Dějepisné porozumění a ospravedlnění
Historiographical Understanding and Justification

Summary/Abstract: In theoretical terms, the author seeks to clarify 'understanding' and 'ethical justificati¬on' as two modes of dealing with history, and to judge them from the point of view of the competence of the historical sciences. Methodological analysis of the approaches of the historical sciences in the twentieth century, according to him, has demonstrated that knowing or understanding has taken place within a plurality of initial values. That has determined the plurality and coordinative relation of subjects of historical research and the plurality of conceptions of the facts being researched (the plurality of history). Nineteenth-century objectivist holistic conceptions were rejected. With regard to the recent 'historical dispute', which took place among Czech historians, it is appropriate here to consider the idea that historical knowledge can lead even to moral justification.

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