Lawrence A. Scaff
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147796
- eISBN:
- 9781400836710
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147796.003.0014
- Subject:
- Sociology, Population and Demography
This chapter examines how Max Weber's work has been recast as canonical for the social sciences and central to its current agendas. It first considers the substantial body of translations that became ...
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This chapter examines how Max Weber's work has been recast as canonical for the social sciences and central to its current agendas. It first considers the substantial body of translations that became the basis for the postwar permeation of Weber's work into the social sciences, and especially into the subfield specializations of sociology, including Talcott Parsons' The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism, before discussing the role played by the interwar émigrés in the struggle over the mastery of Weber. It then explains how Weber achieved an intellectual synthesis through a combination of structural and institutional analysis, notions of rationality, propositions about social action, awareness of cultural particularities, and a deep appreciation for historical inquiry and evidence. It also analyzes the expansion of the horizon for Weber's ideas beyond the boundaries of sociology to the Western philosophical and political tradition.Less
This chapter examines how Max Weber's work has been recast as canonical for the social sciences and central to its current agendas. It first considers the substantial body of translations that became the basis for the postwar permeation of Weber's work into the social sciences, and especially into the subfield specializations of sociology, including Talcott Parsons' The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism, before discussing the role played by the interwar émigrés in the struggle over the mastery of Weber. It then explains how Weber achieved an intellectual synthesis through a combination of structural and institutional analysis, notions of rationality, propositions about social action, awareness of cultural particularities, and a deep appreciation for historical inquiry and evidence. It also analyzes the expansion of the horizon for Weber's ideas beyond the boundaries of sociology to the Western philosophical and political tradition.
Donald R. Kelley
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300120622
- eISBN:
- 9780300135091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300120622.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is historical inquiry. This text examines historiographical themes, language, and methods which have persisted through time to the ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is historical inquiry. This text examines historiographical themes, language, and methods which have persisted through time to the present. These themes have persisted despite intrusions of ideology. It also explores how historical inquiry became increasing divorced from old-fashioned archival research and was turned into a new version of the “conjectural history” of the Enlightenment.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this volume which is historical inquiry. This text examines historiographical themes, language, and methods which have persisted through time to the present. These themes have persisted despite intrusions of ideology. It also explores how historical inquiry became increasing divorced from old-fashioned archival research and was turned into a new version of the “conjectural history” of the Enlightenment.
William H. Dray
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198238812
- eISBN:
- 9780191679780
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198238812.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
A central motif of R. G. Collingwood's philosophy of history is the idea that historical understanding requires a re-enactment of past experience. However, there have been sharp disagreements about ...
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A central motif of R. G. Collingwood's philosophy of history is the idea that historical understanding requires a re-enactment of past experience. However, there have been sharp disagreements about the acceptability of this idea, and even its meaning. This book aims to advance the critical discussion in three ways: by analysing the idea itself further, concentrating especially on the contrast which Collingwood drew between it and scientific understanding; by exploring the limits of its applicability to what historians ordinarily consider their proper subject-matter; and by clarifying the relationship between it and some other key Collingwoodian ideas, such as the place of imagination in historical inquiry, the sense in which history deals with the individual, the essential perspectivity of historical judgement, and the importance of narrative and periodisation in historical thinking. This book defends Collingwood against a good deal of recent criticism, while pointing to ways in which his position requires revision or development. This book draws upon a wide range of Collingwood's published writings, and makes considerable use of his unpublished manuscripts.Less
A central motif of R. G. Collingwood's philosophy of history is the idea that historical understanding requires a re-enactment of past experience. However, there have been sharp disagreements about the acceptability of this idea, and even its meaning. This book aims to advance the critical discussion in three ways: by analysing the idea itself further, concentrating especially on the contrast which Collingwood drew between it and scientific understanding; by exploring the limits of its applicability to what historians ordinarily consider their proper subject-matter; and by clarifying the relationship between it and some other key Collingwoodian ideas, such as the place of imagination in historical inquiry, the sense in which history deals with the individual, the essential perspectivity of historical judgement, and the importance of narrative and periodisation in historical thinking. This book defends Collingwood against a good deal of recent criticism, while pointing to ways in which his position requires revision or development. This book draws upon a wide range of Collingwood's published writings, and makes considerable use of his unpublished manuscripts.
