German historicism as a historical and cultural phenomenon in contemporary Russian historiography

The issues of German historicism have long been a central focus of Russian humanities scholarship. This interest is driven not only by the enduring significance of the contributions made by representatives of German historicism to the formation of the image of historical science, its theoretical and methodological foundations, and their direct scholarly research, but also by the epistemological possibilities that have opened up for Russian humanities. The collapse of the Soviet-Marxist paradigm of historical research opened new horizons for historians to study the problems of German historicism. The aim of the article is to examine the current state of research on German historicism in Russian humanities thought. The main objective is to analyze the assessments by Russian scholars of German historicism as a historical and cultural phenomenon that defined the spirit of its time. To represent this objective, we have utilized the most recent works by Russian historians and philosophers, which, in the case of German historicism, corresponds to its interdisciplinary nature. The comparative-historical method is used as the research method, allowing for a comparative analysis of the latest works by Russian scholars dedicated to German historicism. German historicism was a form of a distinct worldview, theoretical-methodological, and political condition of German humanities thought. It viewed history from a specific angle, as the existence of autonomous, individual, unique phenomena that differ in their methods of cognition from natural entities and possess a dialectical development. Russian scholars have repeatedly emphasized this fact. Another important aspect of German historicism, noted by contemporary Russian researchers, is its significant role in the formation and development of European historical thought and the philosophy of history. Contemporary Russian humanities thought also acknowledges the leading role of German historicism in the process of establishing the principle of historicity in European culture. Therefore, the problem of the formation and development of German historicism as a German and European historical-cultural phenomenon is central in contemporary national historiography dedicated to historicism. Based on an analysis of the most recent national scientific literature, it is concluded that contemporary Russian historiography not only continues the traditions of previous periods (Imperial Russian and Soviet) in the study of German historicism but has also significantly expanded the range of issues in its research, analyzing it within a broad historical-cultural context as a European phenomenon. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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