Western Histori cal Thinki ng in a

Global Perspe ctive- 10 Theses

WESTER N HISTOR ICAL THINKI NG

An Interwlw ral Debate

PETER BURKE

Editcd bv
:&

Jiirn Rsee

!I
\)

\~

"8

<::)..

I'
II

~r

Berghahn Books
Ncw York Oxford

81
()

Thc 'htstoncai tb..oughr' w b: cxammed m tfus paper IS concentrated on thc

assu1 pttons o f 'vorking htstonans and thc tmpliGmons o f thc1r practtces. Hmvcvcr, it also refers from runc to um e to philosophers o f htstory. Indecd, gtven
mor space, tnne and knowlcdgc, I would havc liked to have extendcd the
topt even furrhcr, to mcludc cvcryonc's pcrceptlOI1S o f the past, o r m thc use1
fui p rase of Bernard GuCnCc, thl' "lmtoncaJ culture" of thc Wesr.. Unlike
som earlicr lmtonans. Hans B~roi1 for cxamp!e, l shall not be rcfcrnng to the
"awa ~enmg" o f lustoncal thought ar :] particular moment (in hts case, thc cariy
Rcn. issance).::! Nor will I be assummg or argumg, like Hegel. that lustQncal
thou ht or Jusroncal conscwusness ts a monopoly ofthe Wesr. On thc contrary,
mter st m the past appcars to havc CXlstcd evcrywherc and 111 all penods.
the samc, smce pcople from diffcrcnt cu!tures have different conceptlons f um e and space, and smcc European cultural and soctalmovem cnts sue h
as th Renatssancc, the Reformatwn, thc Enlightcnmcn t, Romanttcism and
postti n.sm ali had nnportant consequcnccs for lustoncal thought and wntmg,
It ts . n1y to bc cxpccted that Europcan lmtoncal wntmg JS distmcuve. The
probl m lies m specifymg tbat distmcuvcncss. Considcr how many lustoncal
work have been wrmcn ovcr rhc ccntunes, from Hcrodotus to the prcscnt, m
how nany Europcan 1anguagcs. Coastder that to discuss what ts distmcttvc m
Euro can lusroncal rhoughr H IS also ncccssary to have a good knowlcdge of
othc lustonograpl ucal traditwns, such as the Chmese, Japanese, Islanuc,
Afric n, mdigcnous Amcncan, and so on. No wonder that VIrtually no one has
tned o study btstonograph y m a compardtlve way (it IS a ptty that one o f the
few e <plicttfy comparauvc studies IS Vlttatcd by thc author's .mumptlon that the
Wcst rn srylc of htstoncal wntmg ts supcnor m cvery way to thc alternauvcs).f lt IS obvwusly foolhardy for a smgle mdividual to otTer concluswns on
thlS huge SUbjCCt.

16

I I 'Jirm

Pctcr Burkc

Hcncc what follows IS a list not so much of"concluswns" as ofthe reversc,

of opcmngs, m other words of provlSlonal assertlons that are mtcnded to
encourage debate and rcsearch. Let me make tt clear at the start that I sec rhe
distmcttveness ofWestern htstoncal thought not as a senes o f umguc charactcnsttcs but rather as a umque combmaoon o f clements each o f whtch ts to bc
found elsewherc, a pattern of emphases, whtch themselves vary by penod,
rcgwn, socsal group and mdividual htstonan.
Another pomt to clarfY at the outsct lS the problemanc nature of thc conccpt "Wcstern," or mdeed of the obvwus alternaove, "European "The examplcs
whteh follow run from Herodotos to the prcsent. Sinet: the n5c o f the idea o f
Europc, from the Rena1ssance onwa.rd'>, the mtellccruals of that contment havc
damted the anctent Greeks and Romans as ancestors. However,tt ts far from clcar
whethcr Herodotus or Anuntanus Marcellinus (say) wou!d have agrccd. It ts more
likefy that they saw themselvcs 2.5 pare o f a Mediterranean world m wluch thcy
looked ea5t rather than wcst. In any case, Greek mtellecmal tradittons ..vere mftuentlal m the Mu5lim world as well as (indeed ea.rlier than) m Western Europe. t!1Us
undcrmtmng any contrast bet.ween an "us" whtch mdude5 the Greeks and ~
"thcm" \VhiCh mcludcs l5lam. Thc West 1s ttself a hlstoncal construct. .;
The paper IS presented m rhe form of ten pomts m ordcr to cmphastzc Its
sch~manc nature, not the nature o f the subjCCt, as wdl as to f.1ciltate reference
and discu551011. For the same reasons, the sectwns havc bccn numbcrcd, wJthom
any pretcnswns to 5Cientific accuracy o r philosophtcal ngor. The pmnts will be
illustrated wHh rcfcrence to thc htstoncal cla5stc5 of the We5tern traditwn Wtthout as5unung that these cla.sstcs sum up Western ht5tonca1 thought m an exhau5t1ve manner. The compansons, explictt 2nd tmplictt, will rcfcr to a fcw dasstcs
from other trJ.diuons, for example to Ssu-ma Ch 'ien and Ibn Khadun. and also
to a small duster o f secondtrry works m Western Janguages that are cttcd m thc
bibliography. lt 15 beca use tlu5 work concentrares on Cluna and Isam that I shall
take mo5t o f my non-Westcrn examp1es from tho5e parts o f the world. Every
attempt will be rnade to avoid the nusfeading bmary opposmon bcrwecn "thc
We5t" and "thc rcst."
The tcn pomts whtch follow are not tsolated but linkcd. Thc links are 50il1cnme5 htstoncal and somctlme5 logtca (desptte tcnstons or evcn comradicnon5
between some ofthem). In thts sense the pomts add up to 3 ":-ystem.""model" or
"ideal type" ofWcstern h1stoncal thought. Likc othcr models, tlus one neccssarily exaggerate5 the differences betwccn Western and non-Western ht5tonans and
nmunuzes mtellectua1 conflict witlun the Western ht5toncai traditJon. It should be
considcred as no more than a schcmattc descnpoon o f a pattern of emphases.
lt ts of course temptmg to try to relate We5tern histoncal thought to ochcr
charactcnsttcs ofWestern culture, mdeed to prescnt tt as the product ofWestern
htstory. From tnne to time I 5hall mdeed be pomtmg to possible connccttons
between Wesrern ht5tonography,\Vcstern sctencc,Westcrn law,We5tern mdividualism, Westcrn capttalism anc! Westcrn unpenalism. The emphas1s f.>lls on

Hswnw/"111iukiu.~ 111 il

Global

PctJf/f{/11'<"

