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Historism (Italian: storicismo) is a philosophical and historiographical theory, founded in 19th-century^[1] Germany (as Historismus) and especially influential in 19th- and 20th-century Europe. In those times there was not a single natural, humanistic or philosophical science that would not reflect, in one way or another, the historical type of thought (cf. comparative historical linguistics etc.).^[1] It pronounces the historicity of humanity and its binding to tradition.

Historist historiography rejects historical teleology and bases its explanations of historical phenomena on sympathy and understanding (see Hermeneutics) for the events, acting persons, and historical periods. The historist approach takes to its extreme limits the common observation that human institutions (language, Art, religion, law, State) are subject to perpetual change.^[2]

Historism is not to be confused with historicism,^[3] nevertheless the English habits of using both words are very similar. (The term historism is sometimes reserved to identify the specific current called Historismus in the tradition of German philosophy and historiography.)^[2]

Notable exponents

Notable exponents of historism were primarily the German 19th-century historians Leopold von Ranke^[4] and Johann Gustav Droysen,^[5] 20th-century historian Friedrich Meinecke,^[6] and the philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey.^[7] Dilthey was influenced by Ranke.^[8] The jurists Friedrich Carl von Savigny and Karl Friedrich Eichhorn were strongly influenced by the ideas of historism and founded the German Historical School of Law. The Italian philosopher, anti-fascist^[9] and historian Benedetto Croce^[10] and his British colleague Robin George Collingwood^[11] were important European exponents of historism in the late 19th and early 20th century. Collingwood was influenced by Dilthey.^[8]^[12]

Ranke's arguments can be viewed as an antidote to the lawlike and quantitative approaches common in sociology and most other social sciences.^[13]

The principle of historism has a universal methodological significance in Marxism.^[1]^: 127 The essence of this principle, in brief, is

not to forget the underlying historical connection, to examine every question from the standpoint of how the given phenomenon arose in history and what principal stages this phenomenon passed through in its development, and, from the standpoint of its development, to examine what the given thing has become today.
— Vladimir Lenin, The State: A Lecture Delivered at the Sverdlov University^[14]

Contemporary thought

20th-century German historians promoting some aspects of historism are Ulrich Muhlack, Thomas Nipperdey and Jörn Rüsen.^{[citation needed]}

The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset was influenced by historism.^{[citation needed]}

Criticism

Because of the power held on the social sciences by logical positivism, historism or historicism is deemed unpopular.^[15]

Georg G. Iggers is one of the most important critical authors on historism. His book The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present, first published in 1968 (by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Ct.) is a "classic”^[16] among critiques of historism.

Another critique is presented by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose essay Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben (On the Use and Abuse of History for Life, 1874; see The Untimely Meditations) denounces “a malignant historical fever”. Nietzsche contends that the historians of his times, the historists, damaged the powers of human life by relegating it to the past instead of opening it to the future. For this reason, he calls for a return, beyond historism, to humanism.^[17]

Karl Popper was one of the most distinguished critics of historicism. He differentiated between both phenomena as follows: The term historicism is used in his influential books The Poverty of Historicism and The Open Society and Its Enemies to describe “an approach to the social sciences which assumes that historical prediction is their primary aim, and which assumes that this aim is attainable by discovering the 'rhythms' or the 'patterns', the 'laws' or the 'trends' that underlie the evolution of history”.^[18] Popper wrote with reference to Hegel's theory of history, which he criticized extensively. By historism on the contrary, he means the tendency to regard every argument or idea as completely accounted for by its historical context, as opposed to assessing it by its merits. Historism does not aim for the 'laws' of history, but premises the individuality of each historical situation.

On the basis of Popper's definitions, the historian Stefan Berger proposes as a proper word usage:

