Kalle Pihlainen | University of Oulu - Academia.edu

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Kalle Pihlainen

University of Oulu, History of Science and Ideas, Faculty Member

+2

University of Oulu, History of Science and Ideas, Faculty MemberÅbo Akademi, Philosophy, Adjunct Professor (Docent)University of Turku, Department of Political Science and Contemporary History, Adjunct Professor (Docent) |

Kalle Pihlainen works on cultural theory, with an emphasis on the theory of history, embodiment and existential phenomenology. He is active in a number of organizations for the promotion of research in the theory and philosophy of history, including the International Network for Theory of History (INTH).

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Books

The Work of History: Constructivism and a politics of the past

Since the appearance of Hayden White’s seminal work Metahistory in 1973, constructivist thought h... more Since the appearance of Hayden White’s seminal work Metahistory in 1973, constructivist thought has been a key force within theory of history and has at times even provided inspiration for historians more generally. Despite the radical theoretical shift marked by constructivism and elaborated in detail by its proponents, confusion regarding many of its practical and ethical consequences persists, however, and its position on truth and meaning is routinely misconstrued. To remedy this situation, The Work of History seeks to mediate between constructivist theory and history practitioners’ intuitions about the nature of their work, especially as these relate to the so-called fact–fiction debate and to the literary challenges involved in the production of historical accounts. In doing so, the book also offers much-needed insight into debates about our experiential relations with the past, the political use of history and the role of facts in the contestation of power.

Resisting History: On the ethics of narrative representation

ABSTRACT Diss. -- Turun yliopisto.

Journal articles

Messing with Mr In-Between: or, how being second-rate can rescue history

Rethinking History, 2017

FREE ACCESS: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HnvNYeVxmmdBYepmFfnP/full – My aim in this ar... more FREE ACCESS:
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HnvNYeVxmmdBYepmFfnP/full
–
My aim in this article is to put an end to the continued either-or debate regarding the literary nature of history, whereby attention so easily returns to the fact–fiction issue. To prevent a relapse into this unfruitful argument, I offer a reading that is sensitive to the non-literary aspects of history writing and views them productively, rather than as a problem to be brushed aside in theoretical debate. In an attempt to 'accentuate the positive,' I thus foreground strengths that are specific to history, that follow from historians' core commitments. Beyond this questioning of more extreme, purportedly narrativist claims, I take issue with the realist, 'negative' tendencies that similarly stem from a refusal to accept history's contradictory desires. These are particularly evident in the current, popular embrace of presence and experience in talk about the past. I argue that greater sensitivity is needed in rethinking history practices in this direction too, since an uncritical focus on reality encourages reactionary views and representations. Understanding the ways in which these newer debates effectively serve to limit opportunities for societal critique is essential if we wish to see why and how history can remain a useful pursuit.

The distinction of history: on valuing the insularity of the historical past

Rethinking History, 2016

FREE ACCESS: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/vw7fYc7RBbzwTPhfp4jV/full – The article approach... more FREE ACCESS:
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/vw7fYc7RBbzwTPhfp4jV/full
–
The article approaches history as a genre with specific strengths and weaknesses that stem from its commitment to deal with the past truthfully. Although examination of this commitment has most often led to epistemological debates, that is not the intention here. Instead the goal is to fast-forward past any discussion of the possibilities for objectivity, sincerity, truthfulness, and so on, to engage with the question of what history can and cannot 'do,' and thus with the consequences of historians' generic and disciplinary commitments. While this discussion will inevitably relate to the impact historians' practices have on the potential forms of history writing, and hence ties in also with the broader debate about narrative representation, that, again, is not the main focus. Rather, and based on this charting of the scope and capacities of academic history as a genre, the core objective is to tackle the question of history's relevance beyond the limited arena of specifically 'historical' knowing – whatever the specifics of its epistemological standing or presentational form. The kinds of questions asked, then, are: How do current genre commitments position historians in relation to broader sensibilities about the past? What (if any) are the opportunities that they offer and the constraints that they place on contemporary history culture? To what extent might the genre circumscribe historians' social utility? A central means for approaching these questions is found in affirming the distinction between 'the historical past' and 'the practical past' as these have been reintroduced to the debate by Hayden White during the past decade.

Historians and “the current situation”

Rethinking History, 2016

This is the introduction to a special issue of Rethinking History entitled "History in the World"... more

Realist histories? When form clashes with function

Rethinking History, 2015

Historians often accuse linguistic-turn type theorizing à la Hayden White of doing away with the ... more Historians often accuse linguistic-turn type theorizing à la Hayden White of doing away with the justifications for continuing to write histories. The rather naive interpretation is that if there is nothing in the record of the past to justify valuations in the present – no entailment, as Keith Jenkins nicely formulates it, between fact and value, between the past and emplotments of it – then there is no difference between history and fiction. In this article I try to go beyond the polarized debate about whether history is fact or fiction not by rejecting textualist theory but by delving deeper into the theoretical assumptions made by parties on both sides of that debate. I consider two crucial but still largely neglected issues: the question of the artifice involved in constructing realistic representations and the limiting effects of the genre commitments that historians abide by in order to remain historians. Taken together, these considerations highlight a strong contradiction between the form and the function of history as presently conceived; a contradiction that manifests itself as what I present as the ‘materiality’ of the historical referent – the resistance that historians’ generic and institutional commitments create on the level of the text. I also briefly discuss some ways in which historians might make use of this materiality or resistance instead of domesticating it with purportedly realist forms.

