  Yorck's main aim is to provide an analysis of the underlying psychology of human life, which he considers the basis for all historical development. According to Yorck, particular configurations in the psychology of man, or stances of consciousness, determine the dominant shape of historical epochs. In other words, certain positions adopted on the level of “primary life” [primäre Lebendigkeit], the stances taken by consciousness within life, determine “historical life” [historische Lebendigkeit] at large and can define entire epochs (ST, p. 5; also pp. 52, 53). Therefore, Yorck speaks of the “psychology of history” and, the “philosophic history of philosophy” (which traces the stances of consciousness through empirical history) (ST, p. 10).