Historicism
Historicism is an approach in the study of phenomena, particularly social and cultural practices, including ideas and beliefs, which emphasizes understanding these phenomena through the historical processes by which they developed. The concept is widely applied in fields such as philosophy, anthropology, and sociology.
This historical approach to explanation differs from and complements the approach known as functionalism, which seeks to explain a phenomenon, such as for example a social form, by providing reasoned arguments about how that social form fulfills some function in the structure of a society. In contrast, rather than taking the phenomenon as a given and then seeking to provide a justification for it from reasoned principles, the historical approach asks "Where did this come from?" and "What factors led up to its creation?"; that is, historical explanations often place a greater emphasis on the role of process and contingency.
In philosophy, historicism is defined as the view that an object can be fully understood only in terms of its historical development, that its values can be explained by tracing their origins, and that its nature is comprehensively revealed through its evolutionary course. This perspective does not address critiques related to the historical fallacy.
The term historism is an English translation of the German Historismus, but its usage has declined over time in favor of "historicism." For example, James Mark Baldwin’s 1918 Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology includes the entry "historism" but omits "historicism," whereas Dagobert D. Runes’ 1942 Dictionary of Philosophy emphasizes "historicism." In contemporary usage, historicism is employed to describe approaches that integrate both German and Italian traditions and that focus on the explanation of historical processes.
Mundane historicism refers to the view that examining an idea or individual within its historical context yields more accurate and comprehensive results, combining empirical observations with conceptual considerations. Methodological historicism argues that the social sciences and the natural sciences require different methods due to the distinct nature of their subject matters, and it evaluates the non-experimental character of history within this framework. Popperian historicism grounds the search for general laws of history in both the examination of historical records and abstract theoretical arguments; Hegel’s philosophy of history, based on a dialectical process, is often cited as a classical example of this approach. Epistemic historicism draws on historical and anthropological research to suggest that modes of reasoning and conceptions of rationality change over time; Ian Hacking adopts this historical perspective, while Hilary Putnam argues that attempts to formalize reasoning—such as Carnap’s project of inductive logic—have been unsuccessful and maintains that rationality is closely tied to value judgments.
Historicism is often used to help contextualize theories and narratives, and may be a useful tool to help understand how social and cultural phenomena came to be.
The historicist approach differs from individualist theories of knowledge such as strict empiricism and rationalism, which does not take into account traditions. Historicism can be reductionist, often tends to be, and is usually contrasted with theories that posit that historical changes occur entirely at random.
David Summers, building on the work of E. H. Gombrich, defines historicism negatively, writing that it posits "that laws of history are formulatable and that in general the outcome of history is predictable," adding "the idea that history is a universal matrix prior to events, which are simply placed in order within that matrix by the historian." This approach, he writes, "seems to make the ends of history visible, thus to justify the liquidation of groups seen not to have a place in the scheme of history" and that it has led to the "fabrication of some of the most murderous myths of modern times."
History of the term
The term historicism was coined by German philosopher Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel. Over time, what historicism is and how it is practiced have developed different and divergent meanings.According to Schlegel, Winckelmann’s approach to historicism marked the beginning of a new era in philosophy by recognizing the unique character and distinctiveness of antiquity. In contrast, other eighteenth-century philosophers distorted the true nature of the ancient world by reinterpreting it through philosophical concepts. Schlegel particularly warned against theoretical views that were not linked to specific individuals and lacked a historical foundation. The following year, Novalis, while outlining different methods, employed the term Historismus, although he did not assign a precise meaning to it in this context. Elements of historicism appear in the writings of French essayist Michel de Montaigne and Italian philosopher G. B. Vico, and became more fully developed with the dialectic of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, influential in 19th-century Europe. The writings of Karl Marx, influenced by Hegel, also occasionally include historicism. The term is also associated with the empirical social sciences and with the work of Franz Boas. Historicism tends to be hermeneutic because it values cautious, rigorous, and contextualized interpretation of information; or relativist, because it rejects notions of universal, fundamental and immutable interpretations. In the twentieth century, the Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce, the English thinker R. G. Collingwood, and the Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset adopted historicism as an approach aimed at enhancing the understanding of human thought and experience. Karl Popper, in his work The Poverty of Historicism, addressed historicism in relation to Hegel and Marx’s attempts to justify authority through laws of historical development. The Soviet Encyclopedia presented the term from a Marxist-Leninist perspective, emphasizing the notion of “legitimate development.” In American literary studies, New Historicism emerged as a postmodern interpretive approach that foregrounds the specificity of historical and cultural contexts, while making limited reference to earlier European debates.Variants
Hegelian
Hegel viewed the realization of human freedom as the ultimate purpose of history, which could be achieved only through the creation of the perfect state. Historical progress toward this state would occur through a dialectical process: the tension between the purpose of humankind and humankind's current condition would produce the attempt by humankind to change its condition to one more in accord with its nature. However, because humans are often not aware of the goal of humanity and history, the process of achieving freedom is necessarily one of self-discovery.Hegel saw progress toward freedom as conducted by the "spirit", a seemingly supernatural force that directs all human actions and interactions. Yet Hegel makes clear that the spirit is a mere abstraction that comes into existence "through the activity of finite agents". Thus, Hegel's determining forces of history may not have a metaphysical nature, though many of his opponents and interpreters have understood him as holding metaphysical and determinist views.
