The return of historical theory in Western history
January 04, 2021 09:32 Source: "China Social Sciences", January 4, 2021, No. 2082 Author: Zhang Xupeng

Entering the 21st century,Western history presents the phenomenon of "turning" (turn "(turn) and" return "。One aspect,Various "steers" alternately appear,If the global steering that has a huge impact on the current history、Space steering and memory steering,and in recent years, the ascendant emotional steering、Digital steering、Animal steering, etc.。On the other hand,Various "regression" also follows,Return as long as a long period、The return of general history、The return of concept history、The return of revolutionary history、The return of political history, etc.,。If "steering" means new or change,So "return" is the re -examining and use of the old historic phenomena and methods。In many "regression",The return of historical theory is a phenomenon worthy of attention。

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History theory is generally called historical philosophy of historical body theory or speculation,Mainly discuss the laws of history、Power、Value、subject、Purpose and other questions。In the West,The context of historical theory is long。Ancient Guoxun Gu Gu in ancient Greece and Rome、Christian last days、Universal historical concepts of the Middle Ages、Historical progressism during the Enlightenment period,All can be regarded as the expression form of historical theory。19th Century,History theory With the rise of Hegel's historical philosophy, it has reached its heyday,Become a dominant system of cognition and understanding of the historical process。but but,Hegel's historical philosophy is based on the narrow Prussian and the general European commanding height,Human history is understood as low -level linear evolution in this system,Of course, Europe's position is the apex of the evolution of human history。Hegel's historical philosophy is therefore rich in European centralism。

Enter the 20th century,History theory is developed in Spengel and Tangyinbi。The two challenged Hegel's European centralism,bet365 live casino games No longer regard Europe as the main narrative and endpoint of human history。From the view of Sperthler,Whether it is Western history or history in other regions,Breeding in their own unique culture and civilization,Also through the origin、growth、The cyclical process of maturity and decline。So,There is no privilege on other civilizations in the West,"Fall in the West" also reflects the inevitability of history。Similar to Spertile,Tang Yinby also examines human history from a civilized perspective。Tangyinby emphasized,Each civilization is parallel and equivalent,There is no difference between the difference between the high and the advantages and disadvantages,The development of human history will follow multi -line rather than single -line logic。Sperto and Tong Yinba's "History" (History),A diverse understanding of history to cope with the era crisis and civilization crisis facing the West。

What amazing is,History theory immediately declined after World War II,Has been left out by philosophers and historians。Scholars are no longer interested in universal and magnificent historical problems,The inquiry about what history is from gradually shifted from ontology to epistemology,From the history itself to history。Reasons for the reason,Factors of the existing era,It is the need for historical research itself。After the end of World War II,West has experienced a long -term stable and prosperous development stage,Social contradictions and the relief of crisis have temporarily putting on the end of history and the future of the future,Instead。For some thinkers,The scientific and rational history that fell in the 19th century has become an overall "giant beast" that has become suppressed and diverse,Its distinctive purpose theory seems to make humans unable to get rid of the destined destination。For this,They oppose grand narrative and decision theory,Advocate the way of deconstruction of postmodernism,The overall planning of historical development is further abandoned。Same,For historians,The history of one yuan single line has a clear end point and irreversible Bet365 app download goals,The individual who is in it is not capable except expectations,This is not a kind of "secularized eSchatology"。So,Historians need to break this tough integration of "Collection Singular" of various history,To show the lively、Diverse,and history containing individual experience。It is in this context,Follow the bottom layer and advocate the social history and cultural history of "bottom -up",The mainstream of historical research。Totally,Except that Fushan threw the "Historical End Conclusion" in the late 1980s,No greater influence of historical theory。

 History theory Discussion quietly returns

But,In the last ten years,Historian re -show strong interest in the historical philosophy of speculation,The discussion of historical theory is quietly returning in the Western historic community。2010,David Christian, a British historian, published "The Return of Universal History",Procrastation of the universal history of ancient times will be popular again in the next 50 years,The form of returning is the big history he preached (big history)。As early as 2004,Christian published the foundation of the Great History "Time Map: Maps of Time: An INTRODUCTION to Big History),The system proposes the concept and goal of great history。2017,His new "Origin Story: A Big History of Everything) came out,From the perspective of the mythology of the creation, the contemporary value of the great history。As far as its essence is concerned,Great History is a kind of effort to reconstruct grand narrative,It is not only a response to the various crises and uncertainty faced by human beings today,It is also thinking about the future direction and fate of human history,It reflects its unique interest and in -depth thinking about historical theory issues。

It seems to echo with Christian,2012,Professor David Armitage, a professor of thought in Harvard University, published "What is the concept? The Big Idea? Intellectual History and the Longue Durée ",Emphasize to study major events and phenomena in human history from a long time,Then rebuild the inevitable relationship between history and overallness。two years later,He wrote bet365 best casino games a book "The History Manifesto" with Jo Guldi,Reconstruction of the return of long periods again,Call historians not to be obsessed with subtle and trivial historians,Instead of throwing a vision into climate change、International Governance、Social inequality such as major issues,and redefine the history of the ancients with the help of grand narrative、Look at the future tradition。Obviously,Where is amtic,The significance and value of history not only involve more disciplined historical theory problems,And related to more realistic historical theory problems。

