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Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
instead of being a historical
myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
,
legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...
, or
fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradi ...
. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity denotes historical actuality, authenticity, factuality and focuses on the true value of knowledge claims about the past. Some theoreticians characterize historicity as a dimension of all natural phenomena that take place in space and time. Other scholars characterize it as an attribute reserved to certain human occurrences, in agreement with the practice of
historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians h ...
.Jones, Michael S.,
Lucian Blaga, The Historical Phenomenon: An Excerpt from The Historical Being
(2012). Faculty Publications and Presentations. Paper 1.
Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse (; ; July 19, 1898 – July 29, 1979) was a German-American philosopher, social critic, and political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at the Humboldt University ...
explained historicity as that which "defines history and thus distinguishes it from 'nature' or the 'economy'" and "signifies the meaning we intend when we say of something that is 'historical'." The ''Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy'' defines historicity as "denoting the feature of our human situation by which we are located in specific concrete temporal and historical circumstances". For
Wilhelm Dilthey Wilhelm Dilthey (; ; 19 November 1833 – 1 October 1911) was a German historian, psychologist, sociologist, and hermeneutic philosopher, who held G. W. F. Hegel's Chair in Philosophy at the University of Berlin. As a polymathic philosopher, w ...
, historicity identifies human beings as unique and concrete historical beings. Questions regarding historicity concern not just the issue of "what really happened", but also how modern observers can come to know "what really happened". This second issue is closely tied to historical research practices and methodologies for analyzing the reliability of primary sources and other evidence. Because various methodologies thematize historicity differently, it is not possible to reduce historicity to a single structure to be represented. Some methodologies like
historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...
can make historicity subject to constructions of history based on submerged value commitments.Hall, J. (2007). ''Historicity and Sociohistorical Research.'' In W. Outhwaite, & S. Turner (Eds.), ''The Sage Handbook of Social Science Methodology.'' (pp. 82–102). London: Sage Publications Ltd. Hall, J. (2007). ''History, Methodologies, and the Study of Religion.'' In J. Beckford, & N. Demerath (Eds.), ''The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Religion'' (pp. 167–189). London: Sage Publications Ltd. The historiographer François Hartog introduced the notion of regimes of historicity to describe a society that considers its past and attempts to deal with it, a process that is also cited as "a method of self-awareness in a human community". The historicity of a reported event may be distinct from the historicity of persons involved in the event. For example, a popular story says that as a child,
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
chopped down a cherry tree, and when confronted about it, honestly took responsibility for the act. Although there is no doubt that Washington existed as an historical figure, the historicity of this specific account has been found lacking. Questions of historicity are particularly relevant to partisan or poetic accounts of past events. For example, the historicity of the ''Iliad'' has become a topic of debate because later archaeological finds suggest that the work was based on some true event. Questions of historicity frequently arise in relation to historical studies of religion. In these cases, value commitments can influence the choice of research
methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for br ...
.


See also

*
Historicity of the Bible The historicity of the Bible is the question of the Bible's relationship to history—covering not just the Bible's acceptability as history but also the ability to understand the literary forms of biblical narrative. One can extend biblical his ...
**
Historicity of Jesus The question of the historicity of Jesus is part of the study of the historical Jesus as undertaken in the quest for the historical Jesus and the scholarly reconstructions of the life of Jesus. Virtually all scholars of antiquity accept that J ...
** Historicity of the canonical Gospels **
Historicism (Christian eschatology) In Christian eschatology, historicism is a method of interpretation of biblical prophecies which associates symbols with historical persons, nations or events. The main primary texts of interest to Christian historicists include apocalyptic liter ...
, a specific brand of
Biblical literalism Biblical literalism or biblicism is a term used differently by different authors concerning biblical interpretation. It can equate to the dictionary definition of literalism: "adherence to the exact letter or the literal sense", where literal mea ...
* Historicity of Muhammad * Historicity of the Book of Mormon *
Historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...
*
Historical method Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be draw ...
* Historicity of King Arthur * Historicity of William Tell * Historicity of Robin Hood * Historicity of Ragnar Lodbrok * Historicity of Laozi *
Parallelomania In historical analysis, biblical criticism and comparative mythology/religion, parallelomania has been used to refer to a phenomenon (mania) where authors perceive apparent similarities and construct parallels and analogies without historical ...
* Temporality


References


External links

*{{Commons category-inline Historiography