Tyson Retz
@tysonretz.bsky.social
Historian of historical and political thought, FRHistS. Australian living in Norway, currently working on Catholic liberals in Restoration France. Here to furnish historical practice with sound philosophical argument.
Pinned
Tyson Retz
@tysonretz.bsky.social
· Oct 22
Franklin Rudolf Ankersmit. Representation: The Birth of Historical Reality from the Death of the Past.
Historians should have no more trustworthy a philosophical companion than Frank Ankersmit. For the past five decades, he has been the historicist’s philo
academic.oup.com
I reviewed Frank Ankersmit's new book for the AHR academic.oup.com/ahr/article-... @historians.org
+ brilliant defence of historicism and how individual representations of historical reality contribute to the growth of historical knowledge
- bogged down in the mysteries of the Leibnizian system
+ brilliant defence of historicism and how individual representations of historical reality contribute to the growth of historical knowledge
- bogged down in the mysteries of the Leibnizian system
With Australia's swimmers and Norway's skiers, this dual citizenship thing is set to enhance my medal count substantially.
February 6, 2026 at 8:18 PM
With Australia's swimmers and Norway's skiers, this dual citizenship thing is set to enhance my medal count substantially.
I've been asked to contribute to a volume on the ideal-type historian. I'll take it as an opportunity to explore (and criticise) the rampant anti-intellectualism that runs rife in history departments.
February 4, 2026 at 8:16 PM
I've been asked to contribute to a volume on the ideal-type historian. I'll take it as an opportunity to explore (and criticise) the rampant anti-intellectualism that runs rife in history departments.
My discussion with Marshall Madow on the five categories of progress I developed in my 2022 Element with @universitypress.cambridge.org and @woolf-atthedoor.bsky.social (also on Spotify and other podcast providers) www.notionsofprogress.com/five-faces-o...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Five Faces of Progress: A Conceptual Framework for Historical Ch…
About This Episode In this episode of Notions of Progress, we explore the fascinating evolution of progress thinking with Professor Tyson Retz, an intellectual hist…
www.notionsofprogress.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:52 PM
My discussion with Marshall Madow on the five categories of progress I developed in my 2022 Element with @universitypress.cambridge.org and @woolf-atthedoor.bsky.social (also on Spotify and other podcast providers) www.notionsofprogress.com/five-faces-o...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Reposted by Tyson Retz
Drawing from his @universitypress.cambridge.org Element (2022) Progress and the Scale of History, @tysonretz.bsky.social discusses notions of progress here on this podcast: www.notionsofprogress.com/five-faces-o...
Five Faces of Progress: A Conceptual Framework for Historical Ch…
About This Episode In this episode of Notions of Progress, we explore the fascinating evolution of progress thinking with Professor Tyson Retz, an intellectual hist…
www.notionsofprogress.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:03 PM
Drawing from his @universitypress.cambridge.org Element (2022) Progress and the Scale of History, @tysonretz.bsky.social discusses notions of progress here on this podcast: www.notionsofprogress.com/five-faces-o...
Today in my first-year course What is History? Historical writing in Antiquity and the question of authority over one's subject matter: distance or proximity to the events in question?
January 23, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Today in my first-year course What is History? Historical writing in Antiquity and the question of authority over one's subject matter: distance or proximity to the events in question?
Today in my MA course Historical Theory and Method, the distinctions between the philosophy of history, historical theory, and the philosophy of historiography.
January 22, 2026 at 9:39 AM
Today in my MA course Historical Theory and Method, the distinctions between the philosophy of history, historical theory, and the philosophy of historiography.
Since I wasn't awarded Teacher of the Year I should inform class that tomorrow I'll be absolutely hammered.
January 19, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Since I wasn't awarded Teacher of the Year I should inform class that tomorrow I'll be absolutely hammered.
I didnt know interest had declined. It's a pity. A year in France as an undergraduate changed me more than any other experience.
