Theoretical and Methodological Conceptualization of the Western Historiosophical Thinking

Abstract

The object of research is the historical dimension of human existence in the context of the dynamics of Western thinking. The author analyzes the major trends in the development of Western historiosophical mind. The theory of historical knowledge – historical epistemology – was used to research the problem. It was used as a ground to show how fundamental issues of the human natural being were raised and solved: in particular, the issues of the ontological status of history (the “what” of the history), of the mechanisms of its functioning (the “how” of the history), of its direction (the “where” of the history), of its unity and multiplicity (the “how much” of the history), of its spatiotemporal certainty (the “where” and the “when” of the history). All the variety of these issues that sound in the context of philosophical reflection concerning the historical process comes together to a focus in the formulation of the problem of the meaning and purpose of history. The author concludes that the philosopher does not deliberately invent the theoretical matrix of understanding the history, but finds it in the conscious of the contemporary era and uses to construct meaningful structures of historical movement. In accordance with the dominant of the social consciousness of a certain era – in the framework of a theoretical understanding of history – its “dominant” historiosophema emerges. Their research is important in the theory of historical knowledge.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s1p406