The view from the fence

Rethinking History, 2015

This is a review article discussing both Peter Icke’s “Frank Ankersmit’s Lost Historical Cause: A... more

There’s just no talking with the past

Rethinking History, 2014

This brief piece, based on a paper delivered at the 2012 UK Social Science History Conference, qu... more This brief piece, based on a paper delivered at the 2012 UK Social Science History Conference, questions the merits of the common metaphor of communicating as a theorization of ‘doing history’. It claims that, following the rejection of the idea of objectivity in its most radical forms, the idea of conversing or communicating with the past has become increasingly important to explanations of what goes on in historical research, interpretation, and writing. The idea is not without problems of its own, however. Where it positions the past as if indeed somehow an active agent, able to converse with the historian in meaningful ways, the particularity of the past as past seems to deny that possibility. In order to understand the persistence of the communicative metaphor (even in the face of the obvious contradictions involved), the piece relates it to mistaken assumptions in historical thinking that continue to sustain it – namely that of conflating the past with history and that of confusing negotiations of personal memory with ‘experience’ of a historical past. In attempting to deal with these conflicting intuitions, it draws, among others, on a distinction between the creative imagination and any real access to the ‘otherness’ of the past. Ultimately – it will be shown – at stake in this debate is the capacity of the past to intervene on our understandings in any (disruptive) way.

Narrative truth

Metatheoria, 2013

In this article I explore Hayden White’s constructivist approach to historical representation thr... more In this article I explore Hayden White’s constructivist approach to historical representation through the lens of “narrative truth”. My aim is to show that – in addition to helping historians make peace with constructivist premises – openness to a notion of narrative truth could support a useful rethinking of the commitments of disciplinary history. In elaborating the notion, I discuss common misunderstandings concerning the relation of representation to reality, the nature of history as a discursive practice and the more specific epistemological claims made by narrative constructivists. Particular attention is on intuitions that the past is storied in itself, assumptions that historical representation is somehow a “natural” or essential aspect of cognition (hence I also rehearse some arguments regarding “narrative form as a cognitive instrument”) as well as on beliefs regarding the role played by facts in historical representation. Also, and in light of my discussion of these other biases, I tackle the currently popular focus on the relation of experience and history.

The eternal return of reality: on constructivism and current historical desires

Storia della Storiografia, 2014

Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, in... more Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, indeed, even eruptive and sentimental, grounds. In this essay, I question the desire for reality that appears to motivate discussions concerning experience and memory among historians and theorists of history today, approaching things in terms of a fundamental phenomenological yearning and attached intuitions. While popular in current debates, these supposedly more direct ways of relating to the past are incompatible with – and in fact completely unrealistic in light of – the problematic of meaning introduced by constructivism and the linguistic turn. Yet they are at times even claimed to expressly link with Hayden White’s position. My concern here is to question both the legitimacy of these ideas generally and of concurrent (mis)representations of White and constructivism specifically. In doing so, I defend a distinction between experience simpliciter (which is not to claim that it could ever be simple) and a heightened experientiality, potentially created by literary works for example.

On historical consciousness and popular pasts

História da Historiografia, 2014

The article investigates the nature of historical consciousness - conceptualizations and construc... more The article investigates the nature of historical consciousness - conceptualizations and constructions of the past outside academic history - and the way in which this has changed in parallel with developments in historical theory in recent decades. With the increased constructivist questioning of historical narratives as somehow objectively true, academic history is seen to have lost some of its authority regarding the past. It is argued that, in becoming more aware of its nature as interpretation as well as more sensitive to its motives and consequences, history now has the potential to become more pragmatic and presentist. At the same time, some theoretical discussions have turned to the less strictly historical questions of memory and presence, thus evading the call to responsibility. In examining historical consciousness in relation to these debates, the article suggests that, in line with the liberation of the past from the constraints of academic history, historical consciousness no longer needs to be as focused on the interpretations and knowledge provided by the institution of history but can increasingly be determined by popular understandings and the needs of consumers.

Rereading narrative constructivism

Rethinking History, 2013

Since the 1960s, and especially after the appearance of Metahistory in 1973, the relationship bet... more Since the 1960s, and especially after the appearance of Metahistory in 1973, the relationship between narrative and reality has been one of the most important questions in historical theory. Despite this, historians have generally taken the kind of narrative constructivism associated with Hayden White to hold no significance for them. Their justifications often miss the core point, however: What is in question is not how history could derive meaning from the facts of the past (which is an unsolvable problematic), but the responsibility historians have for the consequences of their work because of its unavoidably subjective or constructivist nature. Since Whitean constructivism emphasizes the independence of the meanings of historical stories from past reality, it necessarily also foregrounds the legitimation of interpretations. Hence the question becomes: Why ‘do’ history at all? By examining what narrative constructivism has had to say about the assumptions and rules that define history as a genre – as well as through an evaluation of what might so far have been missed but still needs to be considered – my goal here is to refocus the discussion so that this much more radical and far-reaching dimension might be better understood.

Mulholland Drive and the surrender of representation

Storia della Storiografia, 2013

Literary knowledge in historical study: the case of Josef Škvorecký’s The Engineer of Human Souls

Ideas in History, 2013

Escaping the confines of history: Keith Jenkins

Rethinking History, 2013

This article presents a selective evaluation of Keith Jenkins' contribution to theory of history,... more This article presents a selective evaluation of Keith Jenkins' contribution to theory of history, focusing particularly on issues that many historians seem to have had difficulties either understanding or accepting. A core part of the discussion involves the ideological and ethical reasons for as well as consequences of his recognition of epistemological scepticism. The intuitions that underlie Jenkins' turn from advocating ‘postmodern-type’ alternative histories to the denial of history altogether are also examined. After charting the alternatives, and in the face of the reality that history continues to be written in rather traditional ways, the article makes a choice to support Jenkins' earlier position, in which there remained options for ‘postmodern-type’ historying. While this position is perhaps less logical than his advocacy of an end to history altogether, it is more defensible pragmatically. Arguments for ‘ending’ with history are too easily received by ‘hard-core’ historians as a free pass out of assuming responsibility for the consequences of what they do and lead to reactionary attitudes rather than any improvement regarding the ethical problems history(ing) involves; thus emphasis here continues to be on awareness and the educating of historians in philosophy rather than on closing down discussion.

What if the past were accessible after all?

