Observing History

History and Historical Science from a Constructivist's Viewpoint

Abstract

The article argues an extension of „intended applications" of present day radical constructivism to the domain of historical sciences. After a brief presentation of constructivism's core theory of „observing observations", a long exposition is undertaken in which central historical notions like „memory", ,,remembering" or ,,forgetting" are re-defined and adapted to the overall constructivist framework. Further extensions of the notion of memory to the societal level are made, for instance, the new notion of „politics of memory" will be introduced which, hopefully, will offer new insights into the interplay between the physical infrastructures of, horribile dictu, ,,information bases", ,,knowledge utilizations" and the steering mechanisms of societal sub-systems, primarily, but not exclusively, of the economic system.