However...

However, there are a few points concerning this belief that we must keep in mind: 1- Despite man's freedom of will, he cannot entirely eliminate causality. Although he is able to affect historical events with his knowledge, he cannot make annihilate what exists, or vice versa. The more man activates his talents and the more knowledge he acquires, his freedom of choice will also broaden, and stronger he will be in manipulating the causality of causes and the motivation of motives.

Man’s free will is in no conflict with the role of causality in history, as it does not contradict the fact that some laws dominate his mental, spiritual state and his movements. Some others, on the other hand, consider unexpected events as a reason to rule out causality in history. They believe, for example, the black cloud that caused the heavy rain in Waterloo and Napoleon’s defeat as a contradiction of causality.

They have obviously neglected the distinction between events that happen unexpectedly and events that happen with no reason. Even though Napoleon couldn’t predict the rain, the movement of the clouds and the rain were not without reason. 2- The most important - and the most delicate - point in understanding the philosophy of history is distinguishing the sequence of events and the cause and effect relationship between them.

If and event follows another, it does not necessarily imply that the former caused the latter to happen. Many historical events have occurred one after another without any making the next one take place. Is History Motivated Internally or Externally? There are two theories on what causes all historic events: 1- There is no external cause for historical events. Any incident or development in history is caused by what has happened before it, and is itself the cause of future events.

No outside factor can play a role in history. 2- Historical events are, despite being influenced by causality, also affected by the supernatural. As everything else in the universe, what happens in history is under God’s control.

Historical events altogether, like other phenomena in the world, do not originate from their own internal components and relationships, for the components and relationships themselves are bound by the same laws that do not originate from their own innate self; the laws governing the components and relationships of the universe do not originate from their innate self, either.