Rethinking History, 2012

In this essay, I present a thought experiment involving what I've called the Historian Mark II, r... more In this essay, I present a thought experiment involving what I've called the Historian Mark II, roughly a time machine, but with a number of important restrictions. The most important of these restrictions is that the experiment must be defined in such a way as to uphold the ontological distinction between past and present. This permits a re-examination of the consequences of the past being past and in so doing also hopefully assists in clarifying various mystifications in recent discussions relating to the accessibility of the past. Although underscoring the past's pastness necessarily leads to some tautological arguments, it seems necessary to take this route as these issues have been repeatedly overlooked. The central contribution of the experiment is to redirect attention to the concepts of lived experience and experientiality as well as to the quite different functions and deployment of agency in these.

Cultural history and the entertainment age

Cultural History, 2012

In this article, I argue that cultural history has become complacent about discussing its purpose... more In this article, I argue that cultural history has become complacent about discussing its purpose: history as an institution has made room for it in the establishment and in return cultural historians have given up their critical and oppositional interest. Their once new and revolutionary choices of subject matter as well as ways of investigating the past have become standard fare in historical research and writing – the political focus driving them lost in the process. Despite obvious benefits, such co-option has its drawbacks: new critical histories now almost automatically fit within this broadened spectrum of sanctioned approaches, and the implied ‘anything goes’ attitude strips them of their impact. In this way, cultural (among other once alternative) histories now provide so-called serious history with a more popular and entertaining extension, removed from social relevance. As a result, ‘real’ relevance continues to be understood in terms of ‘truth’ rather than consequences. – It is this tendency of cultural history to concentrate on entertainment value rather than any broader socio-political significance that is of particular concern here. As is, of course, the viability of any critical historiography in this condition.

The end of oppositional history?

Rethinking History, 2011

Narrative constructivism – the narrative theory of history following Hayden White – has focused i... more Narrative constructivism – the narrative theory of history following Hayden White – has focused intensely on the search for alternative forms for history writing. At the same time, since the late 1960s, many oppositional efforts within historical research proper have been coopted into mainstream history writing and their political edge has been blunted. Microhistory and feminism, for example, have become fairly standard ways of ‘doing history’ in many history departments.

The article proposes that, despite its radical intentions, constructivist theorizing has played a role in the institutionalization and consequent watering down of oppositional approaches. On the most basic level, this claim may be seen simply to reiterate arguments against a postmodernist universalization of difference: if ‘anything goes’, nothing can be used to question the status quo. The article goes beyond such a discussion of epistemological scepticism, however, investigating particular ways in which the constructivist demand for new forms of history writing has redefined the task of historians so that even opposition is considered more a representational than a political strategy.

Historia, historiatietoisuus ja menneisyyden käyttö

Kasvatus & Aika, 2011

[History, historical consciousness and the use of the past.]

Critical historiography in the entertainment age

Historein, 2010

FREE ACCESS: http://www.historeinonline.org/index.php/historein/article/view/10 -- During th... more FREE ACCESS:
http://www.historeinonline.org/index.php/historein/article/view/10

--
During the last decade or so, there has been mounting dissatisfaction with the extremes of the linguistic turn. The kind of textualism derived from literary theory readings that subscribe to “the endless play of signifiers” with no contact point beyond language seems ill-suited to historical studies. Even more moderate appeals to textualism seem to introduce as many problems as they solve. Following the acceptance of the linguistic turn in historical theory, history has increasingly come to be viewed as a second-order literary pursuit. Hence, perhaps, the practical or “historical turn”, or even an “empirical turn”, by those more historically minded. In this situation, one of the main challenges in historical theory is to retain the achievements of the linguistic turn concerning ideology and power while defining what history’s particular role and legitimate applications might be.

The Work of History: Constructivism and a politics of the past

Since the appearance of Hayden White’s seminal work Metahistory in 1973, constructivist thought h... more Since the appearance of Hayden White’s seminal work Metahistory in 1973, constructivist thought has been a key force within theory of history and has at times even provided inspiration for historians more generally. Despite the radical theoretical shift marked by constructivism and elaborated in detail by its proponents, confusion regarding many of its practical and ethical consequences persists, however, and its position on truth and meaning is routinely misconstrued. To remedy this situation, The Work of History seeks to mediate between constructivist theory and history practitioners’ intuitions about the nature of their work, especially as these relate to the so-called fact–fiction debate and to the literary challenges involved in the production of historical accounts. In doing so, the book also offers much-needed insight into debates about our experiential relations with the past, the political use of history and the role of facts in the contestation of power.

Resisting History: On the ethics of narrative representation

ABSTRACT Diss. -- Turun yliopisto.

Messing with Mr In-Between: or, how being second-rate can rescue history

Rethinking History, 2017

FREE ACCESS: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HnvNYeVxmmdBYepmFfnP/full – My aim in this ar... more FREE ACCESS:
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HnvNYeVxmmdBYepmFfnP/full
–
My aim in this article is to put an end to the continued either-or debate regarding the literary nature of history, whereby attention so easily returns to the fact–fiction issue. To prevent a relapse into this unfruitful argument, I offer a reading that is sensitive to the non-literary aspects of history writing and views them productively, rather than as a problem to be brushed aside in theoretical debate. In an attempt to 'accentuate the positive,' I thus foreground strengths that are specific to history, that follow from historians' core commitments. Beyond this questioning of more extreme, purportedly narrativist claims, I take issue with the realist, 'negative' tendencies that similarly stem from a refusal to accept history's contradictory desires. These are particularly evident in the current, popular embrace of presence and experience in talk about the past. I argue that greater sensitivity is needed in rethinking history practices in this direction too, since an uncritical focus on reality encourages reactionary views and representations. Understanding the ways in which these newer debates effectively serve to limit opportunities for societal critique is essential if we wish to see why and how history can remain a useful pursuit.

