Historical understanding between skepticism and arbitrariness: some comments on recent versions of historical and cultural relativism

Abstract

This article presents some basic elements of the critique on the traditional theory of history made by representatives of post-modern thought and of philosophers close to them: the centrality of texts simultaneously to linguistic skepticism, the correlation between artistic and literary presentation and presentation of history, criticism on the ideal of objectivity and the conceptions of historical understanding related to these aspects. It addresses the issues arising from these views to intercultural understanding, in order to demonstrate a critical understanding of the limits of radical individualistic culture. The considerations of this paper go, therefore, from the problems of the methodology of the humanities to the issues of philosophical anthropology.