Renouvier did much more in this direction. In his _Second Essay of General Criticism_ he touched upon the problem of progress in relation to freedom, and his fourth and fifth essays constitute five large volumes dealing with the “Philosophy of History.” He also devotes the last two chapters of _La Nouvelle Monadologie_ to progress in relation to societies, and brings out the central point of his social ethics, that justice is the criterion of progress. Indeed, all that Renouvier says regarding history and progress leads up, in a manner peculiarly his own, to his treatment of ethics, which will claim attention in our next chapter.
_The Analytic Philosophy of History_ forms an important item in the philosophical repertoire of Renouvier. He claims it to be a necessary feature of the neo-critical, and indeed of any serious, philosophy. It is, he claims, not a branch of knowledge which has an isolated place, for it is as intimately connected to life as is any theory to the facts which it embraces. That is not to say, and Renouvier is careful to make this clear, that we approach history assuming that there are laws governing it, or a single law or formula by which human development can be expressed. The “Philosophy of History” assumes no such thing; it is precisely this investigation which it undertakes, loyal to the principles of General Criticism of which it, in a sense, forms a part. In a classification it strictly stands between General Criticism or Pure Philosophy and History itself.
“History,” says Renouvier, “is the experience which humanity has of itself,”[7] and his conclusions regarding progress depend on the views he holds regarding human personality and its essential attribute, freedom. The philosophy of history has to consider whether, in observing the development of humanity on the earth, one may assert the presence of any general law or laws. Can one say legitimately that there has been development? Is there really such a thing as progress? If so, what is our idea of progress? What is the trend of humanity’s history? These are great questions.
[7] _Introduction à la Philosophie de l’Histoire_, Préface.
The attitude which Renouvier adopts to the whole course of human history is based upon his fundamental doctrines of discontinuity, freedom and personality. There are, he claims, real beginnings, unpredicable occurrences, happenings which cannot be explained as having been caused by preceding events. We must not, he urges, allow ourselves to be hypnotised by the name “History,” as if it were in itself some great power, sweeping all of us onward in its course, or a vast ocean in which we are merely waves. Renouvier stands firm in his loyalty to personality, and sees in history, not a power of this sort, but simply the total result of human actions. History is the collective work of the human spirit or of free personalities.[8]