The distinction of history: on valuing the insularity of the historical past

Rethinking History, 2016

FREE ACCESS: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/vw7fYc7RBbzwTPhfp4jV/full – The article approach... more FREE ACCESS:
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/vw7fYc7RBbzwTPhfp4jV/full
–
The article approaches history as a genre with specific strengths and weaknesses that stem from its commitment to deal with the past truthfully. Although examination of this commitment has most often led to epistemological debates, that is not the intention here. Instead the goal is to fast-forward past any discussion of the possibilities for objectivity, sincerity, truthfulness, and so on, to engage with the question of what history can and cannot 'do,' and thus with the consequences of historians' generic and disciplinary commitments. While this discussion will inevitably relate to the impact historians' practices have on the potential forms of history writing, and hence ties in also with the broader debate about narrative representation, that, again, is not the main focus. Rather, and based on this charting of the scope and capacities of academic history as a genre, the core objective is to tackle the question of history's relevance beyond the limited arena of specifically 'historical' knowing – whatever the specifics of its epistemological standing or presentational form. The kinds of questions asked, then, are: How do current genre commitments position historians in relation to broader sensibilities about the past? What (if any) are the opportunities that they offer and the constraints that they place on contemporary history culture? To what extent might the genre circumscribe historians' social utility? A central means for approaching these questions is found in affirming the distinction between 'the historical past' and 'the practical past' as these have been reintroduced to the debate by Hayden White during the past decade.

Historians and “the current situation”

Rethinking History, 2016

This is the introduction to a special issue of Rethinking History entitled "History in the World"... more

Realist histories? When form clashes with function

Rethinking History, 2015

Historians often accuse linguistic-turn type theorizing à la Hayden White of doing away with the ... more Historians often accuse linguistic-turn type theorizing à la Hayden White of doing away with the justifications for continuing to write histories. The rather naive interpretation is that if there is nothing in the record of the past to justify valuations in the present – no entailment, as Keith Jenkins nicely formulates it, between fact and value, between the past and emplotments of it – then there is no difference between history and fiction. In this article I try to go beyond the polarized debate about whether history is fact or fiction not by rejecting textualist theory but by delving deeper into the theoretical assumptions made by parties on both sides of that debate. I consider two crucial but still largely neglected issues: the question of the artifice involved in constructing realistic representations and the limiting effects of the genre commitments that historians abide by in order to remain historians. Taken together, these considerations highlight a strong contradiction between the form and the function of history as presently conceived; a contradiction that manifests itself as what I present as the ‘materiality’ of the historical referent – the resistance that historians’ generic and institutional commitments create on the level of the text. I also briefly discuss some ways in which historians might make use of this materiality or resistance instead of domesticating it with purportedly realist forms.

The view from the fence

Rethinking History, 2015

This is a review article discussing both Peter Icke’s “Frank Ankersmit’s Lost Historical Cause: A... more

There’s just no talking with the past

Rethinking History, 2014

This brief piece, based on a paper delivered at the 2012 UK Social Science History Conference, qu... more This brief piece, based on a paper delivered at the 2012 UK Social Science History Conference, questions the merits of the common metaphor of communicating as a theorization of ‘doing history’. It claims that, following the rejection of the idea of objectivity in its most radical forms, the idea of conversing or communicating with the past has become increasingly important to explanations of what goes on in historical research, interpretation, and writing. The idea is not without problems of its own, however. Where it positions the past as if indeed somehow an active agent, able to converse with the historian in meaningful ways, the particularity of the past as past seems to deny that possibility. In order to understand the persistence of the communicative metaphor (even in the face of the obvious contradictions involved), the piece relates it to mistaken assumptions in historical thinking that continue to sustain it – namely that of conflating the past with history and that of confusing negotiations of personal memory with ‘experience’ of a historical past. In attempting to deal with these conflicting intuitions, it draws, among others, on a distinction between the creative imagination and any real access to the ‘otherness’ of the past. Ultimately – it will be shown – at stake in this debate is the capacity of the past to intervene on our understandings in any (disruptive) way.

Narrative truth

Metatheoria, 2013

In this article I explore Hayden White’s constructivist approach to historical representation thr... more In this article I explore Hayden White’s constructivist approach to historical representation through the lens of “narrative truth”. My aim is to show that – in addition to helping historians make peace with constructivist premises – openness to a notion of narrative truth could support a useful rethinking of the commitments of disciplinary history. In elaborating the notion, I discuss common misunderstandings concerning the relation of representation to reality, the nature of history as a discursive practice and the more specific epistemological claims made by narrative constructivists. Particular attention is on intuitions that the past is storied in itself, assumptions that historical representation is somehow a “natural” or essential aspect of cognition (hence I also rehearse some arguments regarding “narrative form as a cognitive instrument”) as well as on beliefs regarding the role played by facts in historical representation. Also, and in light of my discussion of these other biases, I tackle the currently popular focus on the relation of experience and history.

The eternal return of reality: on constructivism and current historical desires

Storia della Storiografia, 2014

Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, in... more Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, indeed, even eruptive and sentimental, grounds. In this essay, I question the desire for reality that appears to motivate discussions concerning experience and memory among historians and theorists of history today, approaching things in terms of a fundamental phenomenological yearning and attached intuitions. While popular in current debates, these supposedly more direct ways of relating to the past are incompatible with – and in fact completely unrealistic in light of – the problematic of meaning introduced by constructivism and the linguistic turn. Yet they are at times even claimed to expressly link with Hayden White’s position. My concern here is to question both the legitimacy of these ideas generally and of concurrent (mis)representations of White and constructivism specifically. In doing so, I defend a distinction between experience simpliciter (which is not to claim that it could ever be simple) and a heightened experientiality, potentially created by literary works for example.

On historical consciousness and popular pasts

História da Historiografia, 2014

The article investigates the nature of historical consciousness - conceptualizations and construc... more The article investigates the nature of historical consciousness - conceptualizations and constructions of the past outside academic history - and the way in which this has changed in parallel with developments in historical theory in recent decades. With the increased constructivist questioning of historical narratives as somehow objectively true, academic history is seen to have lost some of its authority regarding the past. It is argued that, in becoming more aware of its nature as interpretation as well as more sensitive to its motives and consequences, history now has the potential to become more pragmatic and presentist. At the same time, some theoretical discussions have turned to the less strictly historical questions of memory and presence, thus evading the call to responsibility. In examining historical consciousness in relation to these debates, the article suggests that, in line with the liberation of the past from the constraints of academic history, historical consciousness no longer needs to be as focused on the interpretations and knowledge provided by the institution of history but can increasingly be determined by popular understandings and the needs of consumers.

