Prostor a dějiny: Historické proměny diskusí a otázky současného bádání

Space and History: Historical Transformations of Discussions and Questions of Contemporary Research The article deals with the historical development of theoretical and methodological approaches to the concept of ‘space’. The emphasis is put on the relationship between historiography and ‘spatial disciplines’ (geography, philosophy) producing spatial discourses. Both in public and professional meaning, topics concerning space are only rarely associated with historiography and historical analysis. Spatial dimensions of historical processes are usually overshadowed by chronological aspects of historical development. In historiography, time predominates in the relationship between two basic (meta)physical constants of human life (time, space). However, the spatial turn and its impact on historiography increased the attention paid to the role of space. The article offers a typology of possible interconnections between historiography and space. The first type is represented by geographical determinism – the historical development is influenced by nature predispositions and it’s perceived as a result of interaction between mankind and its geographical surroundings. The second type is concentrated to the human perception of space in the course of history – the space is not only physically given fact, but also symbolic entity and social construction. This approach has predominated since the onset of the cultural turn in social sciences. The third type is linked to the field of historical methodology. The geographical extension, spatial delimitation and borders of historical phenomena represent the basic questions – the outcomes of research depend on the applied geographical scale. The analysis of single historical process researched within different spatial units (civilization, state, region) can lead to divergent results. Despite the prevailing emphasis put on the symbolic aspects of space (type 2), the future conceptual development is questionable. The historical research of space as social construction can’t be performed without the attention paid to the historical dynamics and transformations of physical and geographical space.