WESTERN HISTORICAL THINKING An Intercultural Debate Edited by Jorn Riisen L Berghahn Books New York © OxfordPublished in 2002 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com Copyright © 2002 Jérn Riisen All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any infor- mation storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Western historical thinking : an intercultural debate / edited by Jérn Riisen. p-cm, ~~ (Making sense of history) Chiefly writen by members of the Forschungsgruppe Historische Sinnbildung, Universitit Bielefeld. Based in part on Westliches Geschichtsdenken (1999). Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-57181-781-6 (alk. paper) — ISBN 1-57181-454-X (pbk, :alk. papes) 1. History--Philosophy. 2. Civilization, Western. 3. Civilization, Asian. 4. Africa—Civilization--Historiography. 5. History--Methodology. 6. Historiographu. 1. Riisen, Jorn, II. Universiti Bielefeld. Forschungsgruppe Historische Sinnbildung, UL. ‘Westliches Geschichtsdenken. IV. Series. 1D16.9 W454 2001 901—de2t 2001037830 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Printed in the United States on acid-free paper.Contents Jorn Riisen Preface to the Series Jorn Risen Introduction: Historical Thinking as Intercultural Discourse I: Theses Peter Burke Western Historical Thinking in a Global Perspective ~ 10 Theses I: Comments 1, General Commenis Klaus E. Miiller Perspectives in Historical Anthropology ‘Tarif Khalidi Searching for Common Principles: A Plea and Some Remarks on the Islamic Tradition Aziz Al-Azmeh The Coherence of the West 2. The Peculiarity of the West Francois Hartog Toward an Archacology of Historical Thinking Frank R. Ankersmit Trauma and Suffering: A Forgotten Source of Western Historical Consciousness vii 15 33 53 58 65 72