Theory of history

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The theory of history , theory of history or History (from the Latin. Ars historica = Historical Art [teach]) explaining and justifying the basics of the science of history . It is to be distinguished from the source-based historical research , the history didactics and the history philosophy .

What is not meant here are in particular theories of the philosophy of history about the course or meaning of the whole of history (from Augustine von Hippo , Immanuel Kant , Karl Marx to Theodor Lessing or Francis Fukuyama ), which are often referred to as theories of history .

development

The theory of history began in ancient literature as a rhetorical- didactic teaching of historiography , e.g. B. at Plutarch . In the Middle Ages , a history of secular things had to justify itself to the saint's life, which is more worthy from a Christian point of view , as in Einhard's argument with Sulpicius Severus . The theoretical discussion progressed through the Enlightenment and historicism to the methodology of historical research and to the epistemology of historical thought . It also integrated parts of the philosophy of history . Already Wilhelm Wachsmuth published in 1820 a theoretical design, the fundamental work of German historicism but Johann Gustav Droysen History (1857).

Friedrich Nietzsche's work On The Use and Disadvantage of History for Life (1874) raised the central question of the life achievements of science in his criticism of an overly historicizing worldview, which he accused contemporary historicism of ("idolatry of the factual"). Only a critical view of history makes it possible to repeatedly shake off the burden of remembered history. For him, history is close to art . At present, discourse theories such as those by Michel Foucault or Paul Veyne are close to this position . Many historians, however, oppose the dissolution of the past into a mere construction, including Eric J. Hobsbawm . The relevance of history results from the inevitable presence of the past for humans.

For the German development after 1945, the division of the state led to a controversy between Marxist and so-called " bourgeois " historiography in East and West. The focus was on the regularity of history and the historian's partiality . Karl-Georg Faber gives an overview . Within the Federal German debate, the Bielefelder Schule represented the need for theory of empirical historical research against theory skeptics such as B. Konrad Repgen . She also pleaded for an enlightening role of history against historical myths and for the disclosure of one's own prerequisites or against their tacit setting, such as the primacy of foreign policy . In the 1970s and 1980s, a working group dealt with questions of history theory, in which, in addition to Jürgen Kocka , Thomas Nipperdey and Reinhart Koselleck were particularly prominent (see literature). Research on the history of historical science was also encouraged. In the 1980s Jörn Rüsen developed a new historical theoretical foundation in several volumes beyond Droysen, which was also taken up in history didactics.

The French history, z. B. Fustel de Coulanges , oriented himself in the late 19th century on German historicism with a positivist criticism of sources : “Without sources, no history!” On the other hand, Marc Bloch in Apology of the Science of History or The Profession of the Historian and Jacques Le Goff in History as Science: The Profession of historian as a representative of the Annales School, the compulsion to random selection, the right of historical imagination beyond written sources, from which new questions arise, as well as the "silent sources" first examined in archeology . For many topics, such as witches or festivals, there are only “zones of silence” that have to be reconstructed using quantitative or literary methods without traditional sources. Le Goff wanted to create a historical anthropology with broad questions.

Giambattista Vico and, in the 20th century, Benedetto Croce had a great influence on the Italian theory of history . In the Anglo-Saxon area, the philosopher Robin George Collingwood with the philosophy of history (1946) and the specialist historians Edward Hallett Carr and Eric J. Hobsbawm should be mentioned . The American Hayden White emphasized the narrativity of history as its fundamental structural characteristic in contrast to other social sciences.

Today, the postmodern debates about the history of mentality , the memory theory and its consequences for oral history , (e.g. with Harald Welzer ), and the discourse theories and their consequences for the science of history, the linguistic turn (e.g. Hayden White ) or more recently the iconic turn with the explosive increase in source material and the new cultural history on the “hot” topics.

Why history?

In 1959, Alfred Heuss lamented the loss of history as an educational power in post-war Germany. A reference to private hobby is not enough, for example to justify a school subject history. Can you learn something from history ( historia magistra vitae )? Is tradition more valid or the right to renewal? There is no doubt that historical research can critically correct prejudices and historical legends . It can offer individuals or groups a wide variety of identity and group membership (nation, region, gender, class ...), but it is not yet clear whether history can create an identity if its critical function is effective at the same time. The legitimacy of a social order will usually use historical arguments, for example the historical experience with the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich is cited for the Basic Law.

The representative of the Bielefeld School , Jürgen Kocka , summarized the social functions of history in 1975:

  • Historical explanation of current problems by uncovering their causes and development (example: anti-Semitism )
  • Imparting model categories and insights into political education for knowledge and orientation in the present
  • Legitimation and stabilization of social and political power relations, justification of political decisions (e.g. revolution celebrations of the USA in 1976 and France in 1989 )
  • Critique of tradition and ideology , criticism of historical myths and legends (e.g. stab in the back legend )
  • Creation of an awareness of possibility by liquefying the present, showing alternatives
  • Orientation of individuals and groups in their presence, also by showing what has been buried, what is out of date
  • Education for concrete and critical thinking against hasty absolutes, insight into the relativity of historical-political perspectives
  • “Pointless” pastime, entertainment, pleasure

Condition factors of historical knowledge

Jörn Rüsen (1983-89) summarized five factors that determine historical knowledge in a disciplinary matrix :

  • Orientation needs in the present,
  • guiding aspects of the human past,
  • methodical procedures,
  • Forms of representation,
  • Functions of existence orientation.

