historicism

American  

[hi-stawr-uh-siz-uhm, -stor-] / hɪˈstɔr əˌsɪz əm, -ˈstɒr- /

noun

1. a theory that history is determined by immutable laws and not by human agency.

2. a theory that all cultural phenomena are historically determined and that historians must study each period without imposing any personal or absolute value system.

3. a profound or excessive respect for historical institutions, as laws or traditions.

4. a search for laws of historical evolution that would explain and predict historical phenomena.

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historicism British  

/ hɪˈstɒrɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

1. the belief that natural laws govern historical events which in turn determine social and cultural phenomena

2. the doctrine that each period of history has its own beliefs and values inapplicable to any other, so that nothing can be understood independently of its historical context

3. the conduct of any enquiry in accordance with these views

4. excessive emphasis on history, historicism, past styles, etc

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Other Word Forms

• historicist noun

Etymology

Origin of historicism

1890–95; historic + -ism; compare German Historismus

Example Sentences

The birth of Big Science came in precisely that period, yet Popper's account dominated the philosophy of science and underwrote his attack on historicism.

From Salon • Sep. 17, 2023

Such historicism is not an argument but a gambit to forestall argument.

From Washington Post • Nov. 23, 2022

Nietzsche and his radical historicism used genealogies to draw meanings in a world thought of a void of objective meanings.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

So there’s all these different signifiers of power, and that’s where this contrast between this high modernist building and this ersatz historicism as a symbol of fanciness is interesting.

From Slate • Mar. 1, 2018

Latour’s historicism misses a key point about science, which is that it is about matters which are the case whether we believe them to be so or not.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton