History – Culture – Metaphor. On Historical Thinking

Historiography is one of the most systematic accounts of the fate of culture. It is also a record of human—reflexive and reflective metaphors of the world, simultaneously anthropomorphizing and humanizing it. Historical imagination captures the world in its classical form directly, and in its non-classical form indirectly, through the lens of anthropomorphization. This enables the adaptation of the world to the human dimension or, in other words, to be constructed on a human scale. Historiography and historical thinking, especially the traditional forms, are close to the figures of public discourse because they offer meanings commensurate with it. Additionally, they are openly imbued with values, making them susceptible to easy, casual and biased interpretations. Thanks to these features, historical thinking and historiography provide a framework for texpressing currently important values and the common and specific emotions centered around them.