17

descnpoon simp1y becausc 1t ts log~cally pnor to expianatlon. On1y after wc

havc ma de the mvcntory o f difTcrences betwecn htstoncal thought 111 the Wc5t
and m othcr parts o f the globc willtt be possiblc to makc a 5ystematJC mvesttganon o f the reasons for thesc diffcrcnce5.
Thc modcl prescntcd m the followmg pages iS mtcndcd to be a dvnamtc
onc. Change over time will be discus5ed 111 each scctxon. My general concluston
15 that although difTerences bctween Wc~tern and othcr htstonograpiues have
always been Vt5ible, thcy have bccn more nnportant at certam ttmes than at othcrs. For example, thcre was an mcrcasmg divcrgence bctwccn We5tern and othcr
htstonographtes from thc Rcnats5ance onwards because Western lustonca1 wntmg devcioped m a more and more di5t:mcttve way.
The phase of divergcncc was followed by a phase of convergencc m the
mnetecnth and twenueth centuncs, t:hc rcsult of a worldwtdc mterest m the
Westcrn paradigm, or as Masayub Sato puts Jt m !u5 study of Japan, an
"cncouuter" betwecn rhat p<1radigm ;;nd mdigenous tradinon5 .. ; In SOJT,c places.
coloma1 Peru [or mstance, the mectmg took place much earlicr. m rhc age of
6
Garcilaso de la Vega "El Inca" and of Guaman Poma dei Aya1a. The resu1r: of
tfus pro::c..s5 has been to weaken, if not ro dis5ive, thc specif!c qualincs ofWc5tem. htstonographv and to produ c e :1 global conumuuty o f profcsswnal htston-ans, wtth sunilar if not idcntJcal standards o f practtcc. There are o f course a
numbcr o f different 5tylt~s o f lustory practtccd today, but thcse srylc:; (intdlectuJ.l ht5tory, nucrohtsrory, quantJtatt\"C lmtory ~nd so on), are ;r:ailablc to 1nsronans more or le55 anywhcrc m rhc wodd.
\Vhether the gencrallu5tonca1 culmr~ of different parts o f the world today
Js equally unificd I r..1ther doubt. My tmprcSSion 1s that the sttuatwn m lustonography 15 rather like thc sttuatton m pamtmg.Visual culturcs differ from regxon
to regwn, but supcnmposed 1s the global cuiture o f profe5swnal art1sts. whosc
mternattonal exhibmons corrc5pond to the 1nternat1onal congresses o f htstonans. Thts global profes5tonai culture 15 not uniform, but the ma.Jor optiOn5 availablc (op art, pop art, Jrummai art, and so on) are mtcrnanonally availablc likc the
ma.JOr opnon5 m htstory.
Thc followmg ten propostttons concernmg thc "peculianncs o f thc Wcst"
are prcscnted m approxtmate arder o f importance.

1. The most hnportant, or at least the n1ost obvous

characteristic ofWestern historical thought is its stress on
development or progress~ in other words its "linear" view

ofthe past.
1. 1.

The tcrm "progress" is used hcrc 111 a broad sense, to rcfcr to thc tdca that change
JS cumulanvc (onc gencr.mon standing on the shouldcrs of anothcr). or that lt JS

18

li i:stan Hltmt<ll711iuhn.t; m

Prrrr Burkc

Irreversiblc (summed up m the popular phrase, "you can't put back the dock").
Hegel's Philosophy 4 Hiswry and MacauJays Histoty '!f E11gia11d may be c1ted as
famous exprcsstons of thts clustcr of idcas. However, the assumpt10n of irreversibility does not unply that htstoncal change ts ncccssarily or usu~illy for thc
bctter. Many o f the practttJoncrs o f a new branch o f htstory, thc htstory o f the
env1ronment or."cco-11lSrof)~" asscrt o r nnply that change 1s usually for the worsc.
Th~ assumpt1on o f progress o r development h as not becn a constant feature
ofWcstcrn hmoncal thought. On the coutrary, tt has tts own htstorv. 7 Th;~.t"hts
tory" ts gomg somewherc, that 1t ts guided by destmy or Provdence (or evcn
that tt<; suby:ct ts thc actton o f God rather than o f men, for example Cesta Dc1
per Fra11CO!>), ts an old as \Ydl as a widesprcad assumptwn m the West. So 1s the
idea that the process ts trreversible and will come to an end. Thcse ideas are
deeply embcdded m the Jewtsh and the ChnstJan tradiuons, wheri:" they were
elaborJted 111 terms of"fulfillment,'' "consummatwn," "messtah" and "millennmm."The philosophv oflmmry ofJoachun offiore and Jus followcrs, mdudmg the ideas o f the three ;tges, the angclic pope and the last world-emperor, ts
oniy one o f thc vanat10ns on th1s thcmc.
As ICtrl LOwJth has argucd, modern conccpts o f htstoncal de,elopment
may be vu:wcd :ts secubr orms ofthese relig:10us id~as.i!The idea o f modermty
mel( is onc cxamplc o f thts process.'1 Thc idca of"rcvoluuon," at least as 1t has
becn used smcc 1789, ts another cxprcss!On o f thts idea o f cumulatwn and Irrcvcrsibility. 10 So ts the alterna tive conccpt o f" cvolution," a term that was
adopted bv btc nmeteenth-ccncury h1stonans (as It was by socJOJogtsts and
Ja,vyers), not on!y to gl\'t' sctcntific, Darwm1an rcspectJbility to thetr craft but
to sum up what they a!ready bclieved o r assumeJ. 11 There was also the more
precise and limtted idea of"dcvelopment" in a particular arca of culture (religtous doctrme for mstan.-e), an idea wluch melf developed 111 the course ofthc
seventeenth. ctghteenth and nmetcenth ccntunes. 12 From the end ofthe cighteenth century, bwgraplues o f individuais came to be orgamzed around thc idea
o f developmcnt. 13

1. 2.
These differcnr 1dcas o f progrcs~ h ave long coexJsted wtth thc oppos1tc, cyclical
theory oflm;toncal ch;-mgc. wh1ch was dommant m ancicnt Greco:- and Romc
but can also bc found ll1 the Old Testament. 14 In thc RcnaiSSance, for msta.ncc,
polittcat theonsts often assencd that changc m regimes followcd a cyclical pattern from monarchy to anstocracy to dcmocracy and back agam. It was dus
assumptwn o f a O/clicai movem em that undcrJay thc traditwnaJ idca o f revolunon, a word wh1ch was comed on the modcl of"rcvolvc."Thc samc assumptton
underlics thc ideas of Re-naJssance and Rc-formatJon. 15 The idca of equilibnum, a balance that mav be tilted but IS always rcdrcssed, was a fundamentai
orgamzmg concept 1r1 Westcrn lustoncal thought from Giovanni Villam to
Edward Gibbon. 11' For ex;Hnp!c.m thc s1xtcenth and scventccnth ccntuncs, the

<1

Cio/m/ Pcrspcctii'C

19

discovcry o f Amenca was sometunes mterpreted as a compensaoon to the West

for the loss o f Constantmoplc thtrty-nme years earlier.
In thc erghteenth century, Vi co rcformuiated the idea o f lustoncal cydes
wtth Ius v1ew o f cors1 and ncorsi. Voitatre and Gibbon may seem to assume that
lustory progresscs, :>Ince thcy often rcfcr to recent centunes as a penod of
mcrcasmg Civilizatton m comrast to the more remate past. However, both histonans believed that thts progress was fragile, that a new age ofbarbansm nught
swccp all these gams away. In tfus sei'!sc d1c1r fundamental se h ema was cyclicaL 17
In ou r own century, speculaove philosophers ofhJStory and socJOJogists such as
Spcngler, Sorokm, Pare to and Toynbcc rcturned to the cyclical vtew ofh1story,
elaborated m vanous forms such as thc altcrnatc donunancc of entrepreneurs
and rcuticrs.
1. 3.

