History, its theory and practice
The author himself explains the precise connexion of the present work with the other three volumes of the Philosophy of the Spirit, to which it now forms the conclusion. I had not contemplated translating this treatise, when engaged upon the others, for the reason that it was not in existence in its present form, and an external parallel to its position as the last, the latecomer of the four masterpieces, is to be found in the fact of its publication by another firm than that which produced the preceding volumes.
This diversity in unity will, I am convinced, by no means act as a bar to the dissemination of the original thought contained in its pages, none of which will, I trust, escape the diligent reader through the close meshes of the translation. The volume is similar in format to the Logic, the Philosophy of the Practical, and the Esthetic.
The last is now out of print but will reappear translated by me from the definitive fourth Italian edition, greatly exceeding in bulk the previous editions. The present translation is from the second Italian edition, published in 1919. In this, the author made some slight verbal corrections and a few small additions. I have, as always, following the text with the closest
The description of the volume as forming the fourth of my Philosophy of the Spirit requires some explanation; for it does not really form a new systematic part of the philosophy, and is rather to be looked upon as a deepen- ing and amplification of the theory of historiography, already outlined in certain chapters of the second part, namely the Logic
Contents:
PART I THEORY OF HISTORIOGRAPHY
I. History and Chronicle ii
II. Pseudo-Histories 27
III. History as History of the Universal.
Criticism of 'Universal History' 51
IV. Ideal Genesis and Dissolution of the ' Philo-
sophy OF History ' 64
V. The PosiTiviTY of History 83
VI. The Humanity of History 94
VII. Choice and Periodization 108
VIII. Distinction (Special Histories) and Division 117
IX. The 'History of Nature' and History 128
APPENDICES
I. Attested Evidence 136
II. Analogy and Anomaly of Special Histories 141
III. Philosophy and Methodology 151
PART II
CONCERNING THE HISTORY OF HISTORIOGRAPHY
I. Preliminary Questions 165
II. Grecco-Roman Historiography 181
III. Medieval Historiography 200
IV. The Historiography of the Renaissance 224
V. The Historiography of the Enlightenment 243
VI. The Historiography of Romanticism 264
VII. The Historiography of Positivism 289
VIII. The New Historiography. Conclusion 309
Index of Names 315
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