Here is a review of a book which deals with defining the "
early modern" period ("period"?):
Hillard von Thiessen on:
Neuhaus, Helmut (ed.):
Die Frühe Neuzeit als Epoche
(= Historische Zeitschrift Beiheft 49)
München : Oldenbourg 2009
ISBN 978-3-486-59087-6 Alternative URL:
http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/id=13390 Quote: Dabei ist die Annahme, dass der Zeitraum von
etwa 1500 bis ca. 1800 in der europäischen Geschichte eine gewisse
Einheit repräsentiert, erst in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts
etabliert worden, wie Helmut Neuhaus in der Einleitung des von ihm
herausgegebenen Bandes betont. Seitdem wurden an den meisten
historischen Seminaren Lehrstühle oder Professuren für die Geschichte
der Frühen Neuzeit eingerichtet.
There are days on which I tend to hope that this late early modernity will be a passing fad. And today I ask myself whether
history of philosophy (where somewhere near the mid of the 14th and 17th centuries there are major breaks felt/perceived by many - a perception perhaps even more common concerning the mid of the 17th century than concerning the mid of the 14th century) is a just special case. And history of art an other special case.
(I'm prejudiced when it comes to history of music, where I hold the period of the reign of plucked keyboard instruments to be extremely important ... .)
Periodisations for history of theology obviously are not exactly independent of your choice of the the theology/theologies you focus on.
And periodisations in political history will vary according your choice of the regions you take into account. It might be worthwhile to remind oneself sometimes that the dates for the reign of the Ming dynasty do correspond rather well with the dates for a European "Renaissance" from ca. the mid of the 14th to ca. the mid of the 17th century. And the same holds true fro the Japanese Muromachi and Azuchi-Momoyama periods plus the Keichō, Genna and Kan'ei eras. And it certainly is worthwhile to remind oneself even more than sometimes that it does not hold true for many other regions.
And, yes, I know that just to say that it boils down to the question which periodisation will permit you best to tell the story or stories you want to tell might mean to evade the question instead of answering it. But IMO there are not only wrong answers to some questions, but also wrong questions for some answers.
Chimerae, hircocervi and bald kings of France and the like are more fit subjects for logic and perhaps for natural history and history of art than for biology.
Pages: 
Periodisations, borders (Read 29148 times)