I deliberately use the term ‘historism’ (and ‘historist’) rather than ‘historicism’ (and ‘historicist’). Whereas ‘historism’ (in German: Historismus), as represented by Leopold von Ranke, can be seen as an evolutionary, reformist concept which understands all political order as historically developed and grown, ‘historicism’ (Historizismus), as defined and rejected by Karl Popper, is based on the notion that history develops according to predetermined laws towards a particular end. The English language, by using only one term for those different concepts, tends to conflate the two. Hence I suggest using two separate terms in analogy to the German language.^[19]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Spirkin, Alexander (1990), Fundamentals of Philosophy., translated by Syrovatkin, Sergei, Moscow: Progress Publishers, ISBN 978-5-01-002582-3, retrieved 15 January 2011First published in 1988, as “Основы философии”{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ ^a ^b Boudon, Raymond; Bourricaud (1989). "Historicism". A Critical Dictionary of Sociology. Routledge. p. 198. ISBN 9780415017459.
^ Historicism in the sense given to it by Karl Popper, namely the search for historical laws.
^ Beiser 2011, p. 366.
^ Colin Cheyne, John Worrall (eds.), Rationality and Reality: Conversations with Alan Musgrave, Springer 2006, p. 266.
^ Beiser 2014, p. 133.
^ Koslowski 2006, p. 4.
^ ^a ^b Wallace and Gach 2008, p. 27.
^ Chiarini, Roberto (2008). L'intellettuale antisemita (in Italian). Marsilio. p. 94. ISBN 978-88-317-9635-4. BENEDETTO CROCE. Il filosofo napoletano fu l'unico grande intellettuale a prendere pubblicamente posizione in Italia contro le concezioni razziste e contro le persecuzioni antiebraiche attuate dal nazismo e dal fascismo, in scritti e interventi pubblicati sulla sua rivista « La Critica » e su organi di stampa stranieri. [Translated: BENEDICT CROSS. The Neapolitan philosopher was the only great intellectual to publicly take a position in Italy against racist conceptions and against the anti-Jewish persecutions implemented by Nazism and Fascism, in writings and interventions published in his review "La Critica" and in foreign press organs.]
^ Robin Headlam Wells, Glenn Burgess, Rowland Wymer (eds.), Neo-historicism: Studies in Renaissance Literature, History, and Politics, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2000, p. 3.
^ Collingwood himself used the term "historicism"—a term he apparently coined—to describe his approach—for example in his 'Ruskin's Philosophy', lecture delivered to the Ruskin Centenary Conference Exhibition, Coniston, Cumbria (see Jan van der Dussen, History as a Science: The Philosophy of R.G. Collingwood, Springer, 2012, p. 49)—, but some later historiographers describe him as a proponent of "historism," in accordance with the current meaning of the term in English (see F. R. Ankersmit, Sublime Historical Experience, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 404).
^ David Naugle, "R. G. Collingwood and the Hermeneutic Tradition", 1993.
^ Wallace and Gach 2008, p. 14.
^ Lenin, V. I. (1972). Collected Works. Vol. 29. Moscow: Progress Publishers. p. 473.
^ Morera, Esteve (1990). Gramsci's Historicism: A Realist Interpretation. Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 9780415035408.
^ Berger 2001, p. 24.
^ Friedrich Nietzsche: On the Use and Abuse of History for Life, first published 1874, translated 1909.
^ Karl Popper, The Poverty of Historicism, Routledge, 1993, p. 3 (italics in original).
^ Stefan Berger, "Stefan Berger responds to Ulrich Muhlack". In: Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London, Volume XXIII, No. 1, May 2001, pp. 21–33, here p. 28f. (italics in original).

References

Georg G. Iggers, The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present, 2nd rev. edn., Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Ct., 1983, ISBN 0-8195-6080-4.
Stefan Berger, Stefan Berger responds to Ulrich Muhlack. In: Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London, Volume XXIII, No. 1, May 2001, pp. 21–33 (contemporary debate between a historism-critic and a historism-supporting historian).
Frederick C. Beiser, The German Historicist Tradition, Oxford University Press, 2011.
Frederick C. Beiser, After Hegel: German Philosophy, 1840-1900, Princeton University Press, 2014.
Wallace, Edwin R. and Gach, John (eds.), History of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology: With an Epilogue on Psychiatry and the Mind-Body Relation, Springer, 2008.
Peter Koslowski (ed.), The Discovery of Historicity in German Idealism and Historism, Springer, 2006.

[Spirkin-1] Spirkin, Alexander (1990), Fundamentals of Philosophy., translated by Syrovatkin, Sergei, Moscow: Progress Publishers, ISBN 978-5-01-002582-3, retrieved 15 January 2011First published in 1988, as “Основы философии”{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

[CrDSoc-2] Boudon, Raymond; Bourricaud (1989). "Historicism". A Critical Dictionary of Sociology. Routledge. p. 198. ISBN 9780415017459.