Nced!css to say, linear vtews oflmmry can be fouud outside the West. !\.1cs::;tamc
and mill~nanan CXfJCCta~ons form part o f Muslim as well as Jewish and Chnsttan tradioons. They can aiso bc found m many parts o f the world m the nmeteenth :md tweutteth ccntunes (in Chma, tn Africa, m the "cargo cults" of
Polynesta) the result not only o f thc spread o f Chnsttamty but also of its mteracnon with mdigcnous traditiOns. 1:;
All the same, I shall nsk thc assert1on that the idca of cycles 1s normal and
that o f progress cxccptiOnJ.J m non-Western h1stoncal cultures. One nught
illustrate tlicse cycles from the trJditwnal presentat10n o f Chmese dynasttes by
Chmese hJStonans, o r from thc famous theory o f the alternate donunancc o f
nomads and setders m the pages o f thc A1uqaddimah. 19

2. Linked to the idea of progress but distinct from it is the

Western concern with historical perspective.

2. 1.
By"conccm With htstoncal perspectm:" or the"sensc ofanachromsm," I mean
thc idea that thc past IS not uniform. more and more o f the same thmg, but on
thc contrary extrcmey vanablc, each h1stoncai penod havmg 1ts own cultural
style, 1ts own pcrsonality. Onc nught dcscribc thts idea as a sense o f" cUltural distance," a vtcw o f thc past as "a fore1gn country." 20
Tlus idea toa has as own hmory. It can be found In anctcnt R o me but Its
commuous lustory m thc Wcst goes back to the Rcnatssancc to the tnnc o f thc
discovcrv o f VIsual perspccttve (an ana!ogy stressed by the art htstonan Erwm
Panofsky). 21 Thts mcrcasmgly acute sensc o f the past may be illustrated not only
from philology (Vaila's mtcrcst m changcs 1l1 Latm and Greek), and from law
(the mcrcasmg awareness of the rdanon between Roman law and anCicnt
R.oman culturc). bm also from art (Mantcgna's concern wtth accurate reprc-

20

Pttcr Burkc

sentattons o f anctcnt Roman cm;tumc and buildings). 22 An awarcncss o f thc htstory of costume 1s at oncc a superficia l and a revealing cxpresswn o f a sensc o f
thc "otherncs s" of thc past. Tlus sensc of otherness IS cvidcnt m rhc work of
both forgers and thctr crtttcs, cach sumu1atm g thc orhcr to new hetghto:; of
soplusttcatJon m rhc1r ancmpts ctthcr to avoid o r to recogmze "anachrom sm"
(a tcnn w!uch was co111cd 111 thc sevcntcen th century). 2J
The conccrn WJth p~nod stylt:, likc the concern for "loca! co! o r," bccame
cvcn mOre acu te ll1 thc cady mncreent h century, linked to thc conccrn with thc
mdividua liry o cach cpoch commonl y assonated w1th Romannc tsm. Ir 1s
excmplifi cd not only m hrstonogr aphy and 111 the mcrcasmg ly popular genrc of
iustory pamtmg, bm afso m the nse of the h1stoncal novel m the age o f Scott
and Mans10n.

2. 2.
Th1s sense ofthe past was nvt umversal evt;n among dites aftcr d~e year 1500.
On thc etghtcenc h-ccncury Eng!ish stagc, fo:r cxampie, tt was conunon for
actors m pJays by Shakcspea re co wear etghtenc h-century cJotltes, mduding
w1gs. From rhc Rcnatssan ce to the mneteent h centurv. 1t W::J.S customary for
scu!ptors 111 particular to represem hcroes past and pn:sent m Roma!'! costume,
whcther armor o r toga IriC'>pccttve o f thctr actual costume.

2. 3.
The awareness o f changcs m cultural style IS not umqudy Western. In Chma, for
cxample, thcre ts a long tradiaon o f imerest m penod sry1cs m rhc ares, kading
to forgery and to the daboratm n oftechmg ues for discovenn g forgery. 2 ~ Rcnaissance philologtsts aJso had the1r Chmesc counterpa rts, at Ieast by late 1mpena1
umes. 25 The tcnn "histonct sm" is sometmlc s used by Sinologtsts to refer to thcse
pracaces and atntudes. 26 "fherc were sunihr trcnd~ m Japan, wherc schoJars wcre
vcry much aware ofChmes c cultural prccedent s and paradigms .All the same, I
propose that a conccrn Wtth anachrom sm has been mort: central to Western htstoncal thought, and for a Jongcr time, than has been thc case m othcr culcures.

21

crs: the "idiograph tc,"

111 contrast to the "nomothe oc" approach of sctenttsts,

mduding soctal sctentlsts ..:!H
The European tradinon ofbmgrap hy from Plutarch and Suetomus onward'>
(a contlnuou s traditton from rhc late Middle Ages), suggests that thc concern
wtth the specific o r the um que gocs back a !ong way. That cvcn~s wcrc sccn as
um que by some early modern rhmkcrs mav bc shown by _reternng to two
famous controver stcs, bctwccn Machtave lli and Gmcnard mJ, ;md bcrween
Hobbes and Hydc {later Lord Clarendon ). GuJCctardim and Hydc cnt~ctzed
Machtavelli and Hobbes respecnvd y for thetr lack o f awarcness o f the spcCificttV
o f evcnts.Th e concern with mdividual ity and spccifictty was much more mtensc
m rhe romannc era.That 1r was a characten~tiC ofWcstern I1!Stonca1 thought 111
the iate nmeteent h and early cwcntteth centunes may be illustrJ.ted fiom the
wntmgs ofphiloso phers ofh 1storv such as Dilthey, C roce ;md Collingw ood.

