Hidden in Historicism

This book considers how the nineteenth-century philosophy of historicism depicts three 'forgotten time regimes': a time of rise and fall, an ambiguous time of synchronicity of the non-synchronous, and a time in which decisive moments dominate.

Hidden in Historicism considers how the nineteenth-century philosophy of historicism depicts three "forgotten time regimes": a time of rise and fall, an ambiguous time of synchronicity of the non-synchronous, and a time in which decisive moments dominate.

Before the eighteenth century, time was past-oriented. This inversed in the Enlightenment, when the future became dominating. Today, this time of progress continues to be embraced as a "time of the modern". Yet, inequality, increasing violence and climate change lead to doubts over a bright future. In this book, Harry Jansen moves away from the heritage of Reinhart Koselleck and his single time of the modern towards a historicist, threefold temporal approach to history writing. In the time regime of the twenty-first century past, present and future coexist. It is a heterogeneous time that takes on the three forms of historicism. Jansen's study shows how all three times exist together in current historiography and contribute to a better understanding of the world today.

Based on the idea that an incarnated time rules everything that happens it reality, the book offers a fresh perspective on the ongoing discussion about time and time regimes in contemporary philosophy and theory of history for students and scholars, both time specialists and the non-specialist.

"[A]n extraordinarily rich book with interesting insights on almost every page. Above all, it is a very ambitious book in which [Harry Jansen] introduce[s] a surprising and completely new division in the Western time regimes since 1700." Frank Ankersmit

Autorentext

Until his retirement, Harry Jansen lectured philosophy of history at Radboud University Nijmegen.

Klappentext

Hidden in Historicism considers how the nineteenth-century philosophy of historicism depicts three "forgotten time regimes": a time of rise and fall, an ambiguous time of synchronicity of the non-synchronous, and a time in which decisive moments dominate. Before the eighteenth century, time was past-oriented. This inversed in the Enlightenment, when the future became dominating. Today, this time of progress continues to be embraced as a "time of the modern". Yet, inequality, increasing violence and climate change lead to doubts over a bright future. In this book, Harry Jansen moves away from the heritage of Reinhart Koselleck and his single time of the modern towards a historicist, threefold temporal approach to history writing. In the time regime of the twenty-first century past, present and future coexist. It is a heterogeneous time that takes on the three forms of historicism. Jansen's study shows how all three times exist together in current historiography and contribute to a better understanding of the world today. Based on the idea that an incarnated time rules everything that happens it reality, the book offers a fresh perspective on the ongoing discussion about time and time regimes in contemporary philosophy and theory of history for students and scholars, both time specialists and the non-specialist.

Inhalt

1 Introduction Part 1: In Search of New Times 2 The Empty Time of the Enlightenment 3 The Incarnated Time of the Counter-Enlightenment Part 2: The Romanticist Time of Politics 4 Hegel's Time of the State 5 Ranke's Undulating Time of Continuing Entities Part 3: The Ambiguous Time of Societies 6 Tocqueville's Time of an Aristocratic and Democratic Society 7 Marx's Synchronicity of the Non-Synchronous Part 4: The Kairotic Time of Cultures 8 Nietzsche's Augenblick 9 Huizinga's Time of the Historical Sensation Part 5: The Time out of Joint 10 Historicist Times in the 20th and 21st Century 1: France and the Anglo-Saxon World 11 Historicist Times in the 20th and 21st Century 2: The German Way 12 Epilogue: The Benefits of Historicist Times.