Angelika Epple: Die Größe zählt! Aber wie? Globalgeschichte zwischen großen Synthesen, Skeptizismus und neuem Empirismus

Abstract

Global microhistories as answer to idealistic and sceptical global syntheses
Idealistic and sceptical syntheses have dominated discussions on global history in the past decade and a half. Empirical microhistories, in contrast, seem to have had their day. Drawing on Vittorio Hösle’s “Truth and History”, this paper argues that behind these different approaches lies a pattern of academic transformation: after a period of idealism, there follows scepticism which itself is followed by empiricism, before the cycle starts all over again. The paper further discusses a number of microhistorical studies which address global questions. To conclude, the paper asks if global microhistories can act as an empirical answer to idealistic and sceptical global syntheses and thus overcome the shortcomings of the latter.

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