Hegel's historicism also suggests that any human society and all human activities such as science, art, or philosophy, are defined by their history. Consequently, their essence can be sought only by understanding said history. The history of any such human endeavor, moreover, not only continues but also reacts against what has gone before; this is the source of Hegel's famous dialectic teaching usually summarized by the slogan "thesis, antithesis, and synthesis". Hegel's famous aphorism, "Philosophy is the history of philosophy", describes it bluntly.
Hegel's position is perhaps best illuminated when contrasted against the atomistic and reductionist opinion of human societies and social activities self-defining on an ad hoc basis through the sum of dozens of interactions. Yet another contrasting model is the persistent metaphor of a social contract. Hegel considers the relationship between individuals and societies as organic, not atomic: even their social discourse is mediated by language, and language is based on etymology and unique character. It thus preserves the culture of the past in thousands of half-forgotten metaphors. To understand why a person is the way he is, you must examine that person in his society: and to understand that society, you must understand its history, and the forces that influenced it. The Zeitgeist, the "Spirit of the Age", is the concrete embodiment of the most important factors that are acting in human history at any given time. This contrasts with teleological theories of activity, which suppose that the end is the determining factor of activity, as well as those who believe in a tabula rasa, or blank slate, opinion, such that individuals are defined by their interactions.
These ideas can be interpreted variously. The Right Hegelians, working from Hegel's opinions about the organicism and historically determined nature of human societies, interpreted Hegel's historicism as a justification of the unique destiny of national groups and the importance of stability and institutions. Hegel's conception of human societies as entities greater than the individuals who constitute them influenced nineteenth-century romantic nationalism and its twentieth-century excesses. The Young Hegelians, by contrast, interpreted Hegel's thoughts on societies influenced by social conflict for a doctrine of social progress, and attempted to manipulate these forces to cause various results. Karl Marx's doctrine of "historical inevitabilities" and historical materialism is one of the more influential reactions to this part of Hegel's thought. Significantly, Karl Marx's theory of alienation argues that capitalism disrupts traditional relationships between workers and their work.
Hegelian historicism is related to his ideas on the means by which human societies progress, specifically the dialectic and his conception of logic as representing the inner essential nature of reality. Hegel attributes the change to the "modern" need to interact with the world, whereas ancient philosophers were self-contained, and medieval philosophers were monks. In his History of Philosophy Hegel writes:
In modern times things are very different; now we no longer see philosophic individuals who constitute a class by themselves. With the present day all difference has disappeared; philosophers are not monks, for we find them generally in connection with the world, participating with others in some common work or calling. They live, not independently, but in the relation of citizens, or they occupy public offices and take part in the life of the state. Certainly they may be private persons, but if so, their position as such does not in any way isolate them from their other relationship. They are involved in present conditions, in the world and its work and progress. Thus their philosophy is only by the way, a sort of luxury and superfluity. This difference is really to be found in the manner in which outward conditions have taken shape after the building up of the inward world of religion. In modern times, namely, on account of the reconciliation of the worldly principle with itself, the external world is at rest, is brought into order — worldly relationships, conditions, modes of life, have become constituted and organized in a manner which is conformable to nature and rational. We see a universal, comprehensible connection, and with that individuality likewise attains another character and nature, for it is no longer the plastic individuality of the ancients. This connection is of such power that every individuality is under its dominion, and yet at the same time can construct for itself an inward world.
This opinion that entanglement in society creates an indissoluble bond with expression, would become an influential question in philosophy, namely, the requirements for individuality. It would be considered by Nietzsche, John Dewey and Michel Foucault directly, as well as in the work of numerous artists and authors. There have been various responses to Hegel's challenge. The Romantic period emphasized the ability of individual genius to transcend time and place, and use the materials from their heritage to fashion works which were beyond determination. The modern would advance versions of John Locke's infinite malleability of the human animal. Post-structuralism would argue that since history is not present, but only the image of history, that while an individual era or power structure might emphasize a particular history, that the contradictions within the story would hinder the very purposes that the history was constructed to advance.