The same worthy of attention is,The pioneer of the school school of "People Research"、Representative of post -colonial history Dipesh Chakrabarty published a new work "Crisis: The CRISES of Civilization: Exploring Global Ander in 2019". Planetary history)。His inspection of the crisis of civilization,The preferences of the theme of civilization with the historical philosophy of speculation。but but,Different from Sperass and Tangyin,The "civilization" explored by Chakrabati is not a specific civilization,but surpass the country and nation,even surpassing the civilization of human beings from the planet sense。He pointed out,As a resident on the earth,The crisis faced by humans comes from capitalism or globalization,On the other hand, it comes from the deterioration of the climate。This pair of crisis constitutes a huge challenge to humans and the earth they live in,The way to deal with the crisis is to construct a brand new、The historical view of sustainable development。This historical view is no longer based on human activity trajectory,In terms of time, based on a more magnificent "Anthropocene" as the base point,Has a typical "postpone human" feature。

 The return of historical theory has its roots

The rise of historical theory has a close relationship with the crisis and transformation of society,It can be regarded as a conscious reflection on this crisis and transformation,and the ideas and planning of the future in order to propose the way of response。Western historians pay attention to this kind of historical theory that represents the overall and unified historical Bet365 lotto review theory,Also can find answers in the contradictions and crisis of western society in recent years。

First,Western society is developing until today,Facing many difficult contradictions and crises,And once these contradictions and crises burst out,often bring global adverse consequences。For example,Worrying about global warming problems、Ecological and environmental deterioration caused by excessive development,etc.。The above crisis prompts Western historians to re -reflect on the value of the current social development model、meaning and reasonable,Historical theoretical issues are valued。

Second,There is a problem with the globalization dominated by the West,It does not bring a fair world,Instead, it has exacerbated global inequality,Caused more that avoided turbulence and anxiety。Not only that,The globalization dominated by the West has also triggered the videos of populism and extreme nationalism in the Western countries,This political and cultural system that is proud of the West constituted a severe challenge。This situation also promotes the situation of historians to re -consider the overall development of human history,and re -evaluate the motivation and mechanism behind the unity of human history。

Last,Postmodernism、Simpage of currentism and short -termism continues to deconstruct the grand narrative in history。In this scene,It is difficult for people to grasp the general trend of human history development,to increase the uncertainty of the future。Determined loss,It will further exacerbate the current social crisis。People need a new grand narrative,Betting to rebuild the overallness of history,and get the future worth looking forward to。The interaction of the three reasons above,History theoretical problems have emerged again in the Western historical community。

The return of historical theory in the Western History circles,Have two distinctive features。One,Most of the proposals of the historical philosophy of speculative are philosophers、thinkers and politicians,The difference is,Thinners of historical theory and proposals are mostly in practice historians。For example,David Christian, bet365 live casino games which advocates the return of general history, has previously studied Russia and Soviet history,Amitch, who has called for a long time, has been immersed in the field of political thought for many years,Chakrabati, who examines the crisis of civilization, is a well -known scholar in South Asian history research。This indicates,Historians are no longer just satisfied with the learning in the book,Instead, he is eager to participate in social changes as actresses。Its two,Historical theoretical issues and historic theoretical issues are closely combined,It is difficult to divide。Previous,History theory and historical theory are relatively obvious,The former is considered the object of philosophical research,The latter belongs to history。but,Considering the expansion of historic boundaries and enhancement of historians participating in social consciousness,In recent years, historical theoretical problems and historical theory issues have become more and more entangled together。Take the Great History as an example,It not only involves the time scale of historical research、Structure framework、Narrative perspective and other historical compilation issues,In -depth thinking on the development laws and power of human history。Same,Research on historical time In addition to examining the separation of the past and the present、Historical episodes such as the generation of modern historical consciousness,It is also necessary to analyze the historical system of historical body theory such as a historical evolution model) and the corresponding social and cultural system.。

In short,It can be seen from the two characteristics reflected by historical theory at the moment,Historians or historians in practice, while retaining experience research they are good at,More and more devoted to the discussion of the major theoretical issues of the times。

The return of historical theory, although it is one of the important trends in the Western historian world,But it also has a positive reference meaning for Chinese historians。In China,Although historians have always been light historical theory, they focus on historiology theory,But accepting the Bet365 app download historical view of materialism,Make Chinese historians have natural enthusiasm and long -lasting interests about historical theory issues。Chinese historians are also more interested in incorporating the history of historiography into the exploration of history with traditional history,Looking for it to the country、Significance of society and life。Today,The world is in a big change in a hundred years,History theory and historical theory are more closely linked than ever before。In the rapids of the times,Chinese historians will not be indifferent,They will consider and construct a new theoretical form that integrates historical theory and historical theory,Summary historical experience、Reveal historical laws、Grasp my own responsibility in the historical trend,Complete your mission。

(the author is a researcher at the Institute of History Theoretical Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Editor in charge: Cui Cen
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