3. 2.
The examples ofMach 1avclli and Hobbcs as well a::: thosc ofmany mherWes tern thmkers who have searchcd for "l:>ws" o f human behav10r, ar.:: a rcr:mnder
that-whe n lt can be found ar all-the concern wtth specifictty has coexiStt:d
with the oppostte concern for gencrahty.
In any case, thc 1ong traJitwn o f b10graphy ts not sue h good evidence for
a scnse ofindividu ality as 1t may appc2.r.We n;ust be careful not w pro.JeCt modcrn nonons ofbtograp hy or thc mdividual on to wr1tcrs of (say) the Rcnatssancc, who often presemed the 1r heroes as exemplars , 111 othcr words as concrete
examples o f tradttonal ideais that rcaders should attcmpt to follow.
A stmilar problem to that ofthe meamng ofbto~raphy anscs 111 .thc case of
the pamted portralt. The nse of thts genrc has ofren bcen caed a!:. evtdcnce o f a
conccrn with mdividualiry {ar mdividuaJism) from thc Rena1ssance onw~~
Howevcr many portratts representc d typcs rather than spccifJC peoplc. ;')tXteenth-ce ntury collecttons of engraved portratts 1111ght use thc same nnage to
represent more than one person.-"!

3. 3.

3. The sense o f anachro nism tnay be seen as part o f a larger

cluster ofWeste rn ideas and assumpt ions, often describe d by
the word "histori cism'' (Histori smus), defined by Friedric h
Meineck e as a concern with individu ality and develop ment. 27
Develop tnent having been discusse d above~ let us turn to
individu ality.
3. 1.
I am usmg the tcnn "individualiry," to rcfcr to an awarcncss o f, o r ;m mtcrest 111
thc specific m, what makcs one person, or group, or cururc diffcrcm from oth-

The traditton o f portralt pamung m Cluna, m Japan, and a!so (desplte rcligiOUS
prohibltlo ns) 111 parrs o f thc Islam 1c world, mcluding the court'> o f Occoman su~
tans and Mughal emperors, 15 a warmng nor to undercsnm ate the mtcrest 111 mdtviduality oul<iide thc West. The samc pomt nught be made about biOgra~htes.
Rulcr-cen tcred htstonogra phy 1~ o f course common 111 many cultun;s, whJic thc
lives ofCluncs e artlsts by ChangYen g-Yuan precedes the f!ftc byVasan.
It mtght be better to &ame rhe qucstton about mdividual ity not so much
tcrms
of irs prcscnce o r abscncc, as 111 terms o f thc part_tcular ''category o f thc
111
person" tmpliClt m a gtven htstonogr apiucal traditton: '" All thc samc~ Jt has
provcd difficult to find cxamples o f htstonans m othcr part<; o f thc \VOrld (and
unmfluen ced by \.Vestem paradigms), who demonstra re thc acu te mterest m the

22

Pttcr Burkc

mdividu:J.lity of epochs, regwns or persons charactenst lc ofWestern htstoncaJ

wntmg from thc begmnmg o f the mnctcenth century onwards. Given Hindu
and Buddlust news o f the unrcality o f the person, one would not e.xpcct an
cmphasJs on mdividuals m cultures where these religtons are donunant.

4. Collectiv e agency, or at least certain collective agents., are

gven J'nusual stress in Western historiog raphy.
4. l.

Tlus trend goes back at !east as far as the Roman htstory by Cato (now lost) m
wiuch thc author rcfused te name any mdividual (with the exceptton of an elcpium wf11ch disrmgmshc d Itselfby Its bravery m battle).
In thc coursc o f um e, tmport:tnce has been xmputed not only to peop!es o r
nattons. but aho to such agems as families, ctttes, churchcs, religwus orders,
anmes, comiJ<.eP:tai ccmpames, polittcat assemblies, crowds, polinca1 parnes, anJ
socxal chsses. I mcntwn these groups m particular bccause cach has gtven nse
to a particular Justoncal gcnrc, a!> wcll a~ occnpymg a place m more gcnerai htstoncs. Tlm strcss on thc collecnve ts not a reccnt onc. CVlc htstones h ave becn
a common genrc smce tl1e RenaiS'iance. In the seventeenth ccntury, Clarendon 's
htstory of the English Civil \Var pJaced considerabl c emphasts on the agency o f
du: court. the parliament and the 3rmy. 31
The stress on collectt.rc agency has been a particularly strong one smce thc
nmeteentll century, and noc only among JVlarx:~sts. Comte, who wrote of "lns!Oirc sa11s uoms" and Durkhetm and the Justonans who follo\Yed them moved m
the same directton.T here was cvcn a Comtean proJCCt by HemnchW lffiin to
wnte art htstory as Cato \~rote Rom:m htstory, "without names."J 2 In short, the
so-called decentenng o f the subJCCt ts not an mvennon of thc postmoder n age,
but a 1ong Wcstern traditton.

4. 2.
The concern With thc mdivtdual, discussed m thcsts 3, runs counter to the strcss
on collcctlvc ag~ncy. As m thc osc o f linear and cyclicallust ory, we are dcaling
wtth the coextstence and mtcractton o f opposed trends.

4. 3.
Histones o f statcs o r empm:s o r dynasucs are conunon m vanous parts o f the
world. It may thcrefore be prudcm as well as useful to refine the argumcnt, and
co suggcsc that thc most distmcuve collccnve agents m Western h1stonogra phy
are groups smallcr than the state, peopk or natiOn. Of thcsc smailer groups onc
nught smglt: out soctaJ classes and voluntary associatlons, wiuch appear to have
playcd unusually Importam roles 111 Western htstory, Wtth consequcnc es that
MontesgUie u and Tocqucville h;we ana1vzed m detaiL

Among the most obvtous counterexa mpies to Cite at tlus pomt are Buddhtst monastcncs and Muslim brotherhoo ds-but have they ever enJoyed a
pbce m htstonograp hy stmilar to that of thetr countcrpar ts 111 the West?

S. Western historiogr aphy is distinctiv e in its preoccup ation

wth epstemol ogy, with the problem of historical knowledg e.
5. I.
Histonans m most if not all places and umes have been concerned wtth practJcal cnt1cJsm m thc sensc o f thc cvaluatton o f, and discrnmnatJOll bctwecn, thc
particular stones abcut thc past that they hcar or rcad, 111 order to choose what
appars to be the most re!iablc verswn o f events. What appears to be distmcuve
m thc Western traditton ts the concern with thts prob!cm ar a general as wcll as
:1. specific leve LThu:; Grcek and RenaJSSaHc.: skeptKs dcmed
the possibility o f
Jmtoncai knowlcdgc, and Descartes elaborated thctr cntiCtsms. ln respons<: to
the challengc ofiustoncal Pyrrhomsm . as It was called, htstonans o f thc iate sevemcenth and carly ctghteenth cenrunes dahorated ~i dcfense, dsttngutsh mg
vanous dcgrees of probability among statcments about thc past, thus mltlatmg
a traditton that has lasted till our own nmc.13
j_ 2.
In hts conccrn wlth the foundauons ofknowled ge, Descartes was htmsdf rcactmg lo the challcnge o f rhe sctcntific revolutton, whtch undcrnune d tradiuonal
ncws o f naturc. The rclatwn between Wcstern htstonograp hy and Wes.tern sctcnce, espeCially from that ttme onwards, has becn hoth a dose and a difficult
onc. Some Jmronans havc tned to tmttate natural sctenttsts and apply mathemattcs to the past.Thus m thc seventeemh ccntury,Joi m Cratg umtated Newton by producmg a list of htstonca1 pnnctples and a."'Goms. The Cambndgc
htstonan J B. Bury once dedarcd that "htstory ts a sctence, no less and no
more." Other lustonans from Vico to Collngwoo d, have defined themsclves by
contrast to thc "sctennsts." In both cases, the debate with modern sctencc has
gwen V/estcrn lmtonograp hy a distmcttve stamp.

