Western Historical Thinking

Jörn Rüsen was Professor of Modern History at Universities Bochum and Bielefeld for many years. From 1994 to 1997 he was Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at Bielefeld. Since 1997 he has been President of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities Essen (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut). He specialises in theory and methodology of historical sciences, the history of historiography, intercultural aspects of historical thinking, theory of historical learning, and the history of human rights.

Preface to the Series

Jörn Rüsen



Introduction: Historical Thinking as Intercultural Discourse

Jörn Rüsen



PART I: THESES



Western Historical Thinking in a Global Perspective – 10 Theses

Peter Burke



PART II: COMMENTS



1. General Comments



Perspectives in Historical Anthropology

Klaus E. Müller



Searching for Common Principles: A Plea and Some Remarks on the Islamic Tradition

Tarif Khalidi



The Coherence of the West

Aziz Al-Azmeh



2. The Peculiarity of the West



Toward an Archaeology of Historical Thinking

François Hartog



Trauma and Suffering: A Forgotten Source of Western Historical Consciousness

Frank R.Ankersmit



Western Deep Culture and Western Historical Thinking

Johan Galtung



What is Uniquely Western about the Historiography of the West in Contrast to that of China?

Georg G. Iggers



The Westernization of World History

Hayden White



3. The Perspective of the Others



Western Historical Thinking from an Arabian Perspective

Sadik J. Al-Azm



Cognitive Historiography and Normative Historiography

Masayuki Sato



Western Uniqueness? Some Counterarguments from an African Perspective

Godfrey Muriuki



Programs for Historians: A Western Perspective

Mamadou Diawara



4. The Difference of the Others



Reflections on Chinese Historical Thinking

Ying-shih Yü



Must History Follow Rational Patterns of Interpretation? Critical Questions from a Chinese Perspective Thomas

H.C. Lee



Some Reflections on Early Indian Historical Thinking

Romila Thapar



PART III: AFTERWORD

Peter Burke