Abt. Geschichtswissenschaft

This talk discusses so-called narrative theses. Think of the thesis that the modern international order was invented in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, or the thesis that art in the early eighteenth-century France expressed proto-Enlightenment views of society. Narrative theses are the most important epistemic achievements that historians have on offer, even though they are not empirical theses and hence cannot be empirically justified. This raises questions about the sort of knowledge that historians produce and its justification. It also raises questions about the intelligibility of the past. The latter will take us back to the idealist philosophy of history of the early nineteenth century which has unduly been discarded in contemporary philosophy of history.

19.11.2026 | 16-18 Uhr | X-E0-002 / ZOOM