Program Area History of Theory

In the ancient tradition, “theory” described that which eludes sensory perception. Since the end of the 18th century, its modern rendering has made it the epitome of the epistemological effort to grasp those objects that can no longer be conceived through traditional systems of observation and analytical criteria, thus calling for new perspectives and approaches. The crisis of the rhetorical tradition since the Enlightenment brought forth not only the discipline of “philosophical aesthetics” founded by Baumgarten in 1750, but also new forms of aesthetic theory formation (as with the modern essay or the Romantic fragment). The ensuing remodeling of the natural sciences and humanities during the 19th century was first reflected in hermeneutics and later in the cultural theories of the early 20th century and the interwar period. In the second half of the 20th century, following the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, theory became a universally accepted, but barely reflected or historicized complex in the context of many different discourses. In its more recent conception, theory draws its impulses from a plethora of heterogeneous sources. Most recently, it seems to follow the dynamics of an accelerating shift in paradigms or turns. Lately, there have also been discussions about an “end of theory.”

Against this backdrop, our research aims not only to observe the development of theory, but to also trace its genesis. From this perspective, we analyze the discursive shifts and historical experiences that continue to determine the different forms and functions of theory both in competition with each other and in relation to academic subjects such as sociology or philosophy. We are interested in both the conditions of development as well as in the subsequent processes of distribution, modification, and transmission of theory. Thus, in the case of Critical Theory, its conception must be analyzed in the context of the crisis of the Weimar Republic and the German-Jewish traditions of many of its early authors, as well as its transfer into the American emigration and its often indirect paths to global reception. This includes its reimport into West Germany after 1945 as well as its successful export beyond Europe after 1989. A history of theory avoids the danger of reducing theory to a self-referential language game or of seeing it as an arsenal of methods available at will.

This historical perspective on theory must not, however, be limited to the routines of historicization. It must also be understood as a problem and a theoretical task in its own right: The historicization of theory is productive in the theorization of history. This is evident in the specific methodological challenges, such as the fact that the history of modern theory development must be written independently of the history of disciplines, or that a history of theory always runs the risk of falling short of its subject. Here, an especially promising approach is to engage with the forms of theory, its rhetoric and metaphors, styles of thought, strategies of argument, and genres, as well as with its practices and media of theoretical work. This brings theory even closer to cultural forms such as literature or the visual arts, which have been the preferred objects, and occasionally even the medium, of theory development since the 18th century.

Our research on the “history of theory” seeks to combine different approaches—including the history of discourse, knowledge, and concepts, intellectual history, philology, and archival studies—in an innovative and undogmatic way, thus testing their respective analytical potential. This research is thus in line with our longstanding interdisciplinary research on the Erste Kulturwissenschaft, the history of knowledge of philology, religion, and aesthetics, the history of concepts, and editorial studies.

Current Research Projects

Projects of this program area, completed or processed in the past

(selected, chronologically sorted by year of completion)