Dzieje i nieświadomość. Założenia teoretyczne i praktyka badawcza psychohistorii

Abstract

The present treatise deals with psychohistory, a branch of historical investigations (developed mainly in the USA) which study the subjective (psychological) dimension of historical process using principles of psychoanalysis and psychology as its theoretical ground. The main objective of the author is to reconstruct theoretical and methodological assumptions shared by psychohistorians as well as the fundamental characteristics of their actual research into the past. He strives to demonstrate that psychohistory is sufficiently ‘standardized’ (within the sphere of theory and methodology, as well as within the sphere of research practice) to be recognized as a paradigmatic community (as defined by Thomas Kuhn). Psychohistorians’ writings form the empirical basis of the book. Theoretical ones are seen as a collective expression of ‘methodological experience’ of the community, while concrete studies on past events and human motivation in history demonstrate ‘applied methodology’ of the adherents of psychohistory. The first chapter begins with an attempt to clarify the very notion of ‘psychohistory’. The term is referred to an interdisciplinary undertaking which has been developing ‘somewhere between’ history, social sciences, psychoanalysis and psychology since the early decades of 20th century. In result psychohistory is seen by the author as a ‘historiographical paradigm’. This notion, together with a set of related categories, provides the conceptual foundations of the study. Also, the history of psychohistory is outlined in this chapter. The author discerns some distinct stages of its development, such as beginnings related to the early activities of Sigmund Freud and his close followers, the emergence of psychohistory as a part of American historiography in 1950s and 1960s, its institutionalization in 1970s and finally the stage of its crisis resulting in its marginalization within the American historical profession (paradoxically, accompanied by its expansion outside academic historiography or even outside the academia itself). Chapter Two is focused on the ‘methodological thought’ of psychohistorians. Debates on various issues of methodology and research strategy (these carried onbetween psychohistorians themselves as well as those which engaged outside critics) are typical expressions of it. The methodological discourse of psychohistory is analyzed in terms of (1) elements of psychohistorical view of the world (as shaped by the ontological premises of psychoanalysis), (2) psychohistorians’ ideal of science (as manifested by the peculiar ‘tension’ between psychohistory understood as ‘science’ and as a kind of traditional historiography and also by the presence of specific assumptions underlying the idea of the therapeutic function of psychohistory), (3) concrete methodological principles. In the third chapter the author discusses issues of ‘applied methodology’ of psychohistorians. His method of the reconstruction of this methodology is based on the analysis of selected outstanding historical works written by the adherents of psychohistory. Patterns of conceptualization, explanatory strategies and main lines of interpretation typical for psychohistorical research are presented here. Also, the author tries to reveal how psychohistorians deal with their sources and how they usually respond to special challenges they face during their investigations (e.g. the problem of pathography, the historical role of trauma, the peculiar features of psychohistorical retrodiction). The discussion concentrates mainly (though by no means exclusively) on biographical writings, as representing the dominant model of psychohistorical research. Chapter Four is a ‘supplement’ to the third one. It consists of three case studies; each of them focuses on a single psychohistorical book-length study. Together they exemplify three main areas of psychohistorical research: psychobiography, the history of childhood and group psychohistory. The author ‘follows’ three distinguished psychohistorians who strive to reveal motivations of their subjects under study. In this way, he is able to demonstrate how the methodology of psychohistory operates at the level of a single study.