[3] Historicism in the sense given to it by Karl Popper, namely the search for historical laws.

[4] Beiser 2011, p. 366.

[5] Colin Cheyne, John Worrall (eds.), Rationality and Reality: Conversations with Alan Musgrave, Springer 2006, p. 266.

[6] Beiser 2014, p. 133.

[7] Koslowski 2006, p. 4.

[Wallace2008p27-8] Wallace and Gach 2008, p. 27.

[9] Chiarini, Roberto (2008). L'intellettuale antisemita (in Italian). Marsilio. p. 94. ISBN 978-88-317-9635-4. BENEDETTO CROCE. Il filosofo napoletano fu l'unico grande intellettuale a prendere pubblicamente posizione in Italia contro le concezioni razziste e contro le persecuzioni antiebraiche attuate dal nazismo e dal fascismo, in scritti e interventi pubblicati sulla sua rivista « La Critica » e su organi di stampa stranieri. [Translated: BENEDICT CROSS. The Neapolitan philosopher was the only great intellectual to publicly take a position in Italy against racist conceptions and against the anti-Jewish persecutions implemented by Nazism and Fascism, in writings and interventions published in his review "La Critica" and in foreign press organs.]

[10] Robin Headlam Wells, Glenn Burgess, Rowland Wymer (eds.), Neo-historicism: Studies in Renaissance Literature, History, and Politics, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2000, p. 3.

[vdD-11] Collingwood himself used the term "historicism"—a term he apparently coined—to describe his approach—for example in his 'Ruskin's Philosophy', lecture delivered to the Ruskin Centenary Conference Exhibition, Coniston, Cumbria (see Jan van der Dussen, History as a Science: The Philosophy of R.G. Collingwood, Springer, 2012, p. 49)—, but some later historiographers describe him as a proponent of "historism," in accordance with the current meaning of the term in English (see F. R. Ankersmit, Sublime Historical Experience, Stanford University Press, 2005, p. 404).

[12] David Naugle, "R. G. Collingwood and the Hermeneutic Tradition", 1993.

[Wallace2008p14-13] Wallace and Gach 2008, p. 14.

[14] Lenin, V. I. (1972). Collected Works. Vol. 29. Moscow: Progress Publishers. p. 473.

[15] Morera, Esteve (1990). Gramsci's Historicism: A Realist Interpretation. Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 9780415035408.

[16] Berger 2001, p. 24.

[17] Friedrich Nietzsche: On the Use and Abuse of History for Life, first published 1874, translated 1909.

[18] Karl Popper, The Poverty of Historicism, Routledge, 1993, p. 3 (italics in original).

[19] Stefan Berger, "Stefan Berger responds to Ulrich Muhlack". In: Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London, Volume XXIII, No. 1, May 2001, pp. 21–33, here p. 28f. (italics in original).

