Historisk Tidskrift. Utgiven av Svenska historiska föreningen
  Hem Aktuellt Tidigare nummer Bli Medlem Annonsera Om Historisk Tidskrift För skribenter Föreningen In English
 

Historisk tidskrift 124:3 • 2004

Innehåll (Contents) 2004:3

Uppsatser (Articles)

Humanism, relativism och tolerans. Hayden Whites samtal med Roger Chartier

Torbjörn Gustafsson Chorell

Fulltext (pdf)

Summary

Humanism, Rhetoric and Tolerance: Hayden White’s Conversation with Roger Chartier

This article argues that an analysis of the rhetorical genre of conversation explains how it is possible to defend both historical relativism and tolerance at the same time. The object of this analysis is the debate between the philosopher of history Hayden White and the historian Roger Chartier, which took place in the early 1990’s. It is argued that this debate is best read as a conversation, and that the use of this rhetorical genre makes it possible for White to defend a historical relativist position against the charge that a relativization of historical knowledge makes historical revisionist interpretations of the Holocaust and other traumatic events credible. White’s willingness to enter into dialogue with persons who respect the rules of conversation provides a theoretical stance that makes it possible to dismiss revisionist historians while at the same time defending a form of tolerance of the opinions of others. The problem, however, is that this stance only tolerates opinions formulated by persons who share the conventions of a certain community. The article also shows that despite the fact that White has been associated with the anti-humanistic impulse that has had such influence on contemporary theories within the humanities and social sciences, he has actually defended humanism ever since the early 1960’s.