Theories and Narratives: Reflections on the Philosophy on History

by Alex Callinicos

In this book Callinicos explores the relationship between social theory and historical writing drawing on a wide range of theories and theorists in an attempt to establish the contribution that theory can make to understanding the past.

Genres: Philosophy, History

264 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1995

About the author

Alexander Theodore Callinicos, a descendant through his mother of Lord Acton, is a political theorist and Director of the Centre for European Studies at King's College London. He holds both a BA and a DPhil from Oxford University.

Reviews

[Peter Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting review of approaches to the writing of history. Callinicos starts by critiquing the postmodern turn and the impact of language and narrative on the writing of history. He then unpicks the marxist and weberian 'grand narratives' which are broadly disparaged by postmodernism. Coming from a generally marxist perspective this makes for an interesting overview (and provides a helpful short summary of postmodernism as it influences the writing of history generally). However the bridge between the different sections (the criticism of postmodernism to the criticism of weberian approaches, and the summary of a marxist theory of history) could be smoother. It feels for example that more could be said to critique postmodern history from a marxist perspective. Still, an interesting read and a useful follow up to any reading on postmodern history, or to traditional marxist theories of history (including GA Cohen's Karl Marx's Theory of History for example).