What Is History For? Johann Gustav Droysen and the Functions of Historiography

"This is a thorough, original, and well-researched study of a major nineteenth-century historical thinker...Assis demonstrates with great clarity that Droysen saw no incompatibility between 'studying history', 'thinking historically', and 'making history'. By situating the German historian both in his own time and in a long tradition of reflection on the uses and abuses of history, Assis's book makes a welcome contribution to intellectual history, history of historiography, and historical theory." Herman Paul, Leiden University

A scholar of Hellenistic and Prussian history, Droysen developed a historical theory that at the time was unprecedented in range and depth, and which remains to the present day a valuable key for understanding history as both an idea and a professional practice. Arthur Alfaix Assis interprets Droysen's theoretical project as an attempt to redefine the function of historiography within the context of a rising criticism of exemplar theories of history, and focuses on Droysen's claim that the goal underlying historical writing and reading should be the development of the subjective capacity to think historically. In addition, Assis examines the connections and disconnections between Droysen's theory of historical thinking, his practice of historical thought, and his political activism. Ultimately, Assis not only shows how Droysen helped reinvent the relationship between historical knowledge and human agency, but also traces some of the contradictions and limitations inherent to that project.

Arthur Alfaix Assisis Assistant Professor of the Theory and Methodology of History at the University of Braslia.