Category: Theory of History Polyphonic
Uwe Walter – In the system of handling history academically, theory is clearly (also) a matter of distinction. This holds true whether theory is used or not: For many ancient historians who work closely with the material or indeed even render it accessible, for Monumenta medievalists or historians of diplomacy and editors who immerse themselves in the files, rejecting “theoretical flights of fancy”, conceptual apriorism or the subordination of sources to an “add-on” theory or even one that is extraneous to the discipline is all part of a professional self-understanding and in this sense has a community-building effect.
Beitrag in Deutsch Post in English
Edoardo Tortarolo – For a long time, the theory of history has had a bad reputation. Among practising historians engaged in the analysis of a specific issue, the conviction has long prevailed that through systematic recourse to a set of sources it was possible to narrate a past event in full and, in so doing, to present readers with an implicit or explicit analysis of an aspect of human life from the past. This strongly empirical and therefore anti-theoretical view resulted in considerable efforts throughout the twentieth century to understand the genesis of relevant realities of human life. It must be acknowledged that it also led to blatant distortions, whether intentional or unintentional, based on the ideological manipulation of sources.
Contributo in italiano Post in English
João Ohara – Histories written from feminist, post- or decolonial, and racial-critical perspectives are powerful examples of the kind of polyphonic historical understanding about which Ethan Kleinberg invites us to think. However, these histories and the theories that make them possible are still considered “special cases” apart from mainstream historiography and theory of history proper. A broad and inclusive definition of theory and philosophy of history can help us overcome this problem.
Anna Karla – The following text describes the relationship between history and theory in five interventions. The fact that it by no means covers the topic exhaustively lies in the matter itself rather than the brevity of the form. Theory of history unfolds in the course of conversation. Its allies are provisional ways of thinking and tentative expressions rather than an architecture of solid concepts.
Beitrag in Deutsch Post in English
Ethan Kleinberg – Theory of history is, or should be, an inherently polyphonic endeavor. This coincides with my argument in Haunting History about the ways the past itself is polysemic and requires attunement to the multiple possible pasts that haunt our present.