CHAPTER 5

PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORIOGRAPHY: IMPLICATIONS FROM HEGEL’S THREE PERSPECTIVES

Donald Uchenna Omenukor, PhD

Introduction

It was Evans (2001) who defined history as the discipline which examines and analyses a sequence of past events, using a narrative, with a view to objectively determining the patterns of cause and effect that determine the events. History could simply be defined as a documentation of the past. However, when one considers the Greek root of the term which translates to the historia, meaning “inquiry or knowledge acquired by investigation.” It becomes clearer that history is much more than a mere documentation of the past. Scholars have argued that historians sometimes Debate the nature of history and its usefulness by discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of providing “perspectives” on the problems of the present (Evans, 2001; Tosh, 2006; Stearns, 2000; and Nash, 2000).

When history is defined as inquiry or knowledge acquired through investigation, it shows how deep-rooted the discipline is and how closely related it is to the discipline of philosophy. Philosophy could be defined as the discipline which investigates the highest causes of all things as long as they are knowable by reason. Omenukor (2019b, p.565) states that all of man’s effort in the quest for knowledge has remained an attempt to understand himself, his environment and his world better. Thus, all of what man had done in the quest for knowledge is philosophy. The crucial connection between philosophy and history is highlighted in the fact of both disciplines being concerned with investigating in order to reveal knowledge. Here, scholars have also been interested in how history has been investigated, documented and reported. This gave birth to the discipline of historiography.

Historiography could be seen from a number of different but related perspectives. However, it could simply be said to refer to how history has been produced. It can also be said to refer to what has been produced, that is, a specific body of historical writing. From a third perspective, it could also be said to mean why history is produced. In this sense, it is the philosophy of history. It is a meta-level analysis of the descriptions of the past. In this view and the others, historiography is fully embedded with philosophy as it focuses on an interrogation of the narratives, interpretations, worldview, and use of evidence or methods of the presentation of other historians. Several subject matters have provided different topics for historians, hence the sources, techniques and theoretical approaches have changed and shifted from time to time.

For Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484-425 BCE), who is widely regarded as the “father of history,” who attempted to distinguish between more or less reliable accounts by personally conducting researches through travelling extensively, the focus was on the actions and characters of men, with an important role attributed to divinities in the determination of historical events. Thucydides, to a large extent, eliminated divine causality in his account of the war between Athens and Sparta and introduced a rationalistic element which was a precedent in subsequent Western historical writings. In the modern times, the German idealist, G.W. F. Hegel introduced three perspectives or modes from which history can be done, namely – original history, reflective history and philosophical history. This chapter is an attempt to show that drawing from Hegel’s modes, it is easy to decipher that there is philosophy in historiography.

Philosophy as a Concept, Discipline and Method

Philosophy means different things to different people. To some it is dry, abstract and removed from the real; to others, it is mythical and mystical. To others still, it is a pseudo science, maybe an aspect of the occult. However, it has been argued that everyone is a philosopher one way of the other, oftentimes without knowing it. This is the Case when philosophy as a concept is defined from its etymological background as drawing from the Greek root – philos - Sophia – meaning love of wisdom.

Considering that in most traditional societies, wisdom is associated with the elderly, that is, associated with experience, then everybody in applying thoughtfulness in dealing with everyday life could be said to be a philosopher. However, philosophy is much more than a simple concept such as “love of wisdom” and also more than experience. Philosophy is a discipline. It is a discipline committed to investigating the highest cause of all things as long as they are knowable by reason. In this sense, philosophy is not simply a science, but probably, the mother of all sciences. Philosophy as a discipline is not just interested in causes and effects, but in the deepest causes; it is not just concerned with aspects of reality as the specific sciences are, it is concerned with all of reality. Onyeocha (2001, p.6) sees philosophy as a discipline which makes distinctions about reality, subdividing it, contrasting and distinguishing what is true from what is false about it.

