The Routledge Companion to Historical Theory

This Companion provides a wide-ranging and up-to-date overview of the conceptual issues that history as a discipline and mode of thought gives rise to. The book offers both historical and systematic treatments of these issues, as well as addressing their contemporary relevance. Structured in three parts – Modes and Schools of Historical Thought, Epistemology and Metaphysics of History, and Issues and Challenges in Historical Theory – it offers the reader a wide scope and expert treatment of each topic in this vibrant field that can be read in any order. An international team of experts both discuss the basis of their topic and present their own view, offering the reader a cutting-edge contribution while ensuring their chapters are of interest to both students and specialists in the field of historical theory and engaging with the very nature of historical thought, the metaphysics of historical existence, the politics of history-writing, and the intelligibility of the historical process. The volume is an indispensable companion to the study of history and essential reading for anyone interested in the reflection on the nature of history and our historical existence.

Part 1: Modes and Schools of Historical Thought 1. Historicism Frederick Beiser 2. Hermeneutics Katherina Kinzel 3. Marxism Enzo Traverso 4. Idealism: With History in Mind James Connelly 5. Positivism Franz L. Fillafer 6. Phenomenology Veronica Vasterling 7. Critical Theory Espen Hammer 8. Narrativism Veronica TozziThompson 9. Pragmatism Serge Grigoriev 10. Analytical Philosophy of History Paul A. Roth 11. Postcolonial Theory: Then and Now Rochona Majumdar 12. Psychoanalysis Brian Connolly Part 2:Epistemology and Metaphysics of History 13. Contingency and Historical Inevitability Jordan Daniels 14. Imagination and Revision Giuseppina D’Oro & Jonas Ahlskog 15. Objectivity and Relativism Reinbert Krol 16. Constructivism and Realism Rik Peters 17. Explanation Gunnar Schumann 18. Interpretation David Weberman 19. Representation Eugen Zelenák 20. Truth: What is it for? Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen 21. Postmodernism: The “Crisis” of Narratives in the Historical Discipline Nancy Partner 22. Ethics: Or Sharing History Jonathan Gorman 23. Deconstruction: History,if there is History Joshua Kates 24. Freedom and Agency Simon Lumsden Part 3:Issues and Challenges in Historical Theory 25. Political Ideologies Edmund Neill 26. Didactics Tyson Retz 27. Big data Jo Guldi 28. New Television and Film Martin Shuster 29. Counterfactuals: A Typological Approach Gavriel D. Rosenfeld 30. Globalisation/s Angelika Epple 31. Teleology Anthony K. Jensen 32. The Sublime Hans Kellner 33. Experience Christophe Bouton 34. Memory Marek Tamm 35. Time Victoria Fareld 36. Presence Jacques Bos 37. The End of History Eric Michael Dale

Chiel van den Akker is Lecturer in Historical Theory at the Department of Art and Culture, History and Antiquities at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is the author of The Modern Idea of History and its Value. An Introduction (2020) and The Exemplifying Past. A Philosophy of History (2018).