Historicism

Historicism is a mode of thinking that assigns major significance to a specific context, such as historical period, geographical place, and local culture. As such it varies in emphasis from individualist theories of knowledge such as empiricism and rationalism, which neglect the role of traditions. Historicism therefore tends to be hermeneutical, because it places great importance on cautious, rigorous, and contextualized interpretation of information; or relativist, because it rejects notions of universal, fundamental and immutable interpretations.

The term "historicism" (Historismus) was coined by German philosopher Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel. Over the time it has developed different and somewhat divergent meanings. Elements of historicism appear in the writings of French essayist Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) and Italian philosopher G. B. Vico (1668–1744), and became more fully developed with the dialectic of Georg Hegel (1770–1831), influential in 19th-century Europe. The writings of Karl Marx, influenced by Hegel, also include historicism. The term is also associated with the empirical social sciences and with the work of Franz Boas.

Historicism may be contrasted with reductionist theories—which suppose that all developments can be explained by fundamental principles (such as in economic determinism)—or with theories that posit that historical changes occur as a result of random chance.

The Austrian-English philosopher Karl Popper condemned historicism along with the determinism and holism which he argued formed its basis. In his Poverty of Historicism, he identified historicism with the opinion that there are "inexorable laws of historical destiny", which opinion he warned against. This contrasts with the contextually relative interpretation of historicism for which its proponents argue. Talcott Parsons criticized historicism as a case of idealistic fallacy in The Structure of Social Action (1937).

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