Concerning philosophy and history, the article specifies in what sense they must understand the idea of history : history, in this text, is not the human science for which the historian is the specialist, that is to say the science of the human past ; history means here human future. The question therefore is to know if philosophy can influence the history.The first thesis in the text is one of the historical dependence of philosophy, and that all philosophical thought is a response of the reason to an historical stimulus : historical experiences are the matter of philosophical concepts. But we are allowed to speak about the historical fecundity of philosophy : philosophical ideas can influence thoughts which become the origins of new political doctrines or of new scientific perspectives ; the texts of great philosophers are always actual because, from their particular contexts, they think about the human condition. Learning the history of philosophy is therefore a necessity ; it is important to exercise oneself on thinking with the authors of philosophical texts.