Notable Scholars

René Descartes (1596-1650) 

Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650): 

• Book: Discourse on the method 
• Country: France 
• Rene Descartes insisted on verifying the reliability of historical documents by critically examining them. 
• He was both a philosopher and a mathematician; a rationalist who only believed in reason. 
• He is known as “The father of modern philosophy” and in his book, ‘Discourse on the method’, his statement is very popular, “Never to accept anything for true till all grounds of doubt are excluded.” 

Voltaire: (1694-1778) 

Voltaire: (1694-1778)

• Country: France  
• Voltaire’s original name was François-Marie Arouet.  
• Voltaire was the most influential among all the writers. 
• He was of the opinion that objective truth and chronology of historical events considering social traditions, trade, economy, agriculture, etc. was also equally important in historiography.  
• Because of this, there emerged a thought that every aspect of human life is important for writing historical narratives.  
• Due to his contribution to the field of history, Voltaire is considered the founder of modern historiography. 

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel  

(1770-1831) 

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel  (1770-1831) 

• Country: Germany  
• Book: ‘Encyclopaedia of Philosophical Sciences’ and ‘Reason in History'   
• He was of the view that historical realities should be presented in a logical manner.  
• According to him, Timeline was indicative of progress. He believed that the presentation of history is bound to change as time passes because new evidence surfaces. 
• His philosophy convinced many scholars that historical methods were not of lesser quality, though they differed from the scientific method.  
• He devised a method of analysis based on opposites known as Dialectics’. 
• According to Hegel, one can understand any event by studying the opposites of that particular event.  Opposites for example mean True-False, Good-Bad, etc. There will be two parts creating one will for i.e., ‘Thesis’ and another will be against known as ‘Antithesis’ and a combination of both will be termed as ‘Synthesis’ which will include the gist of both Thesis as well as antithesis. This method of analysis which is based on opposites is known as ‘Dialectics’. But nowadays this approach is not followed.

Leopold von Ranké  

(1795-1886) 

Leopold von Ranké  (1795-1886) 

• Country: Germany  
• Book: ‘The Theory and Practice of History' and ‘The Secret of World History’ 
• Leopold von Ranke laid emphasis on the utmost importance of information gathered through original documents.  
• In order to reach historical truth, it was necessary to examine all documents related to historical events.  
• He criticised the imaginative narration of history. 
• Ranke had a great influence on the historiography of the nineteenth century. 

Karl Marx (1818-1883) 

Karl Marx (1818-1883) 

• Country: Germany  
• Book: ‘Communist Manifesto’ and ‘Das capital’ 
•  Karl Marx was a great political thinker and was one of the chief founders of communism.  
• He was born in Prussia on 5th May 1818.  
• Due to the industrial revolution, new factories were established in Europe. The rich people's class (capitalists) were used to exploit the labourers. Labourers got very little wages without any share in the profits of the factories.  
• Karl Marx wanted the workers to be united and fight against the capitalists. The capitalist did not like Karl's views. Karl had to flee from Germany to save his life. He died in England in 1883.  
• Karl Marx's ideas later inspired communist revolutions all over the World.  
• Karl Marx believed that history was about actual people, not intangible concepts. Human relationships are shaped by people's basic wants, their ownership of common production methods, and how those methods are used to fill those needs. These resources might not be equally accessible to all social classes. 
• Due to this inequity, society becomes divided into classes, which fuels class conflict. He views class conflict as the central theme of human history. 

• A school emerged in France in 1920-30s which believed that there are shortcomings in the historical writings.  
• To have a proper understanding of the human past, it is necessary to study other disciplines like sociology, economics, and geography.  
• According to this school, the study of history should not be limited to kings, wars, diplomacy and political leaders. Instead, the focus should also be on the climatic conditions, economic activities, means of communication, social life and cultural life.  
• The Annales school is credited with giving a new direction to the study of history. So, history should be a comprehensive understanding of the past.  
• This stand is known as ' Total History’ or All history and the group is known as ‘Annales School’. The literary meaning of the annals is a yearly record.  
• Some prominent Annales scholars are Marc Bloch, Fernand Braudel, Lucien Febvre, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and others. 

Simone de Beauvoir

• Rewriting history from a female perspective is known as feminist historiography.  
• The foundational ideas of feminism were established through Simone de Beauvoir's writings. She was from France. 
• Feminist historiography placed focuses on both changing the male-dominated historical paradigm and on the inclusion of women in history.  
• It inspired historical studies to pay close attention to numerous facets of women's lives, including their job, their participation in labour unions, organisations that supported their cause, their family lives, etc.  
• After 1990, women were portrayed as an independent social class in historical works. 

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) 

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) 

• Country: France 
• Book: Archaeology of Knowledge 
• The philosopher, critic, and historian Michel Foucault was an original and creative thinker who made contributions to historiography and to understanding the forces that make history.  
• He made substantial contributions to philosophy, history, literary criticism, and, specifically, theoretical work in the human sciences.  
• According to him to present history in chronological order is not right.  
• The objective of archaeology is not to reach the ultimate historical truth but to explain the various transitions in the past.  
• He acknowledged that subjects such as the science of medicine, psychological disorders, and prison administration is valid for historical analysis.