Rereading narrative constructivism

Rethinking History, 2013

Since the 1960s, and especially after the appearance of Metahistory in 1973, the relationship bet... more Since the 1960s, and especially after the appearance of Metahistory in 1973, the relationship between narrative and reality has been one of the most important questions in historical theory. Despite this, historians have generally taken the kind of narrative constructivism associated with Hayden White to hold no significance for them. Their justifications often miss the core point, however: What is in question is not how history could derive meaning from the facts of the past (which is an unsolvable problematic), but the responsibility historians have for the consequences of their work because of its unavoidably subjective or constructivist nature. Since Whitean constructivism emphasizes the independence of the meanings of historical stories from past reality, it necessarily also foregrounds the legitimation of interpretations. Hence the question becomes: Why ‘do’ history at all? By examining what narrative constructivism has had to say about the assumptions and rules that define history as a genre – as well as through an evaluation of what might so far have been missed but still needs to be considered – my goal here is to refocus the discussion so that this much more radical and far-reaching dimension might be better understood.

Mulholland Drive and the surrender of representation

Storia della Storiografia, 2013

Literary knowledge in historical study: the case of Josef Škvorecký’s The Engineer of Human Souls

Ideas in History, 2013

Escaping the confines of history: Keith Jenkins

Rethinking History, 2013

This article presents a selective evaluation of Keith Jenkins' contribution to theory of history,... more This article presents a selective evaluation of Keith Jenkins' contribution to theory of history, focusing particularly on issues that many historians seem to have had difficulties either understanding or accepting. A core part of the discussion involves the ideological and ethical reasons for as well as consequences of his recognition of epistemological scepticism. The intuitions that underlie Jenkins' turn from advocating ‘postmodern-type’ alternative histories to the denial of history altogether are also examined. After charting the alternatives, and in the face of the reality that history continues to be written in rather traditional ways, the article makes a choice to support Jenkins' earlier position, in which there remained options for ‘postmodern-type’ historying. While this position is perhaps less logical than his advocacy of an end to history altogether, it is more defensible pragmatically. Arguments for ‘ending’ with history are too easily received by ‘hard-core’ historians as a free pass out of assuming responsibility for the consequences of what they do and lead to reactionary attitudes rather than any improvement regarding the ethical problems history(ing) involves; thus emphasis here continues to be on awareness and the educating of historians in philosophy rather than on closing down discussion.

What if the past were accessible after all?

Rethinking History, 2012

In this essay, I present a thought experiment involving what I've called the Historian Mark II, r... more In this essay, I present a thought experiment involving what I've called the Historian Mark II, roughly a time machine, but with a number of important restrictions. The most important of these restrictions is that the experiment must be defined in such a way as to uphold the ontological distinction between past and present. This permits a re-examination of the consequences of the past being past and in so doing also hopefully assists in clarifying various mystifications in recent discussions relating to the accessibility of the past. Although underscoring the past's pastness necessarily leads to some tautological arguments, it seems necessary to take this route as these issues have been repeatedly overlooked. The central contribution of the experiment is to redirect attention to the concepts of lived experience and experientiality as well as to the quite different functions and deployment of agency in these.

Cultural history and the entertainment age

Cultural History, 2012

In this article, I argue that cultural history has become complacent about discussing its purpose... more In this article, I argue that cultural history has become complacent about discussing its purpose: history as an institution has made room for it in the establishment and in return cultural historians have given up their critical and oppositional interest. Their once new and revolutionary choices of subject matter as well as ways of investigating the past have become standard fare in historical research and writing – the political focus driving them lost in the process. Despite obvious benefits, such co-option has its drawbacks: new critical histories now almost automatically fit within this broadened spectrum of sanctioned approaches, and the implied ‘anything goes’ attitude strips them of their impact. In this way, cultural (among other once alternative) histories now provide so-called serious history with a more popular and entertaining extension, removed from social relevance. As a result, ‘real’ relevance continues to be understood in terms of ‘truth’ rather than consequences. – It is this tendency of cultural history to concentrate on entertainment value rather than any broader socio-political significance that is of particular concern here. As is, of course, the viability of any critical historiography in this condition.

The end of oppositional history?

Rethinking History, 2011

Narrative constructivism – the narrative theory of history following Hayden White – has focused i... more Narrative constructivism – the narrative theory of history following Hayden White – has focused intensely on the search for alternative forms for history writing. At the same time, since the late 1960s, many oppositional efforts within historical research proper have been coopted into mainstream history writing and their political edge has been blunted. Microhistory and feminism, for example, have become fairly standard ways of ‘doing history’ in many history departments.

The article proposes that, despite its radical intentions, constructivist theorizing has played a role in the institutionalization and consequent watering down of oppositional approaches. On the most basic level, this claim may be seen simply to reiterate arguments against a postmodernist universalization of difference: if ‘anything goes’, nothing can be used to question the status quo. The article goes beyond such a discussion of epistemological scepticism, however, investigating particular ways in which the constructivist demand for new forms of history writing has redefined the task of historians so that even opposition is considered more a representational than a political strategy.

Historia, historiatietoisuus ja menneisyyden käyttö

Kasvatus & Aika, 2011

[History, historical consciousness and the use of the past.]

