JÖRNO RÜSENO ISTORINĖS KULTŪROS STUDIJŲ TEORINĖS IDĖJOS
JÖRN RÜSEN’S THEORETICAL IDEAS FOR THE HISTORICAL CULTURE STUDIES

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the concept of historical culture of German historian and philosopher Jörn Rüsen (b. 1938). This discussion includes the analysis of the idea of the historical culture studies that evolved from theory of historiography or metahistory (Historik). Rüsen considered as the object of Historik paradigms of historical studies conceived as hermeneutical-circle-like structures including interests, viewpoints upon the past, methods of research, forms of representation, and functions of the practical orientation of life. Historical culture includes all phenomena of the social representation of the past, public collective memory considered as expression of the historical consciousness of society or some particular social group. The structure of historical culture is defined by the interrelated cognitive, political, and aesthetic dimensions. However, neither in his earlier concept of Historik nor in the later project of the historical culture studies Rüsen provides satisfactory solution of the problems concerning epistemological status of his universal statements about the history and its representations. Are they descriptive or normative statements? A priori or empirical statements? His idea of the historical culture studies is onesidedly oriented towards the elite historical culture at the cost of neglecting the issues related to the production, consumption, commercialization of popular historical culture and its ideological functions. The ideas of the ethics of history and that of religion of history are considered as the original and bold proposals how to extend the field of the historical culture studies

• Details
• Contents