Historicism and Its Problems : The Logical Problem of the Philosophy of History

This is a translation of Ernst Troeltsch's last (1923) major work. It is an exhaustive study of the methods of historiography and of German, French, English, and Italian philosophies of history during the nineteenth century. It is motivated by the purpose of developing the proper concept of historical development, for overcoming "bad" historicism (i.e., unlimited relativism) with "good" historicism (with relativity, not relativism), and determining how values drawn from history can be used to shape the future. It concludes with a sketch of the unwritten second volume on the material philosophy of history.

Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923) was a German Protestant theologian who wrote major, groundbreaking scholarly works in theology, social ethics, philosophy of religion, philosophy of history, and sociology of religion.

Garrett Paul is professor emeritus of religion at Gustavus Adolphus College and has translated works by Eberhard Jüngel, Paul Tillich, and Ernst Troeltsch.

David Reid taught at Japan Biblical Theological Seminary and Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, and was the dean of humanities at Seigakuin University. His books include New Wine: The Cultural Shaping of Japanese Christianity and the English translation of Ernst Troeltsch's The Absoluteness of Christianity and the History of Religions.