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Western Historical Thinking

Western Historical Thinking

Jörn Rüsen

(2002)

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Abstract

What is history – a question historians have been asking themselves time and again. Does "history" as an academic discipline, as it has evolved in the West over the centuries, represent a specific mode of historical thinking that can bedefined in contrast to other forms of historical consciousness?

In this volume, Peter Burke, a prominent "Western" historian, offers ten hypotheses that attempt to constitute specifically "Western Historical Thinking." Scholars from Asia and Africa comment on his position in the light of their own ideas of the sense and meaning of historical thinking. The volume is rounded off by Peter Burke's comments on the questions and issues raised by the authors and his suggestions for the way forward towards a common ground for intercultural communication.


“... a remarkably stimulating production, full of insights and observations that cannot fail to inform and illuminate. Although it would be an ideal text for the graduate seminar, it will prove valuable to anyone interested in the uses of the past.”  ·  Clio

“... [an] engaging, sophisticated and scrupulous study ... a strongly recommended, introspective and thoughtful compilation which would enhance any personal or academic philosophy or history collection.”  · Midwest Book Review

"... a strongly recommended, introspective and thoughtful compilation which would enhance any personal or academic Philosophy or History collection."  · The Bookwatch


Jörn Rüsen was Professor of Modern History at Universities Bochum and Bielefeld for many years. From 1994 to 1997 he was Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at Bielefeld. Since 1997 he has been President of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities Essen (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut). He specialises in theory and methodology of historical sciences, the history of historiography, intercultural aspects of historical thinking, theory of historical learning, and the history of human rights.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Western Historical Thinking 1
Contents 5
Preface to the Series 7
Introduction 15
Western Historical Thinking in aGlobal Perspective – 10 Theses 29
1. General CommentsPerspectives in Historical Anthropology 47
Searching for Common Principles 67
The Coherence of the West 72
2. The Peculiarity of the WestToward an Archaeology ofHistorical Thinking 79
Trauma and Suffering 86
Western Deep Culture and WesternHistorical Thinking 99
What is Uniquely Western about theHistoriography of the West in Contrastto that of China? 115
The Westernization of World History 125
3. The Perspective of the OthersWestern Historical Thinking froman Arabian Perspective 133
Cognitive Historiography andNormative Historiography 142
Western Uniqueness? 156
Historical Programs 162
4. The Difference of the OthersReflections onChinese Historical Thinking 166
Must History Follow Rational Patternsof Interpretation? 187
Some Reflections onEarly Indian Historical Thinking 192
Reply 203
Notes on Contributers 213
Index 217