Methastoria. Historical imagination in Europe of the XIX century. White H.

The book is devoted to the analysis of the characteristics of historical consciousness and narrative inherent in historiography and philosophy of history in Europe of the 19th century.

The history of historical thinking of the XIX century describes a full circle: from the uprising against the ironic historical worldview of the late education to return to the similarity The ironic worldview on the eve of the 20th century. The classical era of European historical thought from Hegel to Croce was an attempt to constitute history as the basis for the “realistic” science of a person, society and culture. This realism was to be based on a consciousness freed from the innate scentism and pessimism of the irony of late education, on the one hand, and from the cognitively irresponsible faith of the early romantic movement - on the other. But in the works of its most outstanding historians and philosophers of the history of the 19th century, it succeeded only in the generation of many conflicting “realisms”, each of which was equipped with a theoretical apparatus and is supported by erudition that did not allow his claims to at least preliminary recognition. (Hayden White)