[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-118819-en":3,"doc-seo-118819-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},118819,962075006959,"Anda","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e0002397efbe92a78e?_k=1776741047341049297",8,"Research & Report","Machine learning for the history of ideas","Information technological progress enables the humanities to expand methodological toolkits, motivating computational philosophy and new research strategies for the history of ideas. This paper examines how recent natural language processing advances can address traditional scholarship’s selectivity of historical sources. Using two machine learning techniques for conceptual continuities and innovations, the study evaluates how computational breadth can be combined with traditional in-depth philosophical analysis. The method is demonstrated on medieval-to-early-modern conceptual (dis)continuity, while development and application challenges are critically assessed to judge feasibility and limits for philosophical literature.","DOI: 10.1002/fhu2.6  \nORIGINAL PAPER  \nMachine learning for the history of ideas Simon Brausch1  | Gerd Graßhoff2  \n1Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany  \n2Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BIFOLD), Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany  \nCorrespondence  \nSimon Brausch, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstr. 22, Berlin 14195, Germany.  \nEmail: [sbrausch@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de](sbrausch@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de)  \nAbstract  \nThe information technological progress that has been achieved over the last decades has also given the humanities the opportunity to expand their methodological toolbox. This paper explores how recent advancements in natural language processing may be used for research in the history of ideas so as to overcome traditional scholarship's inevitably selective approach to historical sources. By employing two machine learning techniques whose potential for the analysis of conceptual continuities and innovations has never been considered before, we aim to determine the extent to which they can enhance conventional research methods. It will amount toa critical evaluation of how the advantages of computational in‐breadth analysis could be combined with the merits of traditional in‐depth analysis in a philosophically fruitful way. After a brief technical description, the approach will be applied to an example: the conceptual (dis)continuity between medieval and early modern philosophy. All the challenges encountered during development and application will be carefully evaluated. We will then be able to assess whether these tools and techniques present promising extensions to the methodological toolbox of traditional scholarship, or whether they do not yet have the potential for a task as complex as the analysis of philosophical literature. The present investigation can thus be seen as an experiment on how far one can go with current machine‐learning techniques in this area of research. In doing so, it provides important insights and guidance for future advances in the field.  \nKEYWORDS  \ncomputational philosophy, digital humanities, history of ideas, machine learning, natural language processing  \nThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.  \n© 2023 The Authors. Future Humanities published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.  \nFuture Humanities. 2023;1:e6 . [https://doi.org/10.1002/fhu2.6](https://doi.org/10.1002/fhu2.6)  \n[wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fhu2](wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fhu2)  \n1 of 22  \n2 of 22  \nBRAUSCH and GRAßHOFF  \n1 | INTRODUCTION  \nThe information technological progress that has been achieved over the last decades has also given the humanities the opportunity to expand their methodological toolbox. In philosophy, this has led to the emergence of what is usually referred to as computational philosophy. The present investigation aims at contributing to this field by experimenting with a computational approach to the evaluation of conceptual continuity and innovation in the history of philosophical ideas. Investigating the history of philosophy with the help of computational means is primarily motivated by the fact that a human scholar alone cannot possibly deal with the vast amount of historical material that may be relevant for any given research question. Before the investigation even begins, one must narrow down the number of authors and writings that are to be considered at all to a humanely manageable size. As a consequence, the traditional in‐depth analysis of terminological and conceptual shifts used to track (dis) continuities in the history of ideas has always been restricted in its breadth.1 Hence, it only seems natural to take advantage of the ever‐growing processing power of modern computers to overcome tradi","cbCaichxErIFzd5i","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaichxErIFzd5i","pdf",2052248,1,22,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Motivation and goals\n## Natural language processing approaches in prior research","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the paper address in researching the history of ideas?\",\"answer\":\"It targets the selectivity and limited breadth of traditional in-depth scholarship when dealing with large volumes of historical philosophical material. The study asks how computation can expand or extend conventional methods in a philosophically meaningful way.\"},{\"question\":\"Which computational techniques does the paper evaluate?\",\"answer\":\"It evaluates two machine learning techniques and focuses on their potential to analyze conceptual continuities and innovations. The paper emphasizes a critical evaluation of how these methods can contribute beyond traditional approaches.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the proposed approach tested in the paper?\",\"answer\":\"The approach is applied to an example concerning conceptual (dis)continuity between medieval and early modern philosophy. Challenges encountered during development and application are assessed before drawing conclusions about feasibility and limits.\"}]","Machine learning for the history of ideas | PDF",1785720431,55,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"machine-learning-for-the-history-of-ideas","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,54,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/machine-learning-for-the-history-of-ideas/118819/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-03",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What problem does the paper address in researching the history of ideas?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"It targets the selectivity and limited breadth of traditional in-depth scholarship when dealing with large volumes of historical philosophical material. The study asks how computation can expand or extend conventional methods in a philosophically meaningful way.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"Which computational techniques does the paper evaluate?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"It evaluates two machine learning techniques and focuses on their potential to analyze conceptual continuities and innovations. The paper emphasizes a critical evaluation of how these methods can contribute beyond traditional approaches.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"How is the proposed approach tested in the paper?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The approach is applied to an example concerning conceptual (dis)continuity between medieval and early modern philosophy. Challenges encountered during development and application are assessed before drawing conclusions about feasibility and limits.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,120,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]