5. 3.
Even at the levd o f practJCal crmcism, It may be possiblc to distmgutsh a partJcubrly \Vestem approach to probicms o f "sources," "cvidcnce," and "testimony." Thc Ja<;t two terms wcre o f course borrowed by htstonans from thc
discourse oflawycrs. In the Wcstcrn traditton ofhtstonog raphy, legal metaphors
are commonpl acc-referen ces to thc "laws" ofhtstory, to thc "tribunal" ofhtstorv, to "w1tncsscs" and "tesnmony, " to analogtes between htstonans, detecttves
and JUdges. The law 111 questJOI1 may bc Roman law or common law, but It ts
ahv 3 ys a distmcttvdy Westcrn legal system to whKh thc htstonograp htcal system

24

Pctcr Bm/.;t'

IS compared.Thomas Shcrlocks I11c Trial ,?f tire l+'itmsscJ q_{ thc Rcsurrcct;on q{Jcsl/5
(1729) was orgamzed m rhe form o f a tnal.
I know o f no study o f dus problem, ler alone a comparauve study, but tt
may be worth followmg thc lead o f dus kcy mctaphor and considcnng rhc possibilry that distmcttvely Wcstcrn idcas and ::!SsumptlOIJS about luswncal "cvidcnce" have devdopcd out ofideas and assumpnons cmbcdded m Wcstcrn Jaw.
Muslim, <::;hmcse and other courts h ave tradinonally opcratcd m othcr ways and
With differcnt assumpttons from thosc m thc Wcst. 14 H ave Justonans m rhcse
tradinons raken over assumpnons from mdigcnous legal systems, or Juvc rhcy
bccn less concerncd wrth the 1aw than rhctr Wcstcn1 counterparcs?

6. Atternpts at historical explanation are universal, but the

couching of these explanations in tenns of"causes" is a
distinctively Western charactcristic.
6. 1.
Thts htstonograp!uca! traditton goes back to anc1ent Greece, as thc cxamplt:s o f
Thucydides and Polybms demonstrare. The1r tde:J o[ cause (al!lon) and lt." distmctwn from a merc "symptom" suggcsts rhat thc paradigm thev werc follm.rmg was that ofHippocrauc medi em e, from '.VhJCh hmonans havc also borrowed
the term "crtsis,' ongmally applied w fevcrs. In other worJs. thc \Vestem ideal
of a htswnography modded on thc nJturai sctcnces 1s an old onc. Ir 1s oftcn
associated with rhc idca oflaws ofhtstory m rhe scmc ofbws ofhuman behavIOr, as m the case ofThucydidcs, for mstance, o r lvlacluavel!i.

6. 2.

..

Thcrc has of coursc becn a countenrend, thc "htstonctst" or "hJstonst" trcnd

that rCJCCted the companson betwccn htstonans and natural sctcntJSL'>, as wdl as
emphas1zmg the umguencss o f htstoncal events (cf. 3. 1 and 5 . .2). At the Jevel
oflustoncal expbnatwn, thts reactwn has taken thc form ofhermcneutJCs, of a
stress on meamng rather than cause, or on whar R.G. Collingwood callcd thc
"insidc" rathcr than thc "ouL'iidc" of a h1stoncal evem."' 5 For the last hundrcd
years, at 1cast, Wesrcrn h1sronography has bccn markcd by rhc uncasy cocx!stcncc, if not open conflict, bcrwccu hcrmcncutiC and causal approachcs.

7. Western historans have long prded themselves on their

so-called objectivty.
It may bc usefuJ to distmgwsh nvo stages m a Western tr;ldirwn of lustoncal
detachment. In the first stage, the idea1Is bcsr exprcssed wtrh thc tcrm "impartiality." It was considcrcd Importam to \\Tttc st/lc 1/ll ct studio. 111 orhcr words

11 JICTJJ I-Jistt>rmd 'J7rinkiri,J;

l!l <l

G/,bal Pcrspalwc

25

wtrhour cmouonaJ mvolvemcnt and wtthout sdf-tnterest. Thc ideal was most
disntssed at rhe ume when tt was most difficult to follow, m rhc hundred and
fifty ycars o f rdig10us conflict that followcd the Protestant Reformat10n. For
cxamplc, thc Gcrman Protestant Johann Slc1dan clanncd that h1s htstory o f the
Reformanon rold thc story ofrhosc events "as thcy happcncd," pnmt rcs quacquc
acta jlllt. Thc snnilanry to Ranke 's f.unous formula will be clcar, as 1t ts m the
case o f thc Frcnch Protcstant La Popdini:rc, who tned, h e satd, to reli the story
ofrhe Frcnch rclig1ous wars as It happcncd (rCitcr {a clwsc commc cf/c cst ad!'cuuc).
Both Slcidan and La PopcliniCrc, mcidentally, had an unusually acutc scnse of
hiStorv as a profes51011 _Jr. A tlurd famous cxamplc of thc attempt ro wnte the
hJstorY m a dctachcd manner was Gottfricd Arnold's Ullpartciiscilc Kirc!ICI!- 1111d
KctzcrJustonc, from rhe cnd o f the scvcntecnth ccntury. A common mctaphor
used espeCJally 111 Eng!and from thc scvcntccmh ccntttf)' omvards was take_n
[rom thc r.tme of bowls. The h1stonan s ideal was to avoid "btas," wllcther reh6
gJOus or politicaL
In the scconci. :.t:1ge, undcr d1e mflucncc o f the model of natural sctence, the
tradit;ona ideal o f imparnaliry o r frcedom from btas wa::; reformulared .1s the
ideal o f "obyxuv 1ty," a detach::!d prcsentanon o f thc "f.1cts." Ranke was frcquently caed as a shmmg cx~mple o f a htstonan who tned to "cxnngmsh himself" and extract from rhe docurncnts "the purc face:.." The tdea rhat thc
htstonan''i task 15 m present ali the f.1cts and nothmg bur thc facts Jus been retteratcd many umes smcc Rar,kc's day. Dcspttc chal!engcs, th1s vtcw ofthe h15to37
nat rask may still bc dommant m thc cmpmost English-spcakmg world.

