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Czech historian Zdeněk Kalista and the tradition of german Geistesgeschichte

Publication

Abstract

The book deals with two crucial motifs. The first is the characterization of methodological concept of the intellectual history (dějiny duchové; Geistesgeschichte) as a specific historiographical movement outlined by Zdeněk Kalista.

The author studies in detail all principal questions that Kalista tried to solve in his intellectual history. The second important sphere reflected in the book is the tradition of German Geistesgeschichte, specific historiographical trend that appeared primarily in the first half of the twentieth century.

Is Kalista´s intellectual history completely new historiographical trend or is it rather the continuation of preceding German tradition? Though the defining of Geistesgeschichte is not easy because of its heterogeneity, this monograph comes to the conclusion that Kalista´s intellectual history is rather one of the contributions to the tradition of German Geistesgeschichte.