Critical historiography in the entertainment age

Historein, 2010

FREE ACCESS: http://www.historeinonline.org/index.php/historein/article/view/10 -- During th... more FREE ACCESS:
http://www.historeinonline.org/index.php/historein/article/view/10

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During the last decade or so, there has been mounting dissatisfaction with the extremes of the linguistic turn. The kind of textualism derived from literary theory readings that subscribe to “the endless play of signifiers” with no contact point beyond language seems ill-suited to historical studies. Even more moderate appeals to textualism seem to introduce as many problems as they solve. Following the acceptance of the linguistic turn in historical theory, history has increasingly come to be viewed as a second-order literary pursuit. Hence, perhaps, the practical or “historical turn”, or even an “empirical turn”, by those more historically minded. In this situation, one of the main challenges in historical theory is to retain the achievements of the linguistic turn concerning ideology and power while defining what history’s particular role and legitimate applications might be.

On history as communication and constraint

Ideas in History, 2009

The causal theory of perception revisited (with Valtteri Arstila)

It is generally agreed upon that Grice’s causal theory of perception describes a necessary condit... more It is generally agreed upon that Grice’s causal theory of perception describes a necessary condition for perception. It does not describe sufficient conditions, however, since there are entities in causal chains that we do not perceive and not all causal chains yield perceptions. One strategy for overcoming these problems is that of strengthening the notion of causality (as done by David Lewis). Another is that of specifying the criteria according to which perceptual experiences should match the way the world is (Frank Jackson and Michael Tye). Finally, one can also try to provide sufficient conditions by elaborating on the content of perceptual experiences (Alva Nöe). These different strategies are considered in this paper, with the conclusion that none of them is successful. However, a careful examination of their problems points towards the general solution that we outline at the end.

Jean-Paul Sartre and the post-1968 ethic of anti-representationalism

Dissent! Refracted: Histories, Aesthetics and Cultures of Dissent, 2016

In this article, I examine Jean-Paul Sartre's later thought in relation to the advent of post-str... more In this article, I examine Jean-Paul Sartre's later thought in relation to the advent of post-structuralism, and, in particular, the avowed refusal of representational practices by its proponents. I argue that this refusal, most persuasively presented as the principle or ethic of anti-representationalism by Todd May, is, in fact, reflected in Sartre's move from committed writing and active social engagement to manifestly apolitical concerns. Reading Sartre's later work in light of this principle permits seeing these apparently purely intellectual concerns as part of an effort to come to terms with the ethical problematics of representation.

実在の果てしない回帰―構築論と最近の歴史の欲求について

歴史を射つ : 言語論的転回・文化史・パブリックヒストリー・ナショナルヒストリー

Pihlainen, Kalle. 2015. Jitsuzai no hateshinai kaiki – Kouchiku-ron to saikin no rekishi no yokky... more Pihlainen, Kalle. 2015. Jitsuzai no hateshinai kaiki – Kouchiku-ron to saikin no rekishi no yokkyu ni tsuite (trans. Michihiro Okamoto). Rekishi wo utsu: Gengo-ron teki tenkai – Bunka-shi – Paburikku hisutori – Nashonaru hisutori (eds Michihiro Okamoto, Toru Kashima, Takahiko Hasegawa, Ken'ichiro Watanabe), Tokyo: Ochanomizu Shobo, 186–209.

Auttaisiko aikakone menneisyyden merkityksen etsinnässä?

Historian aikakoneessa. Onnittelukirja Hannu Salmelle, 2011

[Would a time machine be useful in our search for the meaning of the past?]

Historiankirjoitus ja kerronta fakta–fiktio -keskustelun jälkeen

Dialogus. Historian taito, 2002

[Historical writing and narration after the fact–fiction debate]

Historical representation unchained: history, fiction and Quentin Tarantino

The Fiction of History, 2014

The work of Hayden White II: defamiliarizing narrative

The SAGE Handbook of Historical Theory, 2013

The confines of the form: historical writing and the desire that it be what it is not

Tropes for the Past. Hayden White and the History/Literature Debate, 2006

Ympäri mennään... sanataide ja historiankirjoituksen rajat

Laji, tekijä, instituutio. Kirjallisuudentutkijain Seuran Vuosikirja 56, 2003

[Round and round we go... Literature and the limits of historical writing. Yearbook of the Litera... more

Kaunokirjallisen tiedon käyttö historiantutkimuksessa: esimerkkinä Josef Skvoreckyn Ihmismielten insinööri

Hetkiä historiassa, 2002

[Literary knowledge in historical research: The case of Josef Skvorecky's The Engineer of Human S... more

Kaunokirjallisuus ja totuudellisuuskysymysten ylittäminen historiantutkimuksessa

Kulttuurihistoria. Johdatus tutkimukseen, SKS Tietolipas 175, 2001

[Literature and the overcoming of truth-questions in historical research.]

Crossing the public-private divide: Jean-Paul Sartre and Richard Rorty on the function of literature

The New Europe at the Crossroads. Europe's Classical Heritage in the Twenty-First Century, 2001

The liberalist "esprit analytique" as a hindrance to social justice

Liberalism and Social Justice. International Perspectives, 2000

Futures for the past

Kalle Pihlainen Editorial: Futures for the past (‘This is a stub’) pp. 315-318 FREE E-PRINT ACCES... more Kalle Pihlainen
Editorial: Futures for the past (‘This is a stub’)
pp. 315-318
FREE E-PRINT ACCESS TO EDITORIAL HERE: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PyzssC93QB7GtHArZRMi/full

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Hans Kellner
Narrativity and dialectics revisited
pp. 319-333

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Martin L. Davies
Cognitive inadequacy: history and the technocratic management of an artificial world
pp. 334-351

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Berber Bevernage
Tales of pastness and contemporaneity: on the politics of time in history and anthropology
pp. 352-374

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Jonas Ahlskog
Michael Oakeshott and Hayden White on the practical and the historical past
pp. 375-394

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María Inés La Greca
Hayden White and Joan W. Scott’s feminist history: the practical past, the political present and an open future
pp. 395-413

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Kalle Pihlainen
The distinction of history: on valuing the insularity of the historical past
pp. 414-432

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Ilkka Lähteenmäki and Tatu Virta
The Finnish Twitter war: the Winter War experienced through the #sota39 project and its implications for historiography
pp. 433-453

