Vaikuteanalyysi ja sen vaihtoehdot aatehistoriallisessa tutkimuksessa. Kriittisiä huomautuksia.

Kirjoittajat

• Markku Hyrkkänen

Abstrakti

In intellectual history the habit of explaining by invoking influences is prevailing. It is implicitly assumed that influences or impacts serve to explain the development and the contents of an individual thought and hence, even the emergence of new ideas. However, analysing the conditions of the proper application of the concept of influence shows that it is practically impossible to prove intellectual influence. Moreover, supposing this would be possible, the problem still remains why, e.g., some individual thought consisted of these alleged influences, why just these influences were adopted or »selected» and also, what this would mean, i.e. how this »selection» should be properly understood. So the research oriented towards tracing influences is wholly questionbegging. It stops where fruitful questions arise. — Although it is probably not possible to offer any method or »rule» by which one could safely arrive at valid results, it is proper to consider ideas as answers to questions. The application of this insight is elucidated in the article by hints offered by R. G. Collingwood and Quentin Skinner.