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Historians and poets: the case of the "Cambridge school"
Abstract
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This article critically analyzes the methodology of the Cambridge School in the history of ideas using Aristotle’s distinction between history and poetry. It examines the tension between the School’s declared descriptivism and anti-anachronism and the normative generalizations in its research, which have contributed to the popularization of republican ideas in contemporary political discourse.
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The main research question is whether the Cambridge School’s methodology separates historical reconstruction from poetic or normative uses of the past. The study employs textual analysis and interpretation, comparing methodological positions of key figures (Aristotle and H. White regarding the history/poetry distinction; Q. Skinner and J. Pocock as main historians of ideas).
THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The article begins by reconstructing the Cambridge School’s core methodological assumptions. It then presents Aristotle’s classical distinction between history and poetry alongside H. White’s perspective, which blurs this distinction. The next section shows how the historicization of ideas, inaugurated by Skinner’s essay Meaning and Understanding, inevitably leads to a (re)poeticization of historical narrative. Two possible directions of this (re)poeticization are distinguished, with only one considered a permissible extension of the original methodology.
RESEARCH RESULTS: The analysis demonstrates that although the Cambridge School consistently sought to practice the history of ideas as history sensu stricto, narrative and normative elements could not be entirely eliminated. Focusing on the intentional agency of individuals makes poeticization of the past unavoidable. Crucial, however, is the distinction between reflective poeticization and the instrumental use of history.
CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Research in the history of ideas can serve as a source of practical (ethical and political) reflection for the present. Two distinct strategies for the poetic (normative) use of historical narrative are available. Historians of ideas should recognize these differences and deliberately follow the Aristotelian direction, which also appears to be Skinner’s choice.
Keywords
the Cambridge School ; history of ideas ; Aristotle ; historiography ; poeticization of history
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