The Idea of Progress in the Research of Russian Historians from the Late XIX – Early XX Century

Abstract

This article explores the perspectives of Russian historical thinkers from the late XIX – early XX century on the idea of progress and its heuristic potential. It acknowledges that the attitude towards the concept of progress and its role in historical understanding was contradictory: while some professional historians applied it in their explanations of world and national history, a significant part criticized it to varying degrees, ranging from mod-erate to radical rejection. This dual stance was often associated with broader positivist and anti-positivist theo-retical and methodological positions. In the case of a positive assessment, the application of ideas and theories of progress by scientists as tools for highlighting historical facts, grouping them, describing and explaining them in specific studies is considered. Conversely, historians who rejected the concept of progress are de-scribed as employing various forms of criticism – factual, logical, philosophical, and ethical.