The image of T.N. Granovsky in Russian historiography of the second part of the 19th - early 20th centuries

In spite of the significant number of publications devoted to the study of creativity of T.N. Granovsky, B.N.Chicherin's thought that "even the most sincere desire to give him necessary justice, much in him remains incomprehensible..." still remains relevant after more than a hundred years since it was expressed. This incomprehensibility observed already in the 19th century resulted in conflicting assessments of the scientific contribution of Granovsky as well as in the assessment of his theoretical and historical views. However, it should be noted that already in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries attempts were made to analyze Granovsky's creativity, in which his idealism and his interest to the life of the spirit in the history of peoples and individuals was examined not as something that must necessarily be subdued and is subdued in the course of the progressive evolution of views of the historian on the materialistic ideology, but as a self-conscious position which was the essence of his world outlook. This analysis is part of the works of well-known representatives of Russian historiography, the methodological basis of which was idealistic historicism. This concerns V.I. Gerie and B.N. Chicherin who saw Т.Н Granovsky their teacher and mentor. The analysis of these works allows speaking about one of the first reconstructions of the philosophical-historical and gnoseological conception of Granovsky, the basis of which is idealistic historicism. As a phenomenon it is inherent first of all to the German historical thought from the end of the 18th century and is the content of one of the greatest, according to F. Meinecke, spiritual revolutions the European thought experienced. Russian historians of the 19th century were caught by this intellectual revolution, their trips abroad created an opportunity for individual occurrences in the intellectual space of Western Europe, for mastering the latest achievements of Western European science in the field of history. Its traces are clearly expressed in the historical outlook of Granovsky, which was explicated by his followers.

Keywords

Authors

References