Critique of historical reason

The approach here entertained presupposes a fresh theory of world pictures (Weltanschauungen) of higher civilizations. For the historian's idea of historical facts presupposes a world picture, except for societies which lack a written language. That is why the historical reason discussed here is limited to the kind of history which deals with higher civilizations. The analysis of world pictures used here itself presupposes that symbols are all-important and that they lose their symbolic power if attached to a static meaning. As in Jung's theory, a symbol has the ability to be active in the mind as a transformer of consciousness, free to associate with new experiences and thinking. This theory gives special attention to Dilthey's problem: that of the rational quality of historical facts. World pictures, which give deep meanings to many historical facts, are made up of symbols and metaphors, including ideas, images, values, and emotions. These world styles are almost entirely unconscious. It is true that historians can have deliberate, conscious definitions of such worldviews as those of the Greek and Chinese civilizations. Since the actual Weltbilt is much more complex and largely unconscious, only something more than a logical definition will suffice to understand it. This paper indicates the way in which a rational understanding of world pictures can be attained.