Dyufo G. Pragmatic history: a new approach?

Abstract: Recently in France two new books have been published by Yves Cohen on power in Contemporary history (2013) and by Stefan Van Damme on the philosophy of Modern history (2014), which although are focused on different time periods and themes, but both, in the words of the authors, belong to the movement of pragmatic history. What is pragmatic history? What does it entail from the point of view of a historian’s practical work? The aim of this cross review is to demonstrate the existing methodological similarities between the two books. We see that two authors arrive at pragmatic history from different historiographical traditions, but in both cases their adherence to this direction is signalled by three original research approaches: the aim to understand phenomena in the process of their problematisation, to gain access to social and cultural practices, and to understand the circulation mechanisms of ideas and knowledge through their produced results. This type of approach necessarily implies a change of a scholar’s methodological stance, forcing him to refute the often inherent positions of superiority and of the regressive method. Opening new research horizons, pragmatic history is capable of contributing to historiographical debates on many important topics. In conclusion, the review presents as an example the question of modernity: it is examined not so much in itself, as with the aim of demonstrating the possibilities of studying the public sphere of Modern and Contemporary times from the point of view of pragmatic history.

Keywords: