Curriculum Map

Philosophy of History

Time, truth, and the stories we tell. An advanced course exploring how history is constructed, remembered, and interpreted—with practical applications in business analysis and decision-making.

9 Units

Early Units (Foundation)

Building Skills

Advanced Concepts

Capstone/Synthesis

What Is History? Introduction to Historiography

Explore the fundamental question of what history is and how historians construct knowledge about the past.

2-3 weeks

Memory and Historical Consciousness

Investigate how memory works—and fails—and how collective memory shapes who we think we are.

2-3 weeks

Truth, Evidence, and Historical Knowledge

How do we know what happened? Can history be objective? Explore the epistemology of historical knowledge.

2-3 weeks

Narrative and Interpretation

Explore how the stories we tell about the past shape—and potentially distort—our understanding of it.

2-3 weeks

Causation, Contingency, and Counterfactuals

Why did things happen the way they did? Could they have happened differently? Explore historical causation.

2-3 weeks

Progress, Decline, and the Shape of Time

Is history going somewhere? Examine competing visions of historical direction and meaning.

2-3 weeks

Ethics of Historical Representation

What do we owe to the past? Explore the ethical responsibilities of those who write and teach history.

2-3 weeks

History's Future: Digital, Global, Posthuman

How is historical thinking evolving? Explore cutting-edge approaches to understanding the past.

2-3 weeks

Applied Historical Thinking: Business Cases and Financial Literacy

Put philosophical tools to practical use analyzing real business cases from the last decade.

3-4 weeks

Learning Progression

This course is designed to be taken sequentially. Earlier units establish foundational concepts that later units build upon. While you can explore units in any order, following the numbered sequence provides the most coherent learning experience.