Current Issue

UNIVERSALITY IN THE CLIMATE CATASTROPHE:RETHINKING CHAKRABARTY'S ANTHROPOCENE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY WITH MERLEAU-PONTY'S PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE

Andréa Delestrade

This article critically examines Dipesh Chakrabarty's concept of Anthropocene history, a philosophy of history that is designed to respond to the universal challenge of the Anthropocene. It uses the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty to mitigate the pitfalls of Chakrabarty's concept and to propose an alternative relation between nature and history. I argue that the problem of Chakrabarty's Anthropocene history resides not in its use of the category of the universal per se but in its insufficient articulation of the particular. . . . Read more→

ON THE IDEA OF A CRITICAL HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT: TEXTUAL INTERPRETATION AND THINKING IN CONSTELLATIONS

Christopher Holman

This article intervenes in recent methodological debates in the history of political thought, particularly those involving the question of whether its practice should be considered primarily as a historical endeavor or as a philosophical endeavor. . . . Read more→

THE NAITŌ HYPOSTASIS: NAITŌ KONAN (1866–1934) AND THE JAPANESE IMPERIALIST LEGACY IN THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF MIDDLE-PERIOD CHINA (800–1400 CE)

Christian de Pee

In 1955, Hisayuki Miyakawa published an article that sought to introduce American and European scholars to the work of the Japanese Sinologist Naitō Konan (1866–1934). Miyakawa drew particular attention to what he called the “Naitō hypothesis”—that is, Naitō’s argument that China became modern during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Miyakawa neglected to explain, however, that Naitō conceived his periodization of the Chinese past in order to interpret current political developments in Japan and China and shape current political decisions rather than to interpret historical documents and that Naitō adjusted his periodization as relations between Japan and China deteriorated. . . . Read more →

“THE NORMAL EXCEPTION”: EDOARDO GRENDI, MICROANALYSIS, AND GENERALIZATIONS

Francesca Trivellato

“The normal exception” has long been a slogan of microhistory. This oxymoronic phrase is the iconic rendering of an incidental sentence that appeared in a 1977 article by Edoardo Grendi. His article, titled “Micro-analisi e storia sociale” (Microanalysis and Social History), is cited more often than it is read. In this issue of History and Theory, Grendi's seminal article appears in English for the first time. This companion piece introduces Grendi's contribution by situating it within contemporary debates between historians and anthropologists. . . . Read more →

“THE NORMAL EXCEPTION”: “MICROANALYSIS AND SOCIAL HISTORY” (1977)

Edoardo Grendi, translated by Francesca Trivellato

“The normal exception” has long been a slogan of microhistory. This oxymoronic phrase is the iconic rendering of an incidental sentence that appeared in a 1977 article published by Edoardo Grendi in the Italian journal Quaderni storici, which functioned as the incubator of Italian microhistory. Grendi's article, titled “Micro-analisi e storia sociale” (Microanalysis and Social History), is here translated into English for the first time. Although foundational to the project of Italian microhistory, the article is not entirely self-explanatory. . . . Read more →

UNWARRANTED CONFIDENCE: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE POVERTY OF ANTI-REALISM

Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen

Review article on The Poverty of Anti-Realism: Critical Perspectives on Postmodernist Philosophy of History, edited by Tor Egil Førland and Branko Mitrović

The Poverty of Anti-Realism: Critical Perspectives on Postmodernist Philosophy of History, edited by Tor Egil Førland and Branko Mitrović, celebrates the new dawn of historical realism, which it claims supersedes the erroneous and harmful anti-realism. The volume indeed contributes to reinvigorating the debate surrounding realism and anti-realism and draws attention to a relatively neglected philosophical approach in the philosophy of historiography: realism. However, both the tone and content of this New Historical Realism leave much to be desired. . . . Read more →

REALISM OR IDEALISM?: PERSPECTIVES ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY FROM A PRACTICING HISTORIAN

Stefan Berger

Review of Adam Timmins, Towards a Realist Philosophy of History

This review essay argues that the realist philosophy of history, as represented by Adam Timmins in Towards a Realist Philosophy of History, raises interesting questions about the nature of historical writing and challenges some of the foundations of idealist philosophy of history. A basic problem with Timmins's book is the conflation of “constructivism” with “idealism” when there are, indeed, quite a few “realists” who are also “constructivists.” After summarizing the main arguments of the book and critically examining them, this essay argues that realism, if combined with constructivism, is appealing for many practicing historians, but it also warns that there can be no foundationalism regarding the institutionalization of professional historiography. . . . Read more →

EXPANDING THE BORDERS OF HUMANITY

Udi Greenberg

Review of Dagmar Herzog, The Question of Unworthy Life: Eugenics and Germany's Twentieth Century

In The Question of Unworthy Life: Eugenics and Germany's Twentieth Century, historian Dagmar Herzog explores one of the most remarkable transformations in European approaches to human life: the rise and fall of eugenics. In particular, she explores how Germans debated the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities: in the late nineteenth century, doctors, psychiatrists, and Christian caretakers came to equate productivity with worth. . . . Read more →

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