Worldview Reasons for the Evolution of the Image of the Past (from Antiquity to the 19th Century)

The purpose of this article is to consider the reasons for the evolution of historical writing from the standpoint of an idealistic approach. The image of the past is created as a part of the picture of the world, within the framework of this approach, therefore the way of its creation directly depends on the main ideological ideas. With a change in worldview, the way of creating the past and its image change. A new worldview always requires the creation of a new past, as an important component of the picture of the world. The evolution of the main ideas leads to a change in particular historical theories that determine the historian's view of the past. Only secondary ideas and methods are taken from the previous history for forming a picture of the world within the framework of a new worldview. The main ideas of the previous worldview and the images of the past built on them, as well as the methods of creating these images, are rejected by each new historicism that replaces the previous one. The modern way of creating the past is the result of a gradual transition from a religious worldview to a rationalistic one with its anthropocentrism and humanism. It took several centuries for its formation. Competing images of the past, created within the framework of a religious and rationalistic worldview during the Enlightenment, led to the gradual displacement of the image of the past, formed from a religious standpoint, to the periphery of social thought. For the minds of the enlightened elite, various philosophical concepts fought, creating their own pictures of the past. They proceeded from different theoretical and methodological premises, therefore they created different images of the past.

worldview and history, idealistic approach to history, image of the past, evolution of historiography, creation of the past