Contexts for studying a medieval city, or On the benefits of “fruitless” discussions in the history of historical science

In the article, the author continues reflections on the fundamental importance and heuristic potential of the consistent study of materials of scientific discussions for historical-historiographic research. In the context of modern discussions of the problems of the theory of history and temporal aspects of historical consciousness, it is worth paying attention to the concept of the “complex present” by Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, who emphasizes the essential changes that have occurred in the perception of time in the 21st century, as a result of the departure from paradigm of progress, with a constantly shrinking short present characteristic of this model. On the contrary, according to Gumbrecht’s concept, shared by the author of the article in its main provisions, the new present of the 21st century is a time of hidden coexistence of many pasts. From this position the article, using the example of a long discussion of Soviet historians about a medieval city, discusses the role of seemingly endless and fruitless discussions in stimulating new research questions and that work in search of answers to them, which entails the attraction of new source material, reconfiguration of the subject field, constant reinterpretation and peculiar interference of the concepts formed at each previous stage, without which the development of historical science would be impossible.

scholarly discussions, “complex present”, medieval city, continuity, contextualization, history of historical science