What is History?

Romsics, Ignac

Ignác Romsics, historian and member of HAS, gave a lecture on the concept of history. Going through a range of different concepts and definitions, he showed how the diverse viewpoints of the varied meanings of the word 'history' itself create a cavalcade of schools of historiography. In the beginning, 'history' meant the history of wars, then it traced the origin of peoples. By the turn of the 20th century, the genres of history, political history, economic history, history of ideas, social history and their sub-disciplines were strengthened as a result of a specification process. With further diversification our historical consciousness is becoming ever more complex. The philosophy of history also offers a wide range of views from Saint Augustine to post-modern concepts. The differences are reflected in diverse understandings of historical facts, as well as in varied views of the role of the historian.

About the lecturer