Image and Representation in Historical Knowledge

Proceeding onwards from a survey of the current state of the debate on the function of representation in the philosophy of history, this contribution investigates the epistemological question of representation in historical knowledge from an indirect point of view. The question will be reset from the point of view of representation as a mechanism/dynamism of mind and memory, as a linguistic instrument, and as an instrument of knowing. The intent is to explore how the imaginative-representative function of the philosophy of history can contribute to “solving” the duplicity of historical reality as something that has “passed”, is no-longer-existing, but exists in the past as something “yet-existing”. In this way, it may be possible to grasp the crux, a point of origin of the epistemological problem of explanation, understanding, and representation in historical knowledge.