Auxiliary Historical Disciplines: Results and Perspectives of Studies

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to update such issues as genesis of this scientific area in European science of the 18th century, the conceptual apparatus of auxiliary historical disciplines, an attempt to emphasize the need for simultaneous development of this area of research with European traditions in terms of methodology, conceptual nomenclature, interdisciplinary, condition of the auxiliary historical disciplines in the system of teaching at historical faculties and trajectory of their study in Ukrainian historiography.

The research methodology is based on the comparative approach in understanding the role and place of auxiliary historical disciplines using the research results of such humanities and areas as cultural anthropology, history of ideas, sociology and emphasis on the interdisciplinary approach in the solution of the research problems.

The scientific novelty lies in the synthetic review of the development of auxiliary historical disciplines in Ukraine with the analysis of their current state of research with a projection on the European experience in the study of this area.

The conclusions that emerge from the presented material show the systematic steps and tasks that should be carried out to bring the auxiliary historical disciplines to a qualitatively new level. First of all, we mean systematic changes in the training of specialists at historical faculties in institutes and universities. The priority should be the study of classical and European languages, paleography, diplomacy that will allow understanding the written document, having the ability to decipher the cultural codes of different historical periods. The next step should be a bolder openness to various methodological proposals in understanding of what historical science is, what effect scientific research should have, a way out of the vicious circle of positivism. It is extremely important to follow the current foreign scientific literature, contact with foreign colleagues not only to understand the trends on modern science but also to take an active part in it. This is how it will be possible to systematically change Ukrainian historical science and its foundation which are auxiliary historical disciplines.