The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present

405 Pages·1984·21.201 MB·English

by  Georg G. Iggers

THE GERMAN CONCEPTION OF HISTORY
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To James Luther Adams
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The German Conception
of History
THE NATIONAL TRADITION OF HISTORICAL
THOUGHT FROM HERDER TO THE PRESENT
By Georg G. Iggers
Revised Edition
Wesley an University Press
MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT
Copyright © 1968 by Wesleyan University, 1983 by Georg G. Iggers
All inquiries and permissions requests should be addressed to the Pub-
lisher, Wesleyan University Press, 110 Mt. Vernon Street, Middletown,
Connecticut 06457
Distributed by Harper & Row Publishers, Keystone Industrial Park,
Scranton, Pennsylvania 18512
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Iggers, Georg G.
The German conception of history.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Germany—Historiography I. Title.
DD86.I34 1983 943'.0072 83-1337
ISBN 0-8195-6080-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 1968
First Wesleyan paperback edition 1983
Contents
Preface to the Revised Edition ix
Preface to the First Edition xiii
Chapter I Introduction 3 3
II The Origins of German Historicism:
THE TRANSFORMATION OF GERMAN HISTORICAL
THOUGHT FROM HERDER'S COSMOPOLITAN
CULTURE-ORIENTED NATIONALISM TO THE
STATE-CENTERED EXCLUSIVE NATIONALISM
OF THE WARS OF LIBERATION 29 29
III The Theoretical Foundations of German
Historicism I: Wilhelm von Humboldt 44
IV The Theoretical Foundations of German
Historicism II: Leopold von Ranke 63
V The High Point of Historical Optimism—
The "Prussian School" 90
VI The "Crisis of Historicism" I:
THE PHILOSOPHIC CRITIQUE: COHEN,
DILTHEY, WINDELBAND, RICKERT, WEBER 124 124
VII The "Crisis of Historicism" II:
ERNST TROELTSCH AND FRIEDRICH MEINECKE 174 174
VIII The Decline of the German "Idea"
of History:
THE IMPACT OF TWO WORLD WARS AND
TOTALITARIANISM ON GERMAN HISTORICAL
THOUGHT 229 229
IX Epilogue 269
Notes 295
Suggested Readings 371
Index 381
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Preface to the Revised Edition
Since this volume was first published, a good deal of rethinking has
taken place in historical studies in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Continuities with older traditions and outlooks persist, but a large
number of historians have begun to look critically at their national
past. This critical perspective has been accompanied by a reorientation
in methodology, away from the narrowly person-oriented approach of
traditional German historiography to a concern with the social context
in which political history takes place. I very much felt that the new
edition of The German Conception of History should reflect the trans-
formation of historical conceptions since the 1960's.
The chapter that has been added to the new edition by no means
aims at completeness. It rather seeks to grasp the changes in style, out-
look, and methodology that characterize the new historiography. It is
difficult to reduce the new scholarship to a simple common denomi-
nator. There is much more diversity in the work of the historians of the
1960's and 1970's than in that of their predecessors. Nevertheless,
there is an effort in much of the historical writing of the last twenty
years to arrive at an understanding of Germany's tragic past. Much of
the new final chapter deals with this concern. This emphasis explains
certain of the omissions of the chapter—as well as of the book gener-
ally—such as the neglect of the important literature on medieval and
early modern history. It also explains the focus on the new critical
ix