Year: 2000
Type: article
Abstract: A WaywardAlly?In his "Defining Historicism," pubUshed in these pages in 1998, Claes G. Ryn notes that a renewal of historicism has been central to the postmodern turn.But though potentially valuable, historicism in its postmodernist guise has seemed to invite overreaction-from the authority of "foundations" to a combination of relentless negativism and irresponsible "play."^In assessing the recent embrace of historicism, Ryn devoted particular attention to my Nothing but History,'^ generously crediting its range and offering a number of perceptive characterizations of its argument.He clearly finds me an ally up to a point, for each of us seeks a kind of middle ground between "ahistorical 'foundationalist' metaphysics" and aspects of postmodernism that we both see as an overreaction (91).Whereas, as Ryn puts it, historicism in its deconstructive postmodern form becomes "almost wholly nega-* Claes G. Ryn , "Defining Historicism/' Humanitas XI, no. 2 (1998), 86-101; references to this article hereinafter cited in the text.^
Source: Humanitas
Author: David D. Roberts
Institution: University of Georgia
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W210773428