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On Facts and Footnotes: "Historia" in Early Modern Times
Von Fakten und Fussnoten. "Historia" in der frühen Neuzeit
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:24:19
Abstract
Previous to the separation of the sciences and humanities, "historia" was not a historical discipline in the modern sense but a method of empiricism, concerned with the minute description of facts. The seminar will study "historia", using examples from natural history, medicine, and philology.
Content
Ever since the separation of the "two cultures", history is concerned with the study of the past and belongs firmly to the humanities. From the 16th to the 19th Century, however, "historia" was neither a discipline nor an object of research, but a method of empiricism, a form of knowledge production which, in contrast to "scientia" and "philosophia", had its focus on details, on collections, and on minute description and narration instead of systematic deduction. The range of topics which will be discussed in the seminar thus reaches from natural history to Bacon's "Historia Experimentalis" to philological criticism. Of special interest will be the parallel emergence of facts and footnotes in the 17th Century.
General Information
- Language
- German
- Levels
- DS , MSC
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar |
Von Fakten und Fussnoten. "Historia" in der frühen Neuzeit
**Kurs an der Uni Zürich**
Lehrveranstaltungsnummer: 1897
Ort: SOE F 8
|
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (In order to be awarded credits, please register under "Pflichtwahlfach GESS"!. The language courses are offered by the ETH and University of Zurich Language Center.)
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