Jean-Marc Ferry and Jörn Rüsen’s stances on historiography and on history: From a critical perspective to a humanistic one
(2013) The Future of the Theory and Philosophy of History — Location: Ghent (10.July.2013)
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- The paper aims firstly to define the conditions ascribed by two philosophers to historiography and secondly to examine their own philosophical conception of historical process. Their critical and systematic stances result in the definition of ethical imperatives linked with history. Rüsen and Ferry express compelling demands to the writing of history with respect to its values and its reflexivity. If these demands are, in Rüsen’s case, part of his disciplinary matrix, which systematizes the cognitive operations of historical science and of its social functions, they emerge, in Ferry’s case, from his analysis of Habermas’ philosophy and from his reflection mainly on the history of the 20th century. Moreover, both envisioned a process in history, and particularly in the history of Europe. Inspired by Norbert Elias, Ferry sees this history as developing in several stages which he summarizes through the principles of civility, legality and publicness. Based on his knowledge of philosophical writings of the Enlightenment and onwards, Rüsen delineates a history of humanism with a normative intention. Both thinkers place the recognition of these positive resources in European history as presenting a counterpart to its devastating experiences of wars and genocides. It paves the way for two ethical imperatives for social sciences and history. Tackling European history and its national histories, Ferry puts forward the principle of self-recognition in the other (principe de la reconnaissance de soi dans l’autre) as part of a reconstructive ethics (éthique reconstructive) and a postnational education (éducation postnationale). In his dialogue with other cultures in the world, Rüsen strives to be distanced from eurocentrism and develops a normative principle of mutual recognition of cultural differences (Prinzip wechselseitiger Anerkennung kultureller Differenzen). This principle can be linked with Rüsen’s plea for a critical historical consciousness. The paper will finally ask the question of the incentives for history and for philosophy related to these both approaches, that from a political philosopher and that from a theorician of history.
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Warland, G. (2013). Jean-Marc Ferry and Jörn Rüsen’s stances on historiography and on history: From a critical perspective to a humanistic one. The Future of the Theory and Philosophy of History, Ghent. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/274190