8. The quantitative approach to history is distinctively Western.

The dcvelopmcnt of more and more sopl11stiCated guanmanve methods by
"senat lmtonans" m France, htstoncal demographcrs m France and England,
and "new cconom1c htstonans".in thc U.S.A., cspcctally m thc 1950s and 1960s,
wdl known. However, these movements grew out o f a much older tradit10n.
15
Thc study of pnce htstof)' was afrcady takcn senously 111 thc la ter nmcccenth
ccntury, espcu1 lly m thc Gcrman-speakmg world. Thc htstory of populatton
was taken scnously 111 thc cightccnth ccntury.As carly as thc fourrccnrh ccntury,
Giovanni Villam stuffcd hts chromclc With figures, mduding thc numbers o f
children attending different kmds o f school m Florencc, a specracu1ar example
o f what has bccn called the "anthmcucal mentality." 3x It ts surely no acCJdent
that onc o f thc bnds of school mennoncd by Vi liam was thc "aba cus school,"
whJCh raught elcmcntary numeracy. In Florence, wtth tts numerous banks and
merchant houses, thts know1cdge was partJcularly usefuL In short, we may argue
thar Wcstcrn I11Stonography h as bccn shaped by Westcrn capnalist11 as wcll as by
Wcstcrn b.w and sc 1cnce. Can a snnilar mrercst m statJsttcs bc found m any other
lnstoncat traditJOn?

Pela

llhtcm Histonml11linkit~~ ma Global Pmpcctwc

Burkc

9. The Iiterary forms ofWestern historiograph y are distinctive

as ts content.
9, L
Poybw:; rcfcrred to some h1stonans ofhts own day as "tragcdians" becausc of
theJr stnvmg for pathos. A famous study ofThucydides has underlincd thc ana1ogy bet\yeen h1s hlstorv and thc Grcck drama oflm time, notably thc conccrn
9
wah pcripctc1a."' Sixtcemh- and seventccmh-ccm ury studies o f the an oflustot)' compareci h1stonans to compm:crs o f eptc, and emphastzcd the unportancc
o f sue h litcrary sct ptcces as the batt!e, thc character, and thc speech.Thcy ma de
more cxpliCit the clamcaj idea o f the "digmty" o f h!story, that 15 , thc idea th.at
oniy some cvems and some mdividuals are of suffiCient status to be worth
40
recording or rcmembermg. Some recent studies have followcct .md dcveloped
41
thcse pomts. Othcr scho1an havc notcd analogtcs bctweeu histonca1 narrattvcs
and the narratJve.~ of novelists, and the mfluence o f cach group on the cthcr..12
Howcver, It Is abo;c all Hayden White who (followmg Norbert fi)'C) has
forced hmon~ms te be awarc ofthe literary forms they folJow (ofren as unconscwusly as Monsieur Jourdam). Wbte has described "empiotmer..ts" ofi-ilstory
m thc form of comedy, tr;'l.gcdy, romance and sanre. ..JJ
Jr tmgbt bc useful to discuss other pref.tbncated plots. Thc battlc, for exam44
m
pic, whether literal ar allegoncaL Ernst Casstrers study of NeonJatomsm
r
England m thc sevemeenth cer..tury ts an cxtrem~ examplc of an mtelle.:tual
fustory prcscmed m the form of a battle, a psydwmadua full o f per:>onificatwns. 45
Anothcr mytheme, obvwusly linked to the idea o f progres.;, 1s that o f rhc
forerunner, St.John thc Baptist. In Protcstant ecclesJasttcal h1story, for mstancc,
Jan Hus, Girobmo Savonarola and other cnttcs o f the papacy are presented as
forerunners of Martm Lijther. Agam, thJs 1s the role that Cimabue piays m
Vasari's story of thc rebtrth of the arts m ltaly, the true protagomst bemg
4
Giotto. r, In the htstonography ofLatmAmenca n mdependence, FranCisco de
Miranda has bcen formally labeled "El Precursor," m other words the man
who pays St.john thc Baptist to Simon Bolvar<s Chnst. More recently, m the
lustory o f psvchoanalvsis, Charcot h as been allotted the role o f thc precursor
ofFreud.
Thc c~mpanson o f great men with Chnst IS usually considercd too danng
to be exphctt, but 1t does occu:;.- from nme to time. For example, a medieval
account o f the life ofThomas BcCket refers to h1s "passton."There JS an underlymg assumpt1on here that dcserves to be analyzed m more dctail: the assumptwn that h1stonca! cvcnts are (at lcast somctuncs) conscwus or unconscwus
recnactments o f modc1s. so that the wntten h1stones that recount thesc Jater
events are m a scnse allegones. -1?

27

9.2.
\Vhat 1s distmcnvclyWes tern here?White's pomt ts, I takc It,mtended to bc a
umvcrsal one about what h e calls "the htstoncal text as a litcrar)' artif.1ct." Howcver, hts examples of emplotment ali come from tradinonal Wcstern literal)'
genres ..fH Thc classtcal epiC, to whiCh Renatssance wnters compareci thc htstory
ts a Wcstern geme (or a vananon on a genre that also mdudes the i\tfalwbitamta).1'1 A snnilar pomt nught be made about traged>)~ Do Japancsc lu.stonam
cmphas1zc the "nobility o f failure" that Is such a favonte thcme m Japanese litcrature? 50 Does the Ottoman htstory o f the Ottoman Emp1re rcvcal thc mAucnce o f the Turkish epiC?
Thc novel toa, at least m the relanvely prec1se sensc ofthe tcrm "novd"that
rcfers to ccrtam bnds of narratJve devcloped from thc e1ghteenth cemury
onwards, ts a Western mvennon, even ifit ts onc that has becn adapted w1th cons;dcr~bic success to local condinons m Egypt, In dia, Japan ;:nd clscwherc. My
quesnon, thcrcfore, to htstonans o f non-Western htstoncal wntmg, ts whethcr
mdigenous literary genres p!ay the samc role o f consc1ous o r unconsctous mcdds 1n thc work o f hiStonans as 'X'lute suggests they do m the cases o f R.mke,
BuKkhardt and Tocqueville.The famous study of the representatlon of rea!ity m
\Vestem literature by Ench Auerbach (wh1ch devotes a chapter to cbsstca! hJs51
toncai wntmg) suggests a still broader qucstwn. To what extcnt do thc
munctte convemwns o f htstonca1 wntmg vary from one culture to another?

10. Western historians have characteristc views of space no

less than o f time.
10. 1.

Braudel's JV!ditcrrauc IS a famous example o f a study m whiCh the prob1cm o f

distance ts absoutely central. Some ofBraudel's followers shared thts preoccupanon, notably Picrre Chaunu, who studied the AdantiC m a broadly stmibr
way. However, Braudel's golustonc, as he called tt, ts not completely without
J?TCcedent. Gibbon 's Dcclllc mtd Fali pays as much attentlon to the commumcanon problcms o f the Roman Emptre as Brauctcl did m thc case o f thc emp1rc
oflJhilip li. In the sixteenth century,Jean Bodin wrote, much like Braudd, of
gco-htstonans

(~cographtstorct).

10. 2.