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+{{About|historism as a philosophical and historiographical theory on historicity and awareness of the past|the similarly used term historicism|Historicism|the method of interpreting the biblical apocalypse|Historicism (Christian eschatology)|a school of art and architecture|Historicism (art)}}
-{{multiple issues|
+{{for|belief that events in history are entirely determined prior forces|Historical determinism}}
-{{cleanup-rewrite|date=May 2015}}
+'''Historism''' ({{lang-it|storicismo}}) is a philosophical and historiographical theory, founded in 19th-century<ref name="Spirkin">{{citation |first=Alexander |last=Spirkin |title=Fundamentals of Philosophy. |url=https://archive.org/details/FundamentalsOfPhilosophy_913 |year=1990 |postscript=First published in 1988, as “Основы философии” |place=[[Moscow]] |publisher=[[Progress Publishers]] |isbn=978-5-01-002582-3 |access-date=15 January 2011 |author-link=Alexander Spirkin |translator-first=Sergei |translator-last=Syrovatkin}}</ref> [[Germany]] (as {{lang|de|Historismus}}) and especially influential in 19th- and 20th-century [[Europe]]. In those times there was not a single natural, humanistic or philosophical science that would not reflect, in one way or another, the historical type of thought (cf. [[comparative historical linguistics]] etc.).<ref name="Spirkin" /> It pronounces the [[historicity]] of humanity and its binding to tradition.
-{{POV|date=June 2015}}
-{{Refimprove|date=June 2015}}
-}}
+Historist [[historiography]] rejects historical [[teleology]] and bases its explanations of historical phenomena on sympathy and understanding (see [[Hermeneutics]]) for the events, acting persons, and [[historical period]]s. The historist approach takes to its extreme limits the common observation that human institutions (language, Art, religion, law, State) are subject to perpetual change.<ref name="CrDSoc">{{cite book |first1=Raymond |last1=Boudon |author1-link=Raymond Boudon |last2=Bourricaud |author2-link=François Bourricaud |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9ae9kWCtHkC&pg=PA198 |title=A Critical Dictionary of Sociology |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=1989 |chapter=Historicism |page=198|isbn=9780415017459 }}</ref>
-{{about|historism as a philosophical and historiographical theory on historicity and awareness of the past|the similarly used term historicism|historicism|the method of interpreting the biblical apocalypse|historicism (Christian eschatology)|a school of art and architecture|historicism (art)}}
+''Historism'' is not to be confused with ''[[historicism]]'',<ref>Historicism in the sense given to it by Karl Popper, namely the search for historical laws.</ref> nevertheless the English habits of using both words are very similar. (The term ''historism'' is sometimes reserved to identify the specific current called {{lang|de|Historismus}} in the tradition of German philosophy and historiography.)<ref name="CrDSoc"/>
-'''Historism''' is a philosophical and historiographical theory, founded in 19th-century [[Germany]] (as ''Historismus'') and especially influential in 19th- and 20th-century [[Europe]]. It pronounces the [[historicity]] of humanity and its binding to tradition.
+==Notable exponents==
-Historist [[historiography]] rejects historical [[teleology]] and bases its explanations of historical phenomena on sympathy and understanding (see [[Hermeneutics]]) for the events, acting persons, and [[historical period]]s. The historist approach takes to its extreme limits the common observation that human institutions (language, Art, religion, law, State) are subject to perpetual change.<ref name="CrDSoc">[[Raymond Boudon]] and [[François Bourricaud]], [http://books.google.gr/books?id=O9ae9kWCtHkC&pg=PA198 ''A Critical Dictionary of Sociology''], Routledge, 1989: "Historicism", p. 198.</ref>
+Notable exponents of historism were primarily the German 19th-century historians [[Leopold von Ranke]]<ref>Beiser 2011, p. 366.</ref> and [[Johann Gustav Droysen]],<ref>Colin Cheyne, [[John Worrall (philosopher)|John Worrall]] (eds.), ''Rationality and Reality: Conversations with Alan Musgrave'', Springer 2006, p. 266.</ref> 20th-century historian [[Friedrich Meinecke]],<ref>Beiser 2014, p. 133.</ref> and the philosopher [[Wilhelm Dilthey]].<ref>Koslowski 2006, p. 4.</ref> Dilthey was influenced by Ranke.<ref name="Wallace2008p27">Wallace and Gach 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=64Y6wtqzs7IC&pg=PA27 p. 27].</ref> The jurists [[Friedrich Carl von Savigny]] and [[Karl Friedrich Eichhorn]] were strongly influenced by the ideas of historism and founded the [[German Historical School|German Historical School of Law]]. The Italian philosopher, anti-fascist<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chiarini |first=Roberto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXQPAQAAMAAJ&q=Benedetto+croce |title=L'intellettuale antisemita |date=2008 |publisher=Marsilio |isbn=978-88-317-9635-4 |page=94 |language=it}} ''BENEDETTO CROCE. Il filosofo napoletano fu l'unico grande intellettuale a prendere pubblicamente posizione in Italia contro le concezioni razziste e contro le persecuzioni antiebraiche attuate dal nazismo e dal fascismo, in scritti e interventi pubblicati sulla sua rivista « La Critica » e su organi di stampa stranieri.''
