of them.