Philosophy is much more than the experience that comes from practical wisdom. If philosophy is the love of wisdom, it is the love of wisdom that comes from the knowledge of principles. That is, it is not just the love of practical wisdom, but mainly the love of theoretical of philosophical wisdom; wisdom which is possible only with proper knowledge and the power of analysis. This wisdom is not innate in the one who possesses, neither does it come automatically. It is the wisdom that is carefully cultivated, gradually perfecting itself when one cultivates the habit of dedication to detail, depth and to getting to the very root of things (Omenukor, 2011, p.11).

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, language, identity, among others. Philosophy by its nature is a discipline that can only be defined by itself. It is a discipline which interrogates anything and everything such that any understanding expressed on any of its problems represent a philosophical position. This may be why Tillich (1970: p.245) opined that philosophy is defined by itself because there is nothing beyond it to which any further reference can be made. Thus, there could be said to be no correct or incorrect response to a philosophical problem.

Philosophy as a method is one which is more interested in the process rather than in the conclusion or result. Philosophy in its method insists on beginning any and every interrogation from the beginning. In the philosophical methods, there is the rejection of any possibility of reference to anything outside of philosophy. Every attempt at resolving a philosophical problem must start from the scratch. Nothing is to be accepted without scrutiny and in this way, one is able to reach what Edmund Husserl called apodatic certainty – that is, clear, distinct and unprejudiced knowledge including history and its writing.

What is Historiography?

History is the study of the past as is documented. The description of history as studied in written documents is important here because there are other disciplines that study the past using other means, for instance archaeology. The term history is a generic one. The term could be said to relate to past events including the meaning, discovery, collection, organisation, presentation and interpretation of information about these events; it can also be said to refer to the academic discipline, which uses a narrative to examine and analyze a sequence of past events; and objectively determine the patterns of cause and effect that determine them (Evans, 2001). The writing of history is historiography.

The development of historical writing has witnessed transformations over the centuries. At one point, history was written based on religious events and crusades, at other times, military escapades have provided the landmarks. Yet at other times, the activities of iconic individuals or major political events have been emphasized. Several epochs have witnessed one anchor of historical narratives or the other. This concern about how history is documented gave birth to the discipline of historiography. Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in documenting a particular historical subject or in the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline (Omenukor, 2019c).

According to the Online Encyclopedia Britannica, historiography is the writing of history, especially the writing of history based on the critical examination of sources, the selection of particular details from the authentic materials in those sources, and the synthesis of those details into a narrative that stands the test of critical examination. Furay and Salevouris, (1988) state that historiography was more recently defined as "the study of the way history has been and is written – the history of historical writing.” The term historiography also refers to the theory and history of historical writing. The Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia states that Beginning in the nineteenth century, with the ascent of academic history, there developed a body of historiographic literature. Ferro (2003) adds that the extent to which historians are influenced by their own groups and loyalties – such as to their nation state – is a debated question.

Omenukor (2019c) maintains that historians have always sought to reconstruct a record of human activities and to achieve a more profound understanding of them. This perspective of doing history is quite recent, dating from the development in the late 18th and early 19th centuries of “scientific” history and the simultaneous rise of history as an academic profession. It springs from an outlook that is very new in human experience: the assumption that the study of history is a natural, inevitable human activity. Before the late 18th century, historiography did not stand at the centre of any civilization. History was almost never an important part of regular education, and it never claimed to provide an interpretation of human life as a whole. This larger ambition was more appropriate to religion, philosophy, and perhaps poetry and other imaginative literature.

The subjects of emphasis in the writing of history have changed from time to time. In this long development, there have been shifts away from traditional diplomatic, economic, and political history towards newer approaches like social and cultural studies. All human cultures tell stories about the past. These stories are composed in the myths which served as the original source of information and knowledge. Deeds of ancestors, heroes, gods, or animals sacred to particular peoples were chanted and memorized long before there was any writing with which to record them. The truth of these stories was authenticated by the very fact of their continued repetition. History, that is, an account of events and ways of thinking and feeling in some part of the human past, that is considered to be true, developed from this archetypal human narrative activity.

Omenukor (2019c) opines further that the different epochs and the different societies have had their own way of telling their stories. These ways of telling these stories have also changed tremendously from the earliest times. The Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia states that the earliest known systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, a development which would be an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region. Greek historians greatly contributed to the development of historical methodology. Myres agrees that the earliest known critical historical works were The Histories, composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484 - 425 BCE) who became known as the "father of history" (1953).

