Are there Minimum Requirements and Optimum Norms also for
Historical Synthesis?
Rolf Torstendahl used the concepts of ”minimum requirements”
and ”optimum norms” in an essay from 1981 to describe the main
ideas of Swedish historigraphical development during the twentieth
century, particularly to revise the accepted view of the Weibullian
school of thought. The purpose of this essay was to try to discuss
the need for minimum requirements and optimum norms for historical
syntheses. Just a few decades ago, it was considered detrimental
to one’s career and unworthy of a serious academic historian
to write synthetic histories – loosely defined as an attempt
to write an epical history or give an integrated or holistic
description of a larger historical transition. But much has happened
since then and the market is now replete with historical syntheses.
This essay argues the need of specifying which criteria are
to be used with historical syntheses. In addition to prevailing
minimum requirements for criticism of sources, it is argued that
explanatory and historical syntheses also need the social sciences.
The optimum norms that should be applied must be anchored in
modern social science theory. Otherwise, the way is paved for
relativism of the type represented by certain currents in post-modern
historical descriptions.