Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. What is Metahistory?
Chapter 2. The Foundation of Historical Thinking
- How Does History come into the World?
- The Elemental Forms in the Forming of Historical Meaning
- An Aside: Contingency and Freedom
- Experiencing Crisis and the Forming of Historical Meaning: A Typology
Chapter 3. History as Academic Discipline
- Historical Meaning and Academic Study
- Method and Truth
- The Criteria for Truth in Historical Thinking
- Academia: Intercultural Validity or Culturally Specific Relativity?
- Disciplinary Matrix I: The Five Factor System
- Disciplinary Matrix II: The Schema of Five Practices
- Disciplinary Matrix III: The Three Levels of Forming Historical Meaning
Chapter 4. A Systematic Approach: Categories, Theories, Concepts
- What is the Issue?
- 'History' as Concept of Meaning: A Look at Content and Form
- Teleology and Reconstruction
- A Problem Unresolved: The Natural World
- Means of Access I: The Categorical Dimensions of the Historical
- Means of Access II: The Realm of Experience Revealed
- Means of Access III: The Realm of Interpretation Revealed
- Means of Access IV: The Realm of Orientation Revealed
- Interpretation in Context: Historical Theories
- Comprehending the Matter: Historical Concepts
- What is Historical Explanation?
Chapter 5. Methodology: The Rules of the Historical Method
- The Methodological Character of Historical Knowledge
- The Unity of the Historical Method
- Heuristrics
- Criticism
- Interpretation
- From Interpretation to Representation
Chapter 6. Topics: How We Write History
- The Waywardness of Writing
- Imagination, Fiction, Experience
- Orders of Historiographical Representation: The Range of Possibilities
- Typology of Historical Narrative I: Droysen, Nietzsche, White
- Typology of Historical Narrative II: Classifying the Formation of Historical Meaning into Four Types
- Typology of Historical Narrative III: Meaning and Rationality
Chapter 7. The Basis of Historical Culture
- Historical Culture as Societal Practice
- Historical Consciousness and Memory
- Five Dimensions of Historical Culture
- Orientation and Criticism: The Purpose of Historical Studies
- The Role of Value Freedom
Chapter 8. Practical History: Learning, Understanding, Humanity
- The Theoretical Foundation of History Didactics
- Standards of Historical Judgement: Understanding and Morality
- Politics of Memory and Historical Identity
- Overcoming Ethnocentrism through Historical Humanism
Final Reflections: Finding Reason Between Meaning and Meaninglessness
- Meaning and Meaninglessness
- Once Again: The Limitations of Science
Bibliography
Index