Donald R. Kelley
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300120622
- eISBN:
- 9780300135091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300120622.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter examines issues concerning the newer “new histories,” interdisciplinary encounters, the “linguistic turn,” the question of the “end of history,” and various other postmodernist ideas. It ...
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This chapter examines issues concerning the newer “new histories,” interdisciplinary encounters, the “linguistic turn,” the question of the “end of history,” and various other postmodernist ideas. It offers a more personal critique of the state of history at the start of the third millennium within deepening perspectives and expanding horizons. It also discusses personal experiences in historical studies and argues that the idea of an end to history belongs to the philosophy or theology of history and not to historical inquiry.Less
This chapter examines issues concerning the newer “new histories,” interdisciplinary encounters, the “linguistic turn,” the question of the “end of history,” and various other postmodernist ideas. It offers a more personal critique of the state of history at the start of the third millennium within deepening perspectives and expanding horizons. It also discusses personal experiences in historical studies and argues that the idea of an end to history belongs to the philosophy or theology of history and not to historical inquiry.
Austin E. Quigley
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300101669
- eISBN:
- 9780300129816
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300101669.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
In the aftermath of debate about the death of literary theory, this book asks whether theory has failed us or we have failed literary theory. Theory can thrive, the book argues, only if we understand ...
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In the aftermath of debate about the death of literary theory, this book asks whether theory has failed us or we have failed literary theory. Theory can thrive, the book argues, only if we understand how it can be strategically deployed to reveal what it does not presuppose. This involves the repositioning of theoretical inquiry relative to historical and critical inquiry and the repositioning of theories relative to each other. What follows is a reexamination of the controversial claims of pluralism in literary studies. The book explores the related roles of literary history, criticism, and theory by tracing the fascinating history of linguistics as an intellectual problem in the twentieth century. This approach clarifies the pluralistic nature of literary inquiry, the viability and life cycles of theories, the controversial status of canonicity, and the polemical nature of the culture wars by positioning them all in the context of recurring debates about language that have their earliest exemplifications in classical times.Less
In the aftermath of debate about the death of literary theory, this book asks whether theory has failed us or we have failed literary theory. Theory can thrive, the book argues, only if we understand how it can be strategically deployed to reveal what it does not presuppose. This involves the repositioning of theoretical inquiry relative to historical and critical inquiry and the repositioning of theories relative to each other. What follows is a reexamination of the controversial claims of pluralism in literary studies. The book explores the related roles of literary history, criticism, and theory by tracing the fascinating history of linguistics as an intellectual problem in the twentieth century. This approach clarifies the pluralistic nature of literary inquiry, the viability and life cycles of theories, the controversial status of canonicity, and the polemical nature of the culture wars by positioning them all in the context of recurring debates about language that have their earliest exemplifications in classical times.
Donald R. Kelley
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300120622
- eISBN:
- 9780300135091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300120622.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter examines the state of the art of history on the eve of World War I. It describes “mini-national” traditions and historiographical practice in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the U.S. ...
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This chapter examines the state of the art of history on the eve of World War I. It describes “mini-national” traditions and historiographical practice in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the U.S. and discusses questioning of the Enlightenment ideas of reason, history, philosophy, and mastery of nature and society in modernism and science. It also highlights how historical inquiries took differing directions in the wake of miscalculations, misconceptualizations, and mispredictions and operated in the “shadows of tomorrow” when history seemed to be getting out of control.Less
This chapter examines the state of the art of history on the eve of World War I. It describes “mini-national” traditions and historiographical practice in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the U.S. and discusses questioning of the Enlightenment ideas of reason, history, philosophy, and mastery of nature and society in modernism and science. It also highlights how historical inquiries took differing directions in the wake of miscalculations, misconceptualizations, and mispredictions and operated in the “shadows of tomorrow” when history seemed to be getting out of control.
Peter W. Martens
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199639557
- eISBN:
- 9780191738135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199639557.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Biblical Studies
This chapter examines one particular facet of the paideia encountered in the previous chapter, the interpreter's area of specialization, philology. It sketches this discipline as Origen understood ...