In the first of a five-part series on outbound student mobility, Lucas Lixinski looks at what care is due to students travelling overseas as part of their studies, and how this can incentivise or deter them from spending time in other countries: https://ow.ly/KOO550XWEw9 #AcademicSky
How can we revive the popularity of exchanges and study trips? Make students feel safe
In the first of a five-part series on outbound student mobility, Lucas Lixinski looks at what care is due to students travelling overseas as part of their studies, and how this can incentivise or deter them from spending time in other countries
ow.ly
January 15, 2026 at 12:11 PM
I didnt know interest had declined. It's a pity. A year in France as an undergraduate changed me more than any other experience.
Reposted by Tyson Retz
I'm pleased to announce another new title in @universitypress.cambridge.org 's series Elements in Historical Study and practice is out and downloadable for free till Dec. 5. Chiel van den Akker, Knowledge and Narrative. doi.org/10.1017/9781...
Knowledge and Narrative
Cambridge Core - Global History - Knowledge and Narrative
doi.org
November 21, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I'm pleased to announce another new title in @universitypress.cambridge.org 's series Elements in Historical Study and practice is out and downloadable for free till Dec. 5. Chiel van den Akker, Knowledge and Narrative. doi.org/10.1017/9781...
I've been saying this forever: silos keep the rats out! Long live them.
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/you-say-si...
"Silos preserve quality and integrity. Without silos, grain rots... Its purpose is preservation, not isolation. ... The function of the academic discipline is not unlike an agricultural silo: it is a structure of preservation and quality control."
"Silos preserve quality and integrity. Without silos, grain rots... Its purpose is preservation, not isolation. ... The function of the academic discipline is not unlike an agricultural silo: it is a structure of preservation and quality control."
You say 'silo' as if it were a bad thing...
Information storage in the AI era
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:36 PM
I've been saying this forever: silos keep the rats out! Long live them.
All men [sic] are intellectuals... but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals...Thus there are historically formed specialised categories for the exercise of the intellectual function.
—Antonio Gramsci
—Antonio Gramsci
November 20, 2025 at 9:19 AM
All men [sic] are intellectuals... but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals...Thus there are historically formed specialised categories for the exercise of the intellectual function.
—Antonio Gramsci
—Antonio Gramsci
Yes historians are researchers but I like to think of them as writers first and foremost. Wish we'd talk more about style and good writing in history.
November 18, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Yes historians are researchers but I like to think of them as writers first and foremost. Wish we'd talk more about style and good writing in history.
I like a lot about teaching but maybe most of all the opportunity to stand and walk. Somewhat too sedantry the rest of the job.
November 17, 2025 at 11:31 AM
I like a lot about teaching but maybe most of all the opportunity to stand and walk. Somewhat too sedantry the rest of the job.
Reposted by Tyson Retz
New video on our Youtube channel! Watch the talk "Existential Historicism: The Rise and Fall of a Sense-Making Framework" that @hhenriikka.bsky.social gave two weeks ago in our joint research seminar here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVZP....
Happy watching!
Happy watching!
Henriikka Hannula "Existential Historicism: The Rise and Fall of a Sense-Making Framework"
YouTube video by Centre for Philosophical Studies of History
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:52 AM
New video on our Youtube channel! Watch the talk "Existential Historicism: The Rise and Fall of a Sense-Making Framework" that @hhenriikka.bsky.social gave two weeks ago in our joint research seminar here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVZP....
Happy watching!
Happy watching!
Ultras looked to Rome only because they accepted that the state had been successfully secularised. They are not simple reactionaries but integral agents in the history of European liberalism.
November 14, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Ultras looked to Rome only because they accepted that the state had been successfully secularised. They are not simple reactionaries but integral agents in the history of European liberalism.
"Performative busyness". What a nice term to sum up what goes on in universities these days.
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 PM
"Performative busyness". What a nice term to sum up what goes on in universities these days.
Reposted by Tyson Retz
#fernandbraudel C'est dans moins d'un mois !
Découvrez le programme du colloque international "Les mondes de Fernand Braudel"
📅 Du 27 au 28 Novembre 2025
📌 la Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme
+Infos www.fmsh.fr/agenda/les-m...
Découvrez le programme du colloque international "Les mondes de Fernand Braudel"
📅 Du 27 au 28 Novembre 2025
📌 la Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme
+Infos www.fmsh.fr/agenda/les-m...
