A theory of history and the research of value. Towards the defense and praise of practical sense in the making of historical discourse

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to consider the axiology of historical research and learning – the previously marginalized area of methodological reflection. A given thesis states, that the theory of a scientific field is essentially a study of values in every sphere of methodological analysis. The main question among the premises to distinguish the axiology of history as a part of methodological research is this: why is it difficult to write about the past (especially in the scientific mode), assuming that historiography itself is an axiological problem, in the perspective of its own history and theory. Hence another thesis, that the axiology of history would focus on determining the “practical sense” of a historian’s work, which can be found in the intellectual history of our (European) culture. The introduced conceptualization is composed by: the postulates of practical reason in historical discourse; the question: would Plato proscribe historiography and banish historians from his politeia; and the notion of “practicization” which connotes two categories: practical reasoning and historical practice. To comlement the analysis the topic of an „axiologically involved researcher” is raised in the context of loyalism and nonconformity, and incompatibilities between values, as well as several issues concerning science policy.