Historicity

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The characteristic of historical events or processes that makes them unique and irreproducible.

Historical Methodology: How we approach and analyse history, the types of sources used, their reliability and the nature of historical evidence.
Historical Interpretation: How we make sense of and understand the past, the role of the historian, the influence of bias and subjectivity.
Historical Explanation: The factors that contribute to historical events and how we explain why certain events occurred.
Historical Causation: The relationship between cause and effect in history, the different types of causes and factors that influence historical events.
Historical Agency: The role of individuals, groups and institutions in shaping historical events.
Historical Periodisation: The process of dividing history into different periods, identifying the characteristics of each period and examining the transitions between them.
Historical Contingency: The idea that historical events are shaped by chance and luck as well as deliberate actions.
Historical Imagination: The role of creativity and imagination in historical interpretation and reconstruction.
Historical Memory: The ways in which different societies remember and commemorate their history, the role of history in identity formation.
Historical Ethics: The ethical considerations involved in the study and interpretation of history, the use of historical knowledge for political purposes.
Historical Truth: The nature of historical truth and how it can be established, the influence of bias and subjectivity.
Historical Revisionism: The reevaluation of established historical narratives and interpretations, the role of revisionism in the development of historical understanding.
Historical Linguistics: The study of language and its role in historical analysis, the interpretation of historical texts.
Historical Sociology: The role of social structures, institutions and economic systems in shaping historical events.
Historical Anthropology: The study of human cultures and their influence on historical events, the relationship between culture and historical change.
Historical Geography: The study of the relationship between geography, the environment and historical events.
Historical Archaeology: The use of archaeological methods to study historical events and cultures.
Historical Epistemology: The study of the nature and limitations of historical knowledge, the methods used to obtain historical knowledge.
The Philosophy of History: The broader philosophical questions about the nature and purpose of history, the relationship between history and other disciplines.
Historical Memory and Trauma: The impact of traumatic events on historical memory, the role of memory in cultural identity and healing.
Metahistory: This type of historicity deals with the philosophical and overarching principles that govern the writing of history.
Presentism: This type of historicity views the past through the lens of contemporary events and preconceptions, often giving priority to current social or political concerns.
Whig history: This type of historicity presents a progressive view of history that emphasizes the positive development of human societies toward a more perfect state and places a high value on democracy and liberalism.
Teleological historicity: This type of historicity sees the development of history as unfolding according to a predetermined end or aim.
Cultural historicity: This type of historicity emphasizes the importance of cultural and social factors in shaping historical events.
Nationalistic historicity: This type of historicity highlights the unique features of a particular nation or people, often at the expense of other cultures.
Structural historicity: This type of historicity focuses on the underlying structures and systems that shape historical events, such as economic or political systems.
Postmodern historicity: This type of historicity emphasizes the contingency and subjectivity of historical interpretation, and often challenges traditional narratives of history.
Quote: "Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction."
Quote: "Some theoreticians characterize historicity as a dimension of all natural phenomena that take place in space and time."
Quote: "Other scholars characterize it as an attribute reserved to certain human occurrences, in agreement with the practice of historiography."
Quote: "Herbert Marcuse explained historicity as that which 'defines history and thus distinguishes it from 'nature' or the 'economy'' and 'signifies the meaning we intend when we say of something that is 'historical'.'"
Quote: "The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy defines historicity as 'denoting the feature of our human situation by which we are located in specific concrete temporal and historical circumstances'."
Quote: "For Wilhelm Dilthey, historicity identifies human beings as unique and concrete historical beings."
Quote: "Questions regarding historicity concern not just the issue of 'what really happened', but also how modern observers can come to know 'what really happened'."
Quote: "This second issue is closely tied to historical research practices and methodologies for analyzing the reliability of primary sources and other evidence."
Quote: "Because various methodologies thematize historicity differently, it is not possible to reduce historicity to a single structure to be represented."
Quote: "Some methodologies like historicism can make historicity subject to constructions of history based on submerged value commitments."
Quote: "The historiographer François Hartog introduced the notion of regimes of historicity to describe a society that considers its past and attempts to deal with it, a process that is also cited as 'a method of self-awareness in a human community'."
Quote: "The historicity of a reported event may be distinct from the historicity of persons involved in the event."
Quote: "For example, a popular story says that as a child, George Washington chopped down a cherry tree, and when confronted about it, honestly took responsibility for the act. Although there is no doubt that Washington existed as an historical figure, the historicity of this specific account has been found lacking."
Quote: "The historicity of the Iliad has become a topic of debate because later archaeological finds suggest that the work was based on some true event."
Quote: "Questions of historicity frequently arise in relation to historical studies of religion."
Quote: "In these cases, value commitments can influence the choice of research methodology."