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Ketil Knutsen
A history didactic experiment: the TV series Anno in a dramatist perspective
pp. 454-468

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History in the world

Kalle Pihlainen Introduction: Historians and "the current situation" pp. 143-153 * Marek Tamm... more Kalle Pihlainen
Introduction: Historians and "the current situation"
pp. 143-153

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Marek Tamm
The republic of historians: historians as nation-builders in Estonia (late 1980s–early 1990s)
pp. 154-171

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Kenan Van De Mieroop
The ‘age of commemoration’ as a narrative construct: a critique of the discourse on the contemporary crisis of memory in France
pp. 172-191

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Claire Norton & Mark Donnelly
Thinking the past politically: Palestine, power and pedagogy
pp. 192-216

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Anton Froeyman
The ideal of objectivity and the public role of the historian: some lessons from the Historikerstreit and the History Wars
pp. 217-234

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Rik Peters
Calliope’s ascent: defragmenting philosophy of history by rhetoric
pp. 235-258

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Zoltán Boldizsár Simon
We are history: the outlines of a quasi-substantive philosophy of history
pp. 259-279

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Katherine Hepworth
History, power and visual communication artefacts
pp. 280-302

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Metahistory forty years after

Claudio Fogu & Kalle Pihlainen Metahistory's Fortieth Anniversary pp. 11-14 * Arthur Lima de Av... more Claudio Fogu & Kalle Pihlainen
Metahistory's Fortieth Anniversary
pp. 11-14

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Arthur Lima de Avila
A Plane, a Bomb, a Museum: the Enola Gay Controversy at the National Museum of Air and Space of the United States (1993-1995)
pp. 15-28

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Chris Lorenz
It Takes Three to Tango. History between the 'Practical' and the 'Historical' Past
pp. 29-46

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Claudio Fogu
Figuring White in Metamodernity
pp. 47-60

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Ewa Domanska
Retroactive Ancestral Constitution, New Animism and Alter-Native Modernities
pp. 61-76

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Hans Kellner
Reading Hayden White Reading
pp. 77-88

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Julio Bentivoglio
Caio Prado Júnior, the 1930s Generation and the Brazilian Historical Imagination: Exercising Metahistory
pp. 89-102

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Kalle Pihlainen
The Eternal Return of Reality: On Constructivism and Current Historical Desires
pp. 103-116

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María Inés La Greca
Narrative Trouble, or Hayden White's Desire for a Progressive Historiography Refigured by Judith Butler's Performativity Theory
pp. 117-130

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Nicolás Lavagnino
Specters of Frye: Muthos, Ideology and Anatomy of (Historiographical) Criticism
pp. 131-144

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Omar Murad
Modernist Figuration in the Representation of Argentina's Recent Past
pp. 145-152

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Robert Doran
Metahistory and the Ethics of Historiography
pp. 153-162

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Ruth V. Gross
Everyday Figuralism and Narrative Confusion, Kafka Style
pp. 163-170

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Verónica Tozzi
Hayden White and Conversational Pluralism
pp. 171-182

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Wulf Kansteiner
At the Limits of Historical Realism: Narration, Argumentation, and Ethics in Synthetic Holocaust Historiography
pp. 183-202

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Rereading Constructivism

Narrative Truth *

In this article I explore Hayden White's constructivist approach to historical representation... more In this article I explore Hayden White's constructivist approach to historical representation through the lens of "narrative truth". My aim is to show that-in addition to helping historians make peace with constructivist premises-openness to a notion of narrative truth could support a useful rethinking of the commitments of disciplinary history. In elaborating the notion, I discuss common misunderstandings concerning the relation of representation to reality, the nature of history as a discursive practice and the more specific epistemologi-cal claims made by narrative constructivists. Particular attention is on intuitions that the past is storied in itself, assumptions that historical representation is somehow a "natural" or essential aspect of cognition (hence I also rehearse some arguments regarding "narrative form as a cognitive instrument") as well as on beliefs regarding the role played by facts in historical representation. Also, and in light ...

Rereading Constructivism

The Eternal Return of Reality : on Constructivism and Current Historical Desires

Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, in... more Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, indeed, even eruptive and sentimental, grounds. In this essay, I question the desire for reality that appears to motivate discussions concerning experience and memory among historians and theorists of history today, approaching things in terms of a fundamental phenomenological yearning and attached intuitions. While popular in current debates, these supposedly more direct ways of relating to the past are incompatible with – and in fact completely unrealistic in light of – the problematic of meaning introduced by constructivism and the linguistic turn. Yet they are at times even claimed to expressly link with Hayden White’s position. My concern here is to question both the legitimacy of these ideas generally and of concurrent (mis)representations of White and constructivism specifically. In doing so, I defend a distinction between experience simpliciter (which is not to claim that it could ...

Narrative Truth *

In this article I explore Hayden White's constructivist approach to historical representation... more In this article I explore Hayden White's constructivist approach to historical representation through the lens of "narrative truth". My aim is to show that-in addition to helping historians make peace with constructivist premises-openness to a notion of narrative truth could support a useful rethinking of the commitments of disciplinary history. In elaborating the notion, I discuss common misunderstandings concerning the relation of representation to reality, the nature of history as a discursive practice and the more specific epistemologi-cal claims made by narrative constructivists. Particular attention is on intuitions that the past is storied in itself, assumptions that historical representation is somehow a "natural" or essential aspect of cognition (hence I also rehearse some arguments regarding "narrative form as a cognitive instrument") as well as on beliefs regarding the role played by facts in historical representation. Also, and in light ...