+[Translated: ''BENEDICT CROSS.  The Neapolitan philosopher was the only great intellectual to publicly take a position in Italy against racist conceptions and against the anti-Jewish persecutions implemented by Nazism and Fascism, in writings and interventions published in his review "La Critica" and in foreign press organs.'']</ref> and historian [[Benedetto Croce]]<ref>Robin Headlam Wells, Glenn Burgess, Rowland Wymer (eds.), ''Neo-historicism: Studies in Renaissance Literature, History, and Politics'', [[Boydell & Brewer]] Ltd, 2000, p. 3.</ref> and his British colleague [[R. G. Collingwood|Robin George Collingwood]]<ref name="vdD">Collingwood himself used the term "historicism"—a term he apparently coined—to describe his approach—for example in his 'Ruskin's Philosophy', lecture delivered to the Ruskin Centenary Conference Exhibition, [[Coniston, Cumbria]] (see Jan van der Dussen, ''History as a Science: The Philosophy of R.G. Collingwood'', Springer, 2012, p. 49)—, but some later historiographers describe him as a proponent of "historism," in accordance with the current meaning of the term in English (see F. R. Ankersmit, ''Sublime Historical Experience'', [[Stanford University Press]], 2005, p. 404).</ref> were important European exponents of historism in the late 19th and early 20th century. Collingwood was influenced by Dilthey.<ref name="Wallace2008p27" /><ref>David Naugle, [http://www3.dbu.edu/naugle/pdf/collingwood.pdf "R. G. Collingwood and the Hermeneutic Tradition"], 1993.</ref>
+Ranke's arguments can be viewed as an antidote to the lawlike and [[quantitative research|quantitative]] approaches common in [[sociology]] and most other [[social sciences]].<ref name="Wallace2008p14">Wallace and Gach 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=64Y6wtqzs7IC&pg=PA14 p. 14].</ref>
-''Historism'' is not to be confused with ''[[historicism]]'',<ref>Historicism in the sense given to it by Karl Popper, namely the search for historical laws.</ref> nevertheless the English habits of using both words are very similar. (The term ''historism'' is sometimes reserved to identify the specific current called ''Historismus'' in the tradition of German philosophy and historiography.)<ref name="CrDSoc"/>
+The principle of historism has a universal methodological significance in [[Marxism]].<ref name="Spirkin" />{{rp|127}} The essence of this principle, in brief, is
-==Quarrel with logical positivism==
-Because of the power held on the [[social sciences]] by [[logical positivism]], historism or historicism is deemed unpopular.<ref>Morera, Esteve (1990), ''Gramsci's Historicism: A Realist Interpretation'' [http://books.google.com/books?id=I44OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA11 p.11].</ref>
+{{Quote|text=not to forget the underlying historical connection, to examine every question from the standpoint of how the given phenomenon arose in history and what principal stages this phenomenon passed through in its development, and, from the standpoint of its development, to examine what the given thing has become today.|author=Vladimir Lenin|title=[https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1919/jul/11.htm The State: A Lecture Delivered at the Sverdlov University]<ref>{{cite book |first=V. I. |last=Lenin |author-link=Vladimir Lenin |title=Collected Works |volume=29 |publisher=[[Progress Publishers]] |location=Moscow |date=1972 |page=473}}</ref>}}
-[[Karl Popper]], one of the most distinguished critics of historicism, criticized historism, too. He differentiated between both phenomena as follows: The term ''historicism'' is used in his influential books ''[[The Poverty of Historicism]]'' and ''[[The Open Society and Its Enemies]]'' to describe “an approach to the social sciences which assumes that ''historical prediction'' is their primary aim, and which assumes that this aim is attainable by discovering the 'rhythms' or the 'patterns', the 'laws' or the 'trends' that underlie the evolution of history”.<ref>Karl Popper, ''[[The Poverty of Historicism]]'', Routledge, 1993. p. 3 (italics in original).</ref> Popper wrote with reference to [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]]'s theory of [[history]], which he criticized extensively. By ''historism'' on the contrary, he means the tendency to regard every argument or idea as completely accounted for by its historical context, as opposed to assessing it by its merits. ''Historism'' does not aim for the 'laws' of history, but premises the individuality of each historical situation.
+==Contemporary thought==
