SHAPING THE PAST: THE FOUNDING OF HISTORY AS AN AESTHETICO LOGICAL SCIENCE IN THE GERMAN ENLIGHTENMENT
SHAPING THE PAST: THE FOUNDING OF HISTORY AS AN AESTHETICO LOGICAL SCIENCE IN THE GERMAN ENLIGHTENMENT

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, I intend to study for the first time the role of demonstrations and fictions as key elements for the scientization of history in the early German Enlightenment. First, I analyze the debate about the role of demonstrative knowledge in the historical narration, with special regard to Thomasius and Heumann. Next, I explore the relationship between the knowledge of historical facts and the epistemology of sensibility, with special regard to Chladenius and the Baumgarten brothers. My conclusion is that history as a science arises out of a concurrence of logical and aesthetic features.

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