Rethinking Methodology: A Theoretical and Temporal Discussion of Historical Methodology - The Ghost of Meaning
Translated title
Metoden Gentænkt: En Teoretisk og Tidslig Diskussion af Historisk Metode – Meningens Spøgelse
Author
Bendixen, Esben Ruben
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2014
Submitted on
2014-08-01
Pages
79
Abstract
Specialet undersøger, om nyere teorier inden for historieteori og -filosofi kan bruges til at udvikle den danske historiske metode, der bygger på det funktionelle kildebegreb. Med en analytisk og komparativ gennemgang af tre strømninger – den sproglige vending (narrativisme), presence-paradigmet og spøgelsesparadigmet – vurderes deres metodiske implikationer og potentialer. Indledningsvis kortlægges de teoretiske forudsætninger bag det funktionelle kildebegreb med udgangspunkt i danske metodiske lærebøger. I narrativismen vurderes Keith Jenkins’ anti-fundamentalistiske position som metodisk ubrugelig, mens Hayden White og Louis O. Mink fastholder narrativets centrale rolle uden at ville opløse faget. Presence-paradigmet (Eelco Runia, Frank Ankersmit) vurderes som metodisk uanvendeligt, fordi presence og den sublime historiske erfaring forstås som subjektive og passive fænomener; Ankersmits forsøg på at aktivere dem lider af forklaringsproblemer. I spøgelsesparadigmet er Dorthe Gert Simonsens idé om radikal historicitet interessant, men uden klare metodiske nybrud, mens Berber Bevernage, i dialog med Jacques Derrida, inspirerer til ahistoriske greb for at undersøge tidens sociale og politiske virkninger. Konklusionen er, at specialet ikke kan udvikle en forbedret historisk metode på dette grundlag og derfor ikke besvarer problemformuleringen i snæver forstand; i stedet foreslås et skifte fra meningsfikserede forståelser til at udforske forholdet mellem fortid og nutid som et tidsligt fænomen løsrevet fra meningens spøgelse.
This thesis examines whether recent advances in the theory and philosophy of history can help develop Danish historical methodology built around the concept of functional sources. It offers a theoretical, comparative analysis of three currents—the linguistic turn (narrativism), the presence paradigm, and the ghost paradigm—and assesses their methodological implications and potential. The study first outlines the assumptions underlying the functional source concept using Danish methodological textbooks. Within narrativism, Keith Jenkins’s anti-foundational position is deemed methodologically unusable, whereas Hayden White and Louis O. Mink keep narrative central without dissolving the discipline. The presence paradigm (Eelco Runia, Frank Ankersmit) is judged methodologically inapplicable because presence and the sublime historical experience are treated as subjective and passive; Ankersmit’s attempt to make them active faces explanatory difficulties. In the ghost paradigm, Dorthe Gert Simonsen’s notion of radical historicity is intriguing but yields no clear methodological innovation, while Berber Bevernage, in dialogue with Jacques Derrida, motivates ahistorical approaches to investigate the social and political effects of temporal conceptions. The thesis thus cannot produce a revised historical method and does not answer the research question in a strict sense; instead, it argues for shifting attention from meaning-laden discourse to time itself, examining the past–present relation as a temporal phenomenon rather than one bound to the ghost of meaning.
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