How We Visualize History

This insightful diagram illustrates two fundamental frameworks for understanding and structuring the past: Historical Positivism and Historical Materialism. On the left, the positivist approach highlights a clear subject-object dynamic in studying history, breaking it down into distinct chronological eras such as ancient, medieval, and modern, each represented by a characteristic image. On the right, the historical materialist perspective, championed by influential figures like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, outlines history as a progression through various socio-economic stages, from primitive communalism to communism. It's a great visual aid for grasping the core differences in how these schools of thought interpret historical development and societal change.

history - historiography - positivism - materialism - marxism - historical periods - social evolution - chart