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This chapter examines one particular facet of the paideia encountered in the previous chapter, the interpreter's area of specialization, philology. It sketches this discipline as Origen understood it, relying upon his fragmentary descriptions of it, as well as his own exegetical practice. The focus is on three procedures: text-criticism (particularly as associated with the Hexapla, his monumental edition of the Old Testament text), historical inquiry (e.g., did an event recorded in Scripture happen?), and literary analysis (e.g., clarifying obscure texts in light of clearer passages). Thereafter, the chapter turns to the two main philological referents, tracing out Origen's definitions of, and distinctions between, literal and allegorical interpretation.Less
This chapter examines one particular facet of the paideia encountered in the previous chapter, the interpreter's area of specialization, philology. It sketches this discipline as Origen understood it, relying upon his fragmentary descriptions of it, as well as his own exegetical practice. The focus is on three procedures: text-criticism (particularly as associated with the Hexapla, his monumental edition of the Old Testament text), historical inquiry (e.g., did an event recorded in Scripture happen?), and literary analysis (e.g., clarifying obscure texts in light of clearer passages). Thereafter, the chapter turns to the two main philological referents, tracing out Origen's definitions of, and distinctions between, literal and allegorical interpretation.
Donald R. Kelley
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300120622
- eISBN:
- 9780300135091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300120622.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter examines changes in historical inquiry and historical writing during World War II. It explains that disillusionment with history was not uncommon among intellectuals of the 1914 ...
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This chapter examines changes in historical inquiry and historical writing during World War II. It explains that disillusionment with history was not uncommon among intellectuals of the 1914 generation and that the “new history” in America and continental Europe was conceived along national lines. It also discusses the decline of new history in Great Britain, the turn to anthropology in France, and the emergence of new economic and social histories in the U.S. paralleled by the reception of Americanized literary turn.Less
This chapter examines changes in historical inquiry and historical writing during World War II. It explains that disillusionment with history was not uncommon among intellectuals of the 1914 generation and that the “new history” in America and continental Europe was conceived along national lines. It also discusses the decline of new history in Great Britain, the turn to anthropology in France, and the emergence of new economic and social histories in the U.S. paralleled by the reception of Americanized literary turn.
Donald R. Kelley
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300120622
- eISBN:
- 9780300135091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300120622.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on historical inquiry. It explains that the most troubling problems and major imperatives at the start of the twenty-first century are much the ...
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This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on historical inquiry. It explains that the most troubling problems and major imperatives at the start of the twenty-first century are much the same as those which faced Herodotus in the middle of the first millennium B.C. It suggests that at the third millennium A.D., written history is poised between two poles—between fragmentation and synthesis, between analysis and narrative, and between research and conjecture. This chapter also argues that there will always be new histories.Less
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on historical inquiry. It explains that the most troubling problems and major imperatives at the start of the twenty-first century are much the same as those which faced Herodotus in the middle of the first millennium B.C. It suggests that at the third millennium A.D., written history is poised between two poles—between fragmentation and synthesis, between analysis and narrative, and between research and conjecture. This chapter also argues that there will always be new histories.
Eric R. Wolf
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223332
- eISBN:
- 9780520924871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223332.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
This chapter combines historical inquiry and structural-functional anthropology to relate the rise of one of the greatest salvation religions to concomitant social and political transformations. It ...
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This chapter combines historical inquiry and structural-functional anthropology to relate the rise of one of the greatest salvation religions to concomitant social and political transformations. It attempts to show the rise of a powerful symbol system that acted as a catalyst in spurring the political unification of disparate kinship groups. The chapter is concerned primarily with the change from a type of society organized on the basis of kin relationships to one possessed of an organized state. The studies show that this change took place in an urban environment and was causally connected with the spread of trade. Ways in which people relate to one another in terms of the material culturally available to them are discussed. Systems of relationship change under the impact of internal and external factors. The chapter presents a case history to show certain changes in social organization that appear to occur at the threshold of transition from one level of organization to another.Less
This chapter combines historical inquiry and structural-functional anthropology to relate the rise of one of the greatest salvation religions to concomitant social and political transformations. It attempts to show the rise of a powerful symbol system that acted as a catalyst in spurring the political unification of disparate kinship groups. The chapter is concerned primarily with the change from a type of society organized on the basis of kin relationships to one possessed of an organized state. The studies show that this change took place in an urban environment and was causally connected with the spread of trade. Ways in which people relate to one another in terms of the material culturally available to them are discussed. Systems of relationship change under the impact of internal and external factors. The chapter presents a case history to show certain changes in social organization that appear to occur at the threshold of transition from one level of organization to another.
