What is history for?
Subtitle: Johann Gustav Droysen and the functions of historiography
By: Arthur Alfaix Assis
Series: Making sense of history -- Volume 17
Publisher: Berghahn
Published: 2014
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 234
ISBN-13: 9781782382485; 9781782382492
Subjects: Historiography; Philosophy; Political aspects
Description: A scholar of Hellenistic and Prussian history, Droysen developed a historical theory that at the time was unprecedented in range and depth, and which remains to the present day a valuable key for understanding history as both an idea and a professional practice. Arthur Alfaix Assis interprets Droysen's theoretical project as an attempt to redefine the function of historiography within the context of a rising criticism of exemplar theories of history, and focuses on Droysen's claim that the goal underlying historical writing and reading should be the development of the subjective capacity to think historically. In addition, Assis examines the connections and disconnections between Droysen's theory of historical thinking, his practice of historical thought, and his political activism. Ultimately, Assis not only shows how Droysen helped reinvent the relationship between historical knowledge and human agency, but also traces some of the contradictions and limitations inherent to that project.--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-226) and index.
Table of contents: title: Functions of historiography until the mid-nineteenth century: a short history of the problem; title: The theoretical design of a new justification; title: Historical thinking and the genealogy of the present; title: The politics of historical thinking and the limits of the new function; title: Conclusion; title: Appendix. Droysen and his theory of history.