Verdad narrativa

Metatheoria – Revista de Filosofía e Historia de la Ciencia, 2013

En este artículo, exploro la aproximación constructivista de Hayden White para la representación ... more En este artículo, exploro la aproximación constructivista de Hayden White para la representación histórica, a través de los lentes de la “verdad narrativa”. Mi objetivo es mostrar que –además de ayudar a que los historiadores hagan las paces con las premisas constructivistas– la apertura a una noción de verdad narrativa podría sustentar nuevas y útiles reflexiones sobre los compromisos de la historia disciplinar. Al elaborar la noción, discutiré comunes malentendidos concernientes a la relación entre representación y realidad, la naturaleza de la historia como una práctica discursiva y las afirmaciones más específicamente epistemológicas hechas por los constructivistas narrativos. La atención particular se posará sobre las intuiciones acerca de que el pasado es relatado en sí mismo, suposiciones de que la representación histórica es de algún modo un aspecto “natural” o esencial del conocimiento (de modo que también ensayaré algunos argumentos respecto a la “forma narrativa como inst...

Verdad narrativa

Metatheoria – Revista de Filosofía e Historia de la Ciencia, 2013

En este artículo, exploro la aproximación constructivista de Hayden White para la representación ... more En este artículo, exploro la aproximación constructivista de Hayden White para la representación histórica, a través de los lentes de la “verdad narrativa”. Mi objetivo es mostrar que –además de ayudar a que los historiadores hagan las paces con las premisas constructivistas– la apertura a una noción de verdad narrativa podría sustentar nuevas y útiles reflexiones sobre los compromisos de la historia disciplinar. Al elaborar la noción, discutiré comunes malentendidos concernientes a la relación entre representación y realidad, la naturaleza de la historia como una práctica discursiva y las afirmaciones más específicamente epistemológicas hechas por los constructivistas narrativos. La atención particular se posará sobre las intuiciones acerca de que el pasado es relatado en sí mismo, suposiciones de que la representación histórica es de algún modo un aspecto “natural” o esencial del conocimiento (de modo que también ensayaré algunos argumentos respecto a la “forma narrativa como inst...

The Liberalist 'Esprit analytique' as a Hindrance to Social Justice

History in the World

The Liberalist 'Esprit analytique' as a Hindrance to Social Justice

The Eternal Return of Reality : on Constructivism and Current Historical Desires

Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, in... more Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, indeed, even eruptive and sentimental, grounds. In this essay, I question the desire for reality that appears to motivate discussions concerning experience and memory among historians and theorists of history today, approaching things in terms of a fundamental phenomenological yearning and attached intuitions. While popular in current debates, these supposedly more direct ways of relating to the past are incompatible with – and in fact completely unrealistic in light of – the problematic of meaning introduced by constructivism and the linguistic turn. Yet they are at times even claimed to expressly link with Hayden White’s position. My concern here is to question both the legitimacy of these ideas generally and of concurrent (mis)representations of White and constructivism specifically. In doing so, I defend a distinction between experience simpliciter (which is not to claim that it could ...

The Eternal Return of Reality : on Constructivism and Current Historical Desires

Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, in... more Appeals to reality in relation to the study of the past are often made on seemingly intuitive, indeed, even eruptive and sentimental, grounds. In this essay, I question the desire for reality that appears to motivate discussions concerning experience and memory among historians and theorists of history today, approaching things in terms of a fundamental phenomenological yearning and attached intuitions. While popular in current debates, these supposedly more direct ways of relating to the past are incompatible with – and in fact completely unrealistic in light of – the problematic of meaning introduced by constructivism and the linguistic turn. Yet they are at times even claimed to expressly link with Hayden White’s position. My concern here is to question both the legitimacy of these ideas generally and of concurrent (mis)representations of White and constructivism specifically. In doing so, I defend a distinction between experience simpliciter (which is not to claim that it could ...

History in the World

Akseli Gallen-Kallelan Kalman kukka

Sananjalka, 1996

Akseli Gallen-Kallelan Kalman kukka

Sananjalka, 1996

The distinction of history: on valuing the insularity of the historical past

Rethinking History, 2016

Abstract The article approaches history as a genre with specific strengths and weaknesses that st... more Abstract The article approaches history as a genre with specific strengths and weaknesses that stem from its commitment to deal with the past truthfully. Although examination of this commitment has most often led to epistemological debates, that is not the intention here. Instead the goal is to fast-forward past any discussion of the possibilities for objectivity, sincerity, truthfulness, and so on, to engage with the question of what history can and cannot ‘do’, and thus with the consequences of historians’ generic and disciplinary commitments. While this discussion will inevitably relate to the impact historians’ practices have on the potential forms of history writing, and hence ties in also with the broader debate about narrative representation, that, again, is not the main focus. Rather, and based on this charting of the scope and capacities of academic history as a genre, the core objective is to tackle the question of history’s relevance beyond the limited arena of specifically ‘historical’ knowing – whatever the specifics of its epistemological standing or presentational form. The kinds of questions asked, then, are: How do current genre commitments position historians in relation to broader sensibilities about the past? What (if any) are the opportunities that they offer and the constraints that they place on contemporary history culture? To what extent might the genre circumscribe historians’ social utility? A central means for approaching these questions is found in affirming the distinction between ‘the historical past’ and ‘the practical past’ as these have been reintroduced to the debate by Hayden White during the past decade.

Messing with Mr in-between: or, how being second-rate can rescue history

Rethinking History, 2017

Jean-Paul Sartre and the Post-1968 Ethic of Anti-Representationalism (Kalle Pihlainen)

Dissent! Refracted

In this article, I examine Jean-Paul Sartre&#39;s later thought in relation to the advent of ... more In this article, I examine Jean-Paul Sartre&#39;s later thought in relation to the advent of post-structuralism, and, in particular, the avowed refusal of representational practices by its proponents. I argue that this refusal, most persuasively presented as the principle or ethic of anti-representationalism by Todd May, is, in fact, reflected in Sartre&#39;s move from committed writing and active social engagement to manifestly apolitical concerns. Reading Sartre&#39;s later work in light of this principle permits seeing these apparently purely intellectual concerns as part of an effort to come to terms with the ethical problematics of representation.

Understanding and Commitment: Narrative Representation in Jean-Paul Sartre's L'Idiot De la Famille

Clio, Sep 22, 2004

Futures for the Past

Futures for the Past, 2018