Problem areas

According to Karl-Georg Faber (1971), the central problems of historical theory are :

In the border area to philosophy too

  • Conception of man ( anthropology )
  • Sense of historical science

literature

Magazines

Classics and literature until 1990

  • Johann Gustav Droysen : History. Lectures on encyclopedia and methodology of history. HKA ed. v. K. Hübner, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-486-40858-5 .
  • Marc Bloch : Apology of the science of history or the profession of the historian. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2002 (French 1949), ISBN 3-608-94170-3 .
  • Edward Hallett Carr : What is History? London 1961. (German: What is history? Stuttgart 1963)
  • Robin George Collingwood : The Idea of ​​History. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1946. (German: Philosophy of History , Stuttgart 1955)
  • Kurt Kluxen : Lectures on the theory of history. 2 volumes. Paderborn 1974–1981.
  • Karl-Georg Faber : Theory of historical science. 4th ext. Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-06173-7 .
  • Jürgen Kocka : History for what? (first 1975), In: Wolfgang Hardtwig (Hrsg.): About the study of history. dtv, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-423-04546-9 (also in: history , bsv study material, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-7627-6020-9 )
  • Reinhart Koselleck : history, history. In: O. Brunner, W. Conze, R. Koselleck: Historical lexicon on the political-social language in Germany (basic historical terms). Vol. 2. Stuttgart 1975, pp. 647-715.
  • Jacques Le Goff : History and Memory. Ullstein, Berlin 1999, (Italian 1971) ISBN 3-548-26552-9 .
  • Jörn Rüsen : Basics of a History. 3 vol .:
    • l: historical reason. The basics of history . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1983, ISBN 3-525-33482-6 .
    • 2: Reconstruction of the past. The principles of historical research . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1986, ISBN 3-525-33517-2 .
    • 3: Living history. Forms and functions of historical knowledge . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1989, ISBN 3-525-33554-7 .
  • Hayden White : Tropics of Discourse . dt. Klio also writes or the fiction of the factual. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1986.
  • Series: Theory of History. Contributions to history. 6 vols., Dtv, Munich 1977–1990. (Conference reports of the working group "Theory of History")
    • Reinhart Koselleck u. a. (Ed.): Objectivity and partiality in the science of history. 1977.
    • Karl-Georg Faber, Christian Meier (Ed.): Historical processes. 1978.
    • J. Kocka, Thomas Nipperdey (ed.): Theory and narration in history. 1979.
    • R. Koselleck, Heinrich Lutz , Jörn Rüsen (Ed.): Forms of historiography. 1982.
    • Christian Meier, Jörn Rüsen (ed.): Historical method. 1988, ISBN 3-423-04390-3 .
    • Karl Acham, Winfried Schulze (ed.): Part and whole. 1990.

Introductions and recent writings

  • Václav Faltus : Feature Film, Film Theory and History. A contribution to the methodology of contemporary history , FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen 2020, http://d-nb.info/1203375433 , a research program with a historical perspective and methodologically advanced.
  • Hans-Jürgen Goertz : dealing with history. An introduction to the theory of history. rororo, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-55555-7 .
  • Timothy Goering, "Absolutized Logic is Ideology". Three German Perspectives on Analytic Philosophy in the 1960s and 1970s ", in: Journal of the Philosophy of History 10.2 (2016), pp. 170–194.
  • Eric J. Hobsbawm : How much history does the future need. Hanser, Munich 1998 (engl. 1997 On history ), ISBN 3-7632-4835-8 .
  • Stefan Jordan : Theories and Methods of History. Orientation history. Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-8252-3104-0 .
  • Lothar Kolmer: Theories of History . UTB, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8252-3002-9 .
  • Jörn Rüsen: History. Theory of History , Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2013.
  • Erhard Wiersing: History of historical thinking: at the same time an introduction to the theory of history. Schöningh et al. a., Paderborn 2007.
  • Andreas Buller: The theories of history of the 19th century. The relationship between historical reality and historical knowledge between Karl Marx and Johann Gustav Droysen (contribution to transcendental history). Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-8325-0089-8 .
  • Thomas Mergel , Thomas Welskopp (ed.): History between culture and society. Contributions to the theoretical debate . CH Beck, Munich 1997.
  • Lutz Raphael : History in the Age of Extremes. Theories, methods, tendencies from 1900 to the present. Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-49472-2 .
  • Martin Tschiggerl, Thomas Walach , Stefan Zahlmann: Theory of history . Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2019, ISBN 978-3-658-22882-8

Web links