History and Tropology: The Rise and Fall of Metaphor - Hardcover

"The chief business of 20th-century philosophy is to reckon with 20th-century history," claimed Collingwood. In this collection of essays, many published for the first time, Frank Ankersmit demonstrates the prescience of that remark and goes a long way toward meeting its challenge. Responding to the work of Hayden White, Arthur Danto, and Hans-Georg Gadamer, he examines such issues as the difference between historical representation and artistic expression, the status of metaphor in historical description, and the relation of postmodernism to historicism. Ankersmit's grasp of European thought and his ability to incorporate concepts from literary theory, art history, the philosophy of science, and political thought into his analyses assure that this collection should interest readers throughout the humanities.

F. R. Ankersmit is Professor of Historical Theory and Intellectual History at the University of Groningen and the author of numerous books on the philosophy of history.