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- 1.
The term seems to be unknown in the English language. In contrast to “historicism,” which refers to a theory of the teleologically predetermined course of history as a whole, “historism” denotes theories which assume that larger social events are sufficiently explained by an analysis of the historical circumstances and contexts in which they appear.
- 2.
The meaning of this term is not clear. It was seldom if ever again used by Schutz. In the German text, it reads “historisches Individuum.” This is an expression used by Max Weber not as a label for a person playing a role in history or seen in historical perspective, but as a combination of a multiplicity of spiritual-evaluative traits shared by many and being effective in the shaping of the course of history. In its uniqueness, it may appear in different social settings and reappear in different historical periods. The prime example of a “historical individuum” is Weber’s famous ideal-typical concept of the Protestant Ethic. Even though there can be no doubt that Schutz accepted the term from Weber together with other conceptions which determined the topics of some points of the present outline [notably (2) and (3)], it is not a foregone conclusion that he intended to use it in its Weberian sense. He may have wished to set up the ideal type of a social actor in historical context and as maker of or contributor to historical events. This possibility must be raised in view of the fact that Schutz never displayed a genuine interest in the analysis of large-scale historical events, which was a trade mark of much of Weber’s work.
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Schutz, A. (2013). Part III Object and Methods of the Social Sciences. In: Barber, M. (eds) Collected Papers VI. Literary Reality and Relationships. Phaenomenologica, vol 206. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1518-9_11
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