I havc no mtcntton o f daumng that Western lustonans are alone m thcn mterest 111 h1stoncat gcography, or m what Rena1ssance htstonans called "chorogra2
phv." In C h ma, the traditwn o f local lustoncs 1s a long onc. :; Ibn Khaidun 's
f.amous discusswn o f diffcrcnces between nomads and scttlers was mcntwned 111
secnon 1.3. I-Iowevcr. there ts a clustcr ofWestcrn htstoncal studics orgamzed
around the rdatton bctween human groups and the land.lt does not sccm com-

28

Pctcr Burkc

cidencc that thcsc studics are Wcstcrn but not Europcan. Thcy are thc work of
Nco-Europcans.Thc bcst known ofthcsc studics 1s doubtlcss Fredcnckjackson
Turner's cssay on thc frontler m Amencan h1story, but 1t IS casy to add othcr
exampJcs, mciuding thc work o f Captstrano de Abreu and Sergio Buarque de
Holanda on the Bnportancc o f routcs and fronttcrs m thc colomzatJon ofBrazil,
or Geoffrcy Blamcy's Thc ?}'mf/11}' of Dista11cc, wluch anaiyzes thc consequences
of Australia's..,gcographical position for thc devdopmcnt of Jt.<i cconomy and
soncty. Thcs books cxprcss a scnsc o f space and a scnsc ofbcmg on thc world's
penphcry, fr from thc ccnrers o f powcr and ctvilizatJon. Likc Westcrn law, capttalism. and scicncc, thc coiomzmg process-whether wc call 1t "discovery,"
"ew:ountcr" or "impenalism"-has helped to shape the charactcnstiC fcaturcs
of\Vcstern h1stoncal wntmg.
I have tned to summanze what nught be callcd a "system" oflw>tonographical
assumpllons and prmnples.A sys<.em nor m the strong scnse of deducnons from
a.'Uom:-. but m the wl;!aker seme d1at some <.t least of the charactensncs unputcd
te Western luswncal wntmg are linked ro one another. Howcver, ,ts we have
seen, the systcm lS Hot frcc from <.:onflict and countertrends. For better or worse,
thcrc has not b.::cn any consensu:; (for ccntunes, at icast) on mJ_Jor 1ssucs such as
umquencss versus the iliustrauon o f. lHstoncaJ bws, progress versus cycks, or
causes versus meanmgs. It 1s ultmutely dus conftict of systems-or systcm of
conflict<;-thc partrcubr shifting balances bccwccn diffcrcat "forces." whiCh has
charactcnzed h1stoncd thought and histoncaJ wnttng m thc Wcst.

29
10.

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
l.

17.
18.
19.

20.
21.
22.

23.
2-l.
25.
2(1.
27.

Notes
I. Bcrnard GuCn..!c, Htarr<' ('( mlturc hi;lcmqu: d,ms l'ouitfwt mi'dimi, Pans, 1981.
2. Hans Baron, 'Das Erwachen d<.'s hsromchen Denkens, Hwwcltl' Zntsclni(/ l-!7 (1932-3), 520.
3. Donald E. Brmvn, Hicr,ndq. Htm"")' ,md Hum<111 i\',1/urc. TI1c Socu1/ Ongm.< 4 Jlistomd GmHWIISIICSS, TucSOil, J9BH.
-l. Cario Sigamo. Dt ocrlmf<lli 1111(1mo (1577) lS an unportant comributJOil to this construct.
5. Masayuki Sato, 'Histonograp!ucal Encomncrs.The Chmc.~e :~nd \Vcstcrn Traditmns m Turnof-thc-Ccntury japan , Star1<1 d,/la Sttlru;t~'"fi,, 19 (!991), 13-21.
. Margaret Zamor.;., Lm.~"~~~ .-lwfwnt)' <llld lud(o,:nw11s 1/isro'l' m tht Ct!JJJC!If</no.< 1mi.s, Cambridge, 1988; Rolcna Adorno. Gu,un,m Pm1~t1. IFrito.~ rmd Rc<~5t,mc, "' C,/tJm,ll Hm,Ausnn,
1986.
7. John B. Bury, 71u Jdc,, !f Progr..<s, London, 11)20.
8. Karl LOwith, ll'd{~mllichrc uwf JI(~tSfh<'ht'll, 2nd cdn, Stuttgan llJ53.
lJ. Hans Blumcnbcrg, Dic Lt:o,:itumtdl ria Scu.::m, Frankft1rt, 1966, Engl. tr:lllsl. 77u L;~itim<~cy qf
thc Modt.m.-lgc, Cambridge, Mass., I 9H3.

28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
J4.
35.
3(,.

37.
3H.

KarJ Gncw;mk. Dt-r l',.lcu:::tlirhc Rcr,,fulwmbt:~rf{T.\Veimar, 1955; Fclix Glbcrt, 'Rcvo!utwn,

