historicism

[ hi-stawr-uh-siz-uhm, -stor- ]

noun

1. a theory that history is determined by immutable laws and not by human agency.
2. a theory that all cultural phenomena are historically determined and that historians must study each period without imposing any personal or absolute value system.
3. a profound or excessive respect for historical institutions, as laws or traditions.
4. a search for laws of historical evolution that would explain and predict historical phenomena.

historicism

/ hɪˈstɒrɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

1. the belief that natural laws govern historical events which in turn determine social and cultural phenomena
2. the doctrine that each period of history has its own beliefs and values inapplicable to any other, so that nothing can be understood independently of its historical context
3. the conduct of any enquiry in accordance with these views
4. excessive emphasis on history, historicism, past styles, etc

Derived Forms

• hisˈtoricist, nounadjective

Other Words From

• his·tori·cist noun adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of historicism¹

1890–95; historic + -ism; compare German Historismus

Example Sentences

But he passes over Popper's deeper individualist epistemological mistake, embedded in his philosophy of science, which provided a foundation for his attack on historicism.

From Salon

Such historicism is not an argument but a gambit to forestall argument.

From Washington Post

It was edgier than his usual romantic historicism and more interesting for it.

From New York Times

Latour’s historicism misses a key point about science, which is that it is about matters which are the case whether we believe them to be so or not.

From Literature

This one wasn’t about gender fluidity, but rather a sort of timeline porousness between day and night, home and event, historicism and modernity.

From New York Times