Oct-Dec (2024)

History as It Really Was? Revisiting Rankean Historiography and Its Critiques

M.C. Raja

Professor & Head, Department of History, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, India.

The study examines the Rankean tradition of historiography, which sought to establish history as an objective and empirical discipline based on archival research and factual accuracy. Rooted in the Positivist philosophy of Auguste Comte, Ranke’s methodology emphasized primary sources and historical neutrality. However, critics like Burckhardt, Dilthey, and Croce challenged the feasibility of total objectivity, arguing that historical narratives are shaped by interpretation. The early 20th century saw further critiques, with scholars asserting that historical facts do not exist independently of the historian’s perspective. While Ranke’s emphasis on empirical rigor shaped modern historiography, the balance between fact and interpretation remains a central debate. This study explores the strengths and limitations of Rankean historiography and its impact on contemporary historical thought. While Rankean methods remain foundational, historiography has evolved to acknowledge the historian’s role in shaping historical narratives.

Keywords: Rankean historiography, historical objectivity, positivism, empirical history, historical interpretation.
1. Jacques Bos, “Renaissance Historiography: Framing a New Mode of Historical Experience,” The Making of the Humanities, Vol. 1: Early Modern Europe, edited by Rens Bod, Jaap Maat, and Thijs Weststeijn, Amsterdam University Press, 2010, pp. 351-365.
2. F.R. Ankersmit, Sublime Historical Experience, Stanford University Press, 2005, pp. 326-328, 356-363.
3. Giovanni Arrighi, Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-first Century, Verso, 2007.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Wolfgang Hardtwig, “Geschichtsreligion – Wissenschaft als Arbeit – Objektivität: der Historismus in neuer Sicht,” Historische Zeitschrift, vol. 252, 1991, pp. 1-32.
7. Daniel Fulda, “Historicism as a Cultural Pattern: Practising a Mode of Thought,” Journal of the Philosophy of History, vol. 4, 2010, pp. 138-153.
8. John Edward Toews, Becoming Historical: Cultural Reformation and Public Memory in Early Nineteenth-Century Berlin, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
9. Friedrich Meinecke, Die Entstehung des Historismus, R. Oldenbourg, 1936.
10. Ibid.
11. Bos, op. cit., pp. 355-360.
12. Ankersmit, op. cit., pp. 330-335.
13. Arrighi, op. cit., pp. 105-120.
14. Hardtwig, op. cit., pp. 15-18.
15. Fulda, op. cit., pp. 140-145.
16. Toews, op. cit., pp. 210-220.
17. Meinecke, op. cit., pp. 100-110.
18. ibid., p. 360.
19. ibid., p. 335.
20. ibid., p. 18.


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Published: 30 DEC 2024

Issue: Oct-Dec (2024)

Section: Articles

Metrics: 176 87

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