Waving the historian’s magic wand: Temporal comparisons and analogies in the writing of history

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to raise some questions about temporal comparisons and analogies in the writing of history. The article has four parts. The first one shows that historical discipline, conceptual history and language itself can scarcely be conceived of in the absence of comparisons, implicit or explicit, between events, processes and individuals. The second section provides a few samples of the sources of inspiration of some recurrent temporal parallelisms in the Western tradition. The third identifies two key moments in the history of modern Europe when temporal analogies assumed particular importance. These two periods – two turns of the century (16th century and 18th century) – correspond to transitional phases between successive stages in the development of Western historical consciousness. The article ends with a brief reflection on the usefulness and limits of temporal analogies in the writing of history.