Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
| |||
|
| |||
| Understanding: the ability to give reasons for a distinction or to justify a selection of options. See also actions, meaning, knowledge._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
| Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Leopold von Ranke on Understanding - Dictionary of Arguments
Gadamer I 215 Understanding/Ranke/Historism/Gadamer: Ranke, Thesis: The last result of historical science is "compassion, complicity of the universe"(1). Rankes' famous twist to erase himself is based on this pantheistic background. DiltheyVsRanke: Of course, such self-extinction is in truth, as Dilthey(2) has objected, the expansion of the self into an inner universe. RankeVsDilthey: For Ranke, self-extinction is still a form of real participation. One must not understand the concept of participation in psychological-subjective terms, but must think of it from the standpoint of the concept of life that underlies it. Because all historical phenomena are manifestations of All-Life (German: "All-Leben"), participation in them is participation in life. Gadamer: From there the expression of understanding gains its almost religious sound. Understanding is direct participation in life, without the mental mediation through the concept. It is precisely this point that the historian is concerned not to relate reality to concepts, but to reach the point where "life thinks and thought lives". The phenomena of historical life are grasped in understanding as the manifestations of All-Life, the divinity. Such an understanding penetration of the same means in fact more than a human cognitive achievement of an inner universe, as Dilthey reformulated the historian's ideal against Ranke. It is a metaphysical statement that puts Ranke in the greatest proximity to Fichte and Hegel when he says: "The clear, full, lived insight, that is the marrow of being (German: "Seyns") has become transparent and sees through itself"(3). In such a phrase it is quite noticeable how close Ranke remains to German idealism. The full self-transparency of being, which Hegel thought of in the absolute knowledge of philosophy, legitimizes even Ranke's self-confidence as a historian, no matter how much he rejects the claim of speculative philosophy. Gadamer I 216 Gadamer: The pure devotion to the vision of things, the epic attitude of one who seeks the fairy tale of world history(4) may indeed be called poetic, provided that for the historian God is present in everything not in the form of the concept but in the form of the "external imagination". Indeed, one cannot better describe Ranke's self-image than by these terms of Hegel. The historian, as Ranke understands him, belongs to the figure of the absolute mind, which Hegel described as that of the >Kunstreligion. DroysenVsRanke/Gadamer: For a sharper-thinking historian, the problem of such a self-conception had to become visible. The philosophical significance of Droysen's historiography lies precisely in the fact that he seeks to detach the concept of understanding from the indeterminacy of aesthetic-pantheistic communion that he has with Ranke and formulates his conceptual premises. The first of these preconditions is the concept of expression(5). Understanding is understanding of expression. >History, >History/Ranke, >Historiography, >World History, >Universal history. 1. Ranke (ed. Rothacker). S. 52. 2. Dilthey, Ges. Schriften V, 281. 3. Lutherfragment 13. 4. Ebenda S. 1 5. Vgl. auch unten S. 341 f. , 471 f. und Bd. 2 der Ges. Werke, Exkurs VI, S. 384ff._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Ranke, Leopold von Gadamer I Hans-Georg Gadamer Wahrheit und Methode. Grundzüge einer philosophischen Hermeneutik 7. durchgesehene Auflage Tübingen 1960/2010 Gadamer II H. G. Gadamer The Relevance of the Beautiful, London 1986 German Edition: Die Aktualität des Schönen: Kunst als Spiel, Symbol und Fest Stuttgart 1977 |
||
> Counter arguments against Ranke
> Counter arguments in relation to Understanding
Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-24