November 6, 2025 at 3:37 PM
#fernandbraudel C'est dans moins d'un mois !
Découvrez le programme du colloque international "Les mondes de Fernand Braudel"
📅 Du 27 au 28 Novembre 2025
📌 la Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme
+Infos www.fmsh.fr/agenda/les-m...
Découvrez le programme du colloque international "Les mondes de Fernand Braudel"
📅 Du 27 au 28 Novembre 2025
📌 la Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme
+Infos www.fmsh.fr/agenda/les-m...
“There is no greater educational calamity than the bored teacher” —John Passmore, 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘚𝘦𝘮𝘪-𝘋𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯
November 12, 2025 at 10:40 AM
“There is no greater educational calamity than the bored teacher” —John Passmore, 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘚𝘦𝘮𝘪-𝘋𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯
Reposted by Tyson Retz
Stilling som stipendiat i museumspedagogikk er nå utlyst ved Institutt for kultur- og språkvitenskap, UiS.
www.finn.no/job/ad/43601...
Les meir om det spannande prosjektet FJORDS som stillinga er ein del av her: www.uis.no/nb/forskning...
www.finn.no/job/ad/43601...
Les meir om det spannande prosjektet FJORDS som stillinga er ein del av her: www.uis.no/nb/forskning...
Stipendiat i museumspedagogikk | FINN.no
Om stillingenUniversitetet i Stavanger har ledig stilling som stipendiat i museumspedagogikk ved Fakultet for utdanningsvitenskap og humaniora, Institutt for
www.finn.no
November 11, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Stilling som stipendiat i museumspedagogikk er nå utlyst ved Institutt for kultur- og språkvitenskap, UiS.
www.finn.no/job/ad/43601...
Les meir om det spannande prosjektet FJORDS som stillinga er ein del av her: www.uis.no/nb/forskning...
www.finn.no/job/ad/43601...
Les meir om det spannande prosjektet FJORDS som stillinga er ein del av her: www.uis.no/nb/forskning...
A lot of universities are suffering from a 'space crisis' but look at mine (15.00 main building)
November 11, 2025 at 2:17 PM
A lot of universities are suffering from a 'space crisis' but look at mine (15.00 main building)
𝘈𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘮 is usually a sign that your interlocutor is out of ideas. Granted, people did not always practise what they preached. This might matter to the biographer, but not to the historian concerned with the influence of their ideas.
November 11, 2025 at 10:24 AM
𝘈𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘮 is usually a sign that your interlocutor is out of ideas. Granted, people did not always practise what they preached. This might matter to the biographer, but not to the historian concerned with the influence of their ideas.
Of course anybody is 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 to speak about the past. But like most things, it takes a certain kind of specialist training to speak 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 about a subject. Historians are no different. Not gatekeeping – simply practising professional standards of historical method.
November 11, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Of course anybody is 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 to speak about the past. But like most things, it takes a certain kind of specialist training to speak 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 about a subject. Historians are no different. Not gatekeeping – simply practising professional standards of historical method.
“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”—yet what of criticising the state when academics are state employees/civil servants? Perhaps the biggest difference coming to Norway from Australia, where universities are publicly funded but academics are autonomous professionals at independent institutions.
November 9, 2025 at 10:17 AM
“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”—yet what of criticising the state when academics are state employees/civil servants? Perhaps the biggest difference coming to Norway from Australia, where universities are publicly funded but academics are autonomous professionals at independent institutions.
Blimey
Social justice and also, for sure, democratic socialism, are just new names for communism www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Anti-Communism Week, 2025
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION This week, our Nation observes Anti-Communism Week, a solemn remembrance of the
www.whitehouse.gov
November 9, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Blimey
Multiculturalism implies a pluralism that makes possible talk of integration, but talk of integration in states that believe their values to be universal is conceptually confused. Best be honest and frame the discussion in terms of the most appropriate means to assimilate.
November 7, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Multiculturalism implies a pluralism that makes possible talk of integration, but talk of integration in states that believe their values to be universal is conceptually confused. Best be honest and frame the discussion in terms of the most appropriate means to assimilate.