Georg G. Iggers' Research On German Historicism

This paper is about Georg G. Iggers'research on German historicism through The German Conception of History:The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the present.First of all,I get the knowledge about Iggers'historical cognition from his interviews and his writings to grasp his notion and try to explore the reason why he is interested in German historicism—the background of his research ,including the social revolution after World War II,the change of historical research and the reasons for World War II historians hold. Secondly,I argue the specific knowledge of Iggers'research on German historicism. I have defined and introduced the"historicism". Iggers have analysed from a political perspective that the origin of German historicism is the Prussia's resistance to Napoleon , the support to Prussia for unifing the Germany, and the willing of establishing a powerful nation. Iggers have exposed the historicism theoretical basis through discussing about Herder,Humboldt and Ranke whose historical idea would become the basis of the German Historical School. I have exposed three contents of historicism—individual conception,the political and moral values.The former is the core, and these are closely related to lead the development direction of historicism, and remove the obstacles for nationalism and authoritarianism.The traditional historicism has gradually declined and collapsed along with the new historical ideas,contradictional exposure and the shake of the two world wars,and its influence has reduced with the crisis gradual deepening.However, it cannot be considered disappearing,because some of these ideas have been deeply rooted in the historians'minds, and such as the historical critical approaches and the stress on the continuity of the historical development have been inherited and developed.The third part is the core content of this paper.If the former parts is the simple summary to the Iggers'research on German historicism,I will say this part is the sublimation process of his analysis.I discuss the advantages and limitations on his research.Although his research has some defects,generally speaking,it's provoking, inspired and comprehensive.His study is enriched by the detailed summary to the German Historical School and their critics,adding the latest information—the research condition of the West Germany in recent decades.So his book plays an important role in the history of historiography.The characteristic of the paper is that I discussed the conception of historicism revealed from Iggers'study, even though he strongly criticized it.