-On the basis of Poppers definitions, the historian [[Stefan Berger]] proposes as a proper word usage: {{"|I deliberately use the term ‘historism’ (and ‘historist’) rather than ‘historicism’ (and ‘historicist’). Whereas ‘historism’ (in German, ''Historismus''), as represented by Leopold von Ranke, can be seen as an evolutionary, reformist concept which understands all political order as historically developed and grown, ‘historicism’ (''Historizismus''), as defined and rejected by Karl Popper, is based on the notion that history develops according to predetermined laws towards a particular end. The English language, by using only one term for those different concepts, tends to conflate the two. Hence I suggest using two separate terms in analogy to the German language.<ref>Stefan Berger, "[http://www.perspectivia.net/content/publikationen/ghi-bulletin/2001-23-1/0021-0033/at_download/document Stefan Berger responds to Ulrich Muhlack]". In: Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London, Volume XXIII, No. 1, May 2001, pp. 21–33, here p. 28f. (italics in original).</ref>}}
+th-century German historians promoting some aspects of historism are [[Ulrich Muhlack]], [[Thomas Nipperdey]] and [[Jörn Rüsen]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}
+The Spanish philosopher [[José Ortega y Gasset]] was influenced by historism.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}
-==Notable exponents==
-Notable exponents of historism were primarily the German 19th-century historians [[Leopold von Ranke]] and [[Johann Gustav Droysen]], later [[Friedrich Meinecke]] and the philosopher [[Wilhelm Dilthey]]. Dilthey was influenced by Ranke.<ref name="Wallace2008p27"/> The jurists [[Friedrich Carl von Savigny]] and [[Karl Friedrich Eichhorn]] were strongly influenced by the ideas of historism and founded the [[German Historical School|German Historical School of Law]]. The Italian philosopher and historian [[Benedetto Croce]] and his British colleague [[R. G. Collingwood|Robin George Collingwood]] were important European exponents of historism in the late 19th and early 20th century. Collingwood was influenced by Dilthey.<ref name="Wallace2008p27">Wallace and Gach (2008) [http://books.google.com/books?id=64Y6wtqzs7IC&pg=PA27 p. 27].</ref>
+==Criticism==
-Ranke's arguments can be viewed as an antidote to the lawlike and [[quantitative research|quantitative]] approaches common in [[sociology]] and most other [[social sciences]].<ref name="Wallace2008p14">Wallace, Edwin R. and Gach, John (eds.) (2008), ''History of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology: With an Epilogue on Psychiatry and the Mind-Body Relation.'' [http://books.google.com/books?id=64Y6wtqzs7IC&pg=PA14 p. 14].</ref>
+Because of the power held on the [[social sciences]] by [[logical positivism]], historism or historicism is deemed unpopular.<ref>{{cite book |last=Morera |first=Esteve |date=1990 |title=Gramsci's Historicism: A Realist Interpretation |publisher=[[Routledge]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I44OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA11 |page=11|isbn=9780415035408 }}</ref>
-[[Georg G. Iggers]] is one of the most important critical authors on historism. His book ''The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present'', first published in 1968 (by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Ct.) is a "classic”<ref>Stefan Berger, ''Stefan Berger responds to Ulrich Muhlack''. In: Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London, Volume XXIII, No. 1, May 2001, p. 24.</ref> among critiques of historism.
+[[Georg G. Iggers]] is one of the most important critical authors on historism. His book ''The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present'', first published in 1968 (by [[Wesleyan University Press]], Middletown, Ct.) is a "classic”<ref>Berger 2001, p. 24.</ref> among critiques of historism.
-Another critique is presented by the German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], whose essay ''Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben'' (''On the Use and Abuse of History for Life'', 1874; see ''[[The Untimely Meditations]]'') denounces “a malignant historical fever”. Nietzsche contends that the historians of his times, the historists, damaged the powers of human life by relegating it to the past instead of opening it to the future. For this reason, he calls for a return, beyond historism, to humanism.<ref>Friedrich Nietsche: ''[[s:On the Use and Abuse of History for Life|On the Use and Abuse of History for Life]]'', first published 1874, translated 1909.</ref>
+Another critique is presented by the German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], whose essay {{lang|de|Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben}} (''On the Use and Abuse of History for Life'', 1874; see ''[[The Untimely Meditations]]'') denounces “a malignant historical fever”. Nietzsche contends that the historians of his times, the historists, damaged the powers of human life by relegating it to the past instead of opening it to the future. For this reason, he calls for a return, beyond historism, to humanism.<ref>Friedrich Nietzsche: ''[[wikisource:On the Use and Abuse of History for Life|On the Use and Abuse of History for Life]]'', first published 1874, translated 1909.</ref>
