"The investigative premise of intellectual history is that ideas do not develop in isolation from the thinkers who conceptualize and apply those ideas."
This subfield focuses on the ideas, intellectual movements, and figures who shaped history.
Enlightenment: The intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe, during the 18th century, in which thinkers sought to apply the principles of reason and scientific inquiry to all aspects of society, including government, religion, and education.
Postmodernism: A broad intellectual movement that developed in the mid- to late-20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture, and criticism, characterized by a self-conscious rejection of the values and conventions of the preceding era of modernism, and a focus on deconstructing and challenging the concepts of truth, objectivity, and progress.
Renaissance: A period of intellectual and artistic rebirth that occurred in Europe between the 14th to 17th centuries, characterized by a renewed interest in the classical civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome, and a shift towards humanism - a focus on the human experience and individualism.
Marxism: A theory of social organization and a political movement that seeks to establish a socialist society based on the principles of economic and social equality, as advocated by the philosopher and economist, Karl Marx.
Feminism: A social, political, and cultural movement that seeks to establish equality and eliminate gender-based discrimination and oppression.
Existentialism: A philosophical movement that emphasizes individual freedom and choice, advocating the idea that individuals are responsible for creating their own meanings in life, rather than relying on pre-existing systems of value or belief.
Idealism: A philosophical approach that affirms the reality of ideas and their fundamental importance in understanding the world, often contrasted with materialism or physicalism.
Pragmatism: A philosophical approach that emphasizes practical consequences and real-world experience as the basis for evaluating knowledge and theories, as opposed to relying on abstract principles or metaphysical concepts.
Structuralism: A theoretical framework that focuses on the underlying structures and systems that shape human behavior, culture, and language, rather than on individual actors or personal agency.
Post-structuralism: A theoretical framework that builds on structuralism, but emphasizes the limitations and internal contradictions of such systems, advocating for a more fluid and flexible approach to understanding and interpreting social and cultural phenomena.
"(i) as abstract propositions for critical application; and (ii) in concrete terms of culture, life, and history."
"The history of ideas emerged from the European disciplines of Kulturgeschichte (Cultural History) and Geistesgeschichte (Intellectual History)."
"To develop a global intellectual history that shows the parallels and the interrelations in the history of critical thinking in every society."
"The history of reading, and the history of the book, about the material aspects of book production (design, manufacture, distribution) developed from the history of ideas."
"The concerns of intellectual history are the intelligentsia and the critical study of the ideas expressed in the texts produced by intellectuals; therein the difference between intellectual history from other forms of cultural history that study visual and non-verbal forms of evidence."
"The concept of the intellectual as a political citizen of public society dates from the 19th century."
"Anyone who explored his or her thoughts on paper can be the subject of an intellectual history."
"The Cheese and the Worms (1976), Carlo Ginzburg's study of the 16th-century Italian miller Menocchio (1532–1599) and his cosmology, falls within the genre of intellectual history..."
"The Journal of the History of Ideas is one of the flagship journals in intellectual history."