m DiciWI/(1')' :(thr HisfOr)' of Jdr,l.f, ed. Philip I~Wi<.'ner, voi. -l, NcwYork, 1973, 157-167; KarlHemz Bcnda, RCJ'tJ/ulwnn;, Mumch, 1977.
John Bmrow, E,,Jiurwu mui S'NII"fJ', Cambridge, 1966.
Owcn Chadwtck, Fmm BllHUI'f lt1 ;\',1!'111<111. Cambridge, 1957.
Brucc Mazlsh, 'Autobiographv and P.wcho;ma!vsis. Enmuma, Octobcr 1970, 28-45.
G. \V. Trompf, TI11 Ides~ 4 Hi.<wnc.d l<mmcucc m /I b1cm n1m~~f11 _(n1m Antupnty 111 thc R~{ormrl
fiO/ I, Bcrkdey 1979.
Pcter Burkc. 'Ren:ussance, RdOrmauon. Re\oJunon, m Niolc~o,:aug, cd. Remhart Kosd!eck,
Stutq;arr, 1980, 137-17.
Loms Grecn, Chnlniclc 1111" Hi.l/<''1' Can,hridge 1972, 17ff, 27; Gera!dj. Gruman. "Balance and
Exo:ss as Gibb011"s E:-..-pbn;mon ofthc Decline :md t=a!J'. History mtd T1unry ! (1960), 75-85.
Han~ Vyvcrbcrg, Htormd Pt'5.<www 111 tl1r Frcnch Enli.~lw:mmnt, Cambridgc, Mass., 1958.
Vittorm Lantcrnan, Tiu- Rd~~/(l/15 :(thc Opprcssl"li, Londoil 1963.
Arthur F.\Vnght, "Chincse HistonogrJpJlY, lil /11/t'nt<ltuma/ Eucydofl<ldiJl '!f tbc Soa.rl Smccs,
<.'d. D. Sil!s, Ne\\ York 1%8, -lfi0-7; /V\a~hin Mahdi. Jlm Kh,tldun's Pbi/o.wph)' '!I Histtlri', London, 1957;:\zlz Al-Azmeh, IIm f,:f,,ddun, i.nncion, 19H2;TarifKilalidi, Ar,litic Hiswm.ll71wuglu
111 tbc Cl,us/(<11 Pawd, Cambridge, 199-l.
Les1i.:: P. Hanl<-'y, 77w Go-Brtwcm, Londm~. I953; D;nid Lowenthai, Tiu p,,~t 15 a Fomg1'
Cmmtry, Cambridgc, 1985.
Erwm Pano(d..-.,, 'The First Pa~.!;C ofv.uari's Libra (1939), m Mcmmto.: 111 tbc Fimal Arts, Ncw
York, 1957,169-225.
Pct<.'r Bmke, "n1c Rmii~Sdll" Sensr 1:F the Hm, London, 1969; Roberto \Vctss, 71tc Rcn.ussmJc('
Dimwrr)' !!f Clamcai AniU(llli)', Oxford, 19(,9; Donald Kdkv, Fou~~<lalwos '!f J'lodem I-listNIC<II
Sdwlllrslup, Cambridgc, Ma~~-. J97fl.
Amhony Grafton, Fm;ga_; <lltd Crittu, London, 1990.
Cr.11g Clunas. Suwrfhwus"ntin.o,:.<. ,H.ltm,!l C!lil!lh. ,m:f s,,o<ll St,IIIIS w Earll' Alorlau Chiu<1, Cambridgc, 1991, 109-15.
Be!lj:!llll!l A. Elman, Fwm PhiloH'J'"l' I<l Plrif,Jiog}'- !utdlaiii<II m11f Soc~<ll Aspats nJClwu.~c 111 Luc
lmpmal China, Cambridgc, tvbss., 19H-l.
On-Cho Ng, 'Histonmm ll1 Chmese Thought-,JmmM/ ,~( thr Historr :(Jdc,,s 54 (1993), 56184.
Fnednch Mcmecke, Dic Emsrdum,o,: dfs HisltlfiSIII!IS, Mnchen 1936, Engi. transJ.: Hiswrirism,
N<.'wYork 1972.
\Vilhclm Windclband, Gmhichtc uud Natunmsmsdwf(, Bcr!in, 1894.
Gottfricd BO!un. Bi!dms und Iudi!'iduwn, Mumch, 1985; Peter Burkc, 'Th<.' Rcnatssance, fndividualism and the Portrait', Hiswry ll( Eun1pcmt ldcas 21 (1995), 393--!00.
Michad Carrirhcrs ct ai., eds, Tia Cltt;[tlll' ;( rhc Penou, Cambridg<.', 1985.
Pctcr Burkc, 'StnJCntr:~l Histor, m th<.' 16th :1nd 17th Cemuncs, Sron,l ddf,t StorH'.~r<l{la 10
(1986), 71-6.
Arnold Hauser, Phi/Mophy <!(An Hisrmy, Clc\danti, 1963, 120, 12-l.
Cado Borghero. LI c.rtc::::,l ,. 1<1 st.m<l. C,mcsl<IIU'5111W, fln<'lll:i/1111 ,. f<JI/Mctll::l stonc,l. f\1ibn,
1983.
Lawrencc Roscn, 771<' Autln.lJ''i<~J;J' ,>[ju.<ncc Lm a.< Cultun 111 !slmmc SoiWI)', Cambridgt.\
1989.
R.G. Collin6n.\ood, "11tc ldc<1 ,~f Historr, Ox!Ord, !946.
D.R. Kdley, 'Histor\' :lS a Cal!ing. tht. Cas<.' ofLa PopdiniCre, 111 t?.cnmssaucc. S111dics 111 ltmwr
,,(Haus Bart111, eds i\. Molho .1nd J. Tcdeschi, FlorenC<..' 1971, 773-89; id., 'johann Slcidan :~nd
thc Ongms ofHistorv as a Pro!Cs~;Jon-,_lm~rnal ~( Afo,fcm Hiswrr 52 (1980), 577-98.
Petcr NovKk, 71wtJ\"oblc Dmuu. 771f '0/~inm,tr Qu,stltl/1- ,md tft, :-!mtnc.m Histanml P!t;(t'SS/(111.
Cambridg:<.', 1988.
r\lexandcr Murr.;.y, H.cilson mui Soort}' mrl!, AliddlcA_o.:n, Oxford, 1978.

30
39.
-lO.

41.

42.
43.

44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
4~.

50.
51.
52.

Petcr Burkt:
Fr:mCJS Cornford, 71wcydidcs Mytlzistonms, Cambridgc, 1907; cf.Fr.mk Wa!bank,'History and
Tragcdy', !-Iistona 9 (1960), rcpr. m his Sclccud Papm, Cambridgc 1985, 224-41.
Pctcr Burkc, 'Thc Rhctonc andAnu-Rhctonc ofHistory,m Anammpborcn der RbchJrik, cd.
Gcrhard Schrocdcr ct al., Stuttgart, 1997, 71-79.
J. H.llrumfitt, fNtmrc Histonau Oxfon/, 1958; Roland Barthcs, 'Histoncal Discoursl'' (J%7),
rcpr. m Stmcwmlism, cd. M. Lanc, London, 1970, 1-45-55; Burkc, 71tc R.marmmcc Sf/15<' t1( tbi'
Rut, London, 1969.
Lco Br.mdy, Narmtwc Form m History and Fictwn, Pnnccton, 1970.
North~ Fryc,'Ncw DircctlOtlS for Old' (1960),rcpr.m his Fablcsf!_(ldcllfity, NcwYork !96.',
52-66; Haydcn V. Whitc, JHctahisftlf1' 71tc Histonca; lma~fZitllllWII m Nill:tcmtb-C! lllllrr Eur.pc,
Balumorc and London, 1973.
Angus Flctchcr, Allcgory, Ithaca, 1964.
Ernst Cassrrcr, Dic pliltomschc Rcumssancc 111 Euglmtd, Hamburg, 1932., Enp;lish trambuon: 77u
Platomc Rcnamaucc m E11giaud, Edinburgh 1953.
Michacl Bax.mdall, Giotto and thc Oral!JT!, Oxford, 1971.
Pctcr Burkc, 'Historv asJ\.llcgorv, unpublishcd.
Cf. Earl Mincr, C..Jmpilratil'c Poct1u, Prmccton, 1990.
But cf.J:lros!av Prusck, 'Historv and Ep1c m China and the West', Dio,~;m-::r 42 (l'J63), 20-43.
Ivar~ Morns, TI1c l\lobility <:_(1-Jtilurc. Trag1c Hcrocs 111 thc History ofjapan, London, 1975.
En.::h Au..:rba-.:h, MimcSIS, Bcrn, 1946.
\V. Frankc, 'Histoncal Writ::mg dunng thc Ming, Camltridgt History o.f Chilu1 7, ed. L Mote
and D. Tw1tchctt, Cambridge, 1988, ch. 12 .

..

11: COMMEN TS