Stephanie Downes, Sally Holloway, and Sarah Randles (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- February 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198802648
- eISBN:
- 9780191840944
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198802648.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, European Medieval History
This volume investigates the various interactions of people, feelings, and things throughout pre-modern Europe. The subject of materiality has been gaining interest in recent historical inquiry, ...
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This volume investigates the various interactions of people, feelings, and things throughout pre-modern Europe. The subject of materiality has been gaining interest in recent historical inquiry, alongside growing emphasis on the relationships between objects, emotions, and affect in archaeological and sociological research. The historical intersections between materiality and emotions, however, have remained under-theorized, particularly with respect to objects which have continuing resonance over extended periods of time, or across cultural and geographical space. The book addresses this need to develop an appropriate cross-disciplinary theoretical framework for analysing the emotional meanings of objects in European history. It draws together an international group of historians, art historians, curators, and literary scholars working on a variety of cultural, literary, visual, and material sources. Objects considered include books, letters, prosthetics, religious relics, shoes, stone, and textiles, and individual chapters address the ways in which emotions such as despair, fear, grief, hope, love, and wonder become inscribed in and ascribed to these items, producing ‘emotional objects’ of significance and agency.Less
This volume investigates the various interactions of people, feelings, and things throughout pre-modern Europe. The subject of materiality has been gaining interest in recent historical inquiry, alongside growing emphasis on the relationships between objects, emotions, and affect in archaeological and sociological research. The historical intersections between materiality and emotions, however, have remained under-theorized, particularly with respect to objects which have continuing resonance over extended periods of time, or across cultural and geographical space. The book addresses this need to develop an appropriate cross-disciplinary theoretical framework for analysing the emotional meanings of objects in European history. It draws together an international group of historians, art historians, curators, and literary scholars working on a variety of cultural, literary, visual, and material sources. Objects considered include books, letters, prosthetics, religious relics, shoes, stone, and textiles, and individual chapters address the ways in which emotions such as despair, fear, grief, hope, love, and wonder become inscribed in and ascribed to these items, producing ‘emotional objects’ of significance and agency.
Richard L. Velkley
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226852546
- eISBN:
- 9780226852553
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226852553.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter discusses Strauss’ claim that the conflict between ancient and modern political philosophy stems from the concept of “individuality.” It seems beyond question that classical thought ...
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This chapter discusses Strauss’ claim that the conflict between ancient and modern political philosophy stems from the concept of “individuality.” It seems beyond question that classical thought gives the individual a lower status than the universal, and yet Strauss’ statement suggests that the classics should contemplate giving it a different status. Modern thinkers also did not view “individuality” as an aspect of their moral-political revolution. Ultimately, Strauss’ assertion implicitly demands that these prevailing thoughts be revisited. The author relates this claim to one positing that the modern revolution brings about a break with “the primary or natural understanding of the whole.” The heart of Strauss’ endeavor is to recover natural understanding by means of historical inquiries, in order to restore to modern awareness the “fundamental problems and the fundamental alternatives regarding their solution.”Less
This chapter discusses Strauss’ claim that the conflict between ancient and modern political philosophy stems from the concept of “individuality.” It seems beyond question that classical thought gives the individual a lower status than the universal, and yet Strauss’ statement suggests that the classics should contemplate giving it a different status. Modern thinkers also did not view “individuality” as an aspect of their moral-political revolution. Ultimately, Strauss’ assertion implicitly demands that these prevailing thoughts be revisited. The author relates this claim to one positing that the modern revolution brings about a break with “the primary or natural understanding of the whole.” The heart of Strauss’ endeavor is to recover natural understanding by means of historical inquiries, in order to restore to modern awareness the “fundamental problems and the fundamental alternatives regarding their solution.”