+[[Karl Popper]] was one of the most distinguished critics of historicism. He differentiated between both phenomena as follows: The term ''historicism'' is used in his influential books ''[[The Poverty of Historicism]]'' and ''[[The Open Society and Its Enemies]]'' to describe “an approach to the social sciences which assumes that ''historical prediction'' is their primary aim, and which assumes that this aim is attainable by discovering the 'rhythms' or the 'patterns', the 'laws' or the 'trends' that underlie the evolution of history”.<ref>Karl Popper, ''[[The Poverty of Historicism]]'', Routledge, 1993, p. 3 (italics in original).</ref> Popper wrote with reference to [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]]'s theory of [[history]], which he criticized extensively. By ''historism'' on the contrary, he means the tendency to regard every argument or idea as completely accounted for by its historical context, as opposed to assessing it by its merits. ''Historism'' does not aim for the 'laws' of history, but premises the individuality of each historical situation.
-==Contemporaries==
-th-century German historians promoting some aspects of historism are [[Ulrich Muhlack]], [[Thomas Nipperdey]] and [[Jörn Rüsen]].
+On the basis of Popper's definitions, the historian [[Stefan Berger]] proposes as a proper word usage: {{Quote|I deliberately use the term ‘historism’ (and ‘historist’) rather than ‘historicism’ (and ‘historicist’). Whereas ‘historism’ (in {{lang-de|Historismus}}), as represented by [[Leopold von Ranke]], can be seen as an evolutionary, reformist concept which understands all political order as historically developed and grown, ‘historicism’ ({{lang|de|Historizismus}}), as defined and rejected by Karl Popper, is based on the notion that history develops according to predetermined laws towards a particular end. The English language, by using only one term for those different concepts, tends to conflate the two. Hence I suggest using two separate terms in analogy to the German language.<ref>Stefan Berger, "[http://www.perspectivia.net/content/publikationen/ghi-bulletin/2001-23-1/0021-0033/at_download/document Stefan Berger responds to Ulrich Muhlack]". In: Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London, Volume XXIII, No. 1, May 2001, pp. 21–33, here p. 28f. (italics in original).</ref>}}
-Also the Spanish philosopher [[José Ortega y Gasset]] was influenced by historism.
 ==See also==
@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 *[[Historical school of economics]]
-==References==
+==Notes==
-{{Reflist}}
+{{Reflist|35em}}
-==Further reading==
+==References==
-* Georg G. Iggers, [http://books.google.gr/books?id=x-7DdKRmkQoC&dq= ''The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present''], 2nd rev. edn., Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Ct., 1983, ISBN 0-8195-6080-4.
+* Georg G. Iggers, [https://books.google.com/books?id=x-7DdKRmkQoC ''The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present''], 2nd rev. edn., Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Ct., 1983, {{ISBN|0-8195-6080-4}}.
-* Stefan Berger, ''Stefan Berger responds to Ulrich Muhlack''. In: Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London, Volume XXIII, No. 1, May 2001, pp. 21–33 (contemporary debate between a historism-critic and a historism-supporting historian).
+* [[Stefan Berger]], ''Stefan Berger responds to Ulrich Muhlack''. In: Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London, Volume XXIII, No. 1, May 2001, pp. 21–33 (contemporary debate between a historism-critic and a historism-supporting historian).
-* [[Frederick C. Beiser]], [http://books.google.gr/books?id=w2c6YaKf9usC&dq= ''The German Historicist Tradition''], Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 366.
+* [[Frederick C. Beiser]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=w2c6YaKf9usC ''The German Historicist Tradition''], Oxford University Press, 2011.
+* [[Frederick C. Beiser]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=akCOAwAAQBAJ ''After Hegel: German Philosophy, 1840-1900''], Princeton University Press, 2014.
+* Wallace, Edwin R. and Gach, John (eds.), ''History of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology: With an Epilogue on Psychiatry and the Mind-Body Relation'', Springer, 2008.
+* Peter Koslowski (ed.), ''The Discovery of Historicity in German Idealism and Historism'', Springer, 2006.
-{{Positivism}}
+{{Humanities}}
+{{Historiography}}
+{{Social philosophy}}
+[[Category:Case studies]]
 [[Category:Historiography]]
-[[Category:Theories of history]]
+[[Category:Philosophy of history]]