Herodotus in his approach, attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving written accounts of various Mediterranean cultures, Thucydides, a little later, largely eliminated divine causality in his account of the war between Athens and Sparta, establishing a rationalistic element which set a precedent for subsequent Western historical writings. Although Herodotus' overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men, he also attributed an important role to divinity in the determination of historical events. Thucydides was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event.

Today, a lot of historians have emerged with their own style and approach and historiography has become a more sophisticated discipline. G. W. F. Hegel, in series of lectures delivered at the University of Berlin, identified three different perspectives from which historians have and con do their work - original history, reflective history and philosophical history.

Hegel’s Three Perspectives

George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher and an important figure of German idealism who attempted to show that history follows the dictates of reason. Hegel identified three methods or modes of doing history, namely – original history, reflective history and philosophical history. Original history represents almost contemporaneous writings on deeds, events and states or societies which these writers witnessed and shared. Reflective history on the other hand, is history written at some distance in time from the events or historical issues considered. And philosophical history which is the mode of history in which the historian has to bracket off his or her preconceptions in order to the ideas of the historical subject (Hegel, 1975, Lectures).

Original history, just like that done by Herodotus and Thucydides, represents almost contemporaneous writings on deeds, events and states or societies which these writers witnessed and shared. Reflective history on the other hand, is history written at some distance in time from the events or historical issues considered. This mode of doing history, as the name goes demands some form of recollection and reflection. According to Hegel, this form of history has a tendency to impose on the past, the cultural prejudices of the present. Then, there is philosophical history, which for Hegel is the true history (Lectures, 1975). This is the mode of history in which the historian has to bracket off his or her preconceptions and prejudices and move to discover the overall sense and the driving ideas out of the very matter of history under consideration. To be an original historian is to write on historical issues contemporaneous nature. That is, historical events and issues which happen during the historian’s era and in cultures which he or she shared. Writing about historical events that happen during one’s life demands a level of objectivity. The historian is required to a large extent, bracket off his or her emotions, presuppositions and prejudices so as to do justice to the issue for historical reasons.

Russell (1992, p.40) writes that a number of problems of great complexity arise from the impact of new techniques upon a society whose organisation and habits of thought are adapted to an older system. Russell in the same pierce avers that every increase of skill demands, if it is to produce an increase and not a diminution of human happiness, a correlative increase in wisdom. Reflective history is that history that is written at some temporal distance from the events or historical issues considered. Hegel (1975) had observed that this form of history has a tendency to impose the cultural prejudices and ideas of the historian’s era upon the past history over which the historian reflects.

Conclusion

Historiography, to a large extent embodies philosophy. The philosophy of history is that branch of study that seeks to establish the eventual significance, if any, of human history. History is the study of man in time and space. Thus, history is a fundamental aspect of human existence, because it greatly contributes to man’s effort in understanding who he is, who he was and who he expects to be. According to Lamberg-Karlovsky and Sabloff (1970), Herodotus regarded history as being the product of the choices and actions of human beings and looked at cause and effect, rather than as the result of divine intervention. These are philosophical approaches.

From one perspective, historiography could be said to refer to why history is produced. This is the philosophy of history. As a meta-level analysis of descriptions of the past, historiography, in this sense, focuses on the analysis of the narratives, interpretations, worldviews, use of evidence, or method of presentation of other historians. Historiography has been more recently defined by Furay and Salevouris (1988) as “The study of the way history has been and is written – the history of historical writings.” This means that, “When you study historiography, you do not study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians.”

The ways and manners of documenting history have changed greatly and continue to change. This change is spurred by influences dating back to the ancient times. This change is such that the study and writing of modern history is now more wide-ranging, including such elements as the study of specific peoples, regions, events or other thematic elements of historical investigation. Another major dimension of this change is to see the writing of history from three different modes as articulated by G. W. F. Hegel. These modes are the original, reflective and philosophical histories. For Hegel, philosophical history is the true way, because, in this approach, the historian must put aside his personal presuppositions and preconceptions in order to find the overall sense and driving ideas of the historical issue understudy (Lectures, 100).

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