A Brief Discussion on 19th-Century French Positivist Historiography—From Positivism to the Methodical School

本文旨在重新评价十九世纪法国的实证史学，通过区分实证主义和实证史学来探讨二者在理论基础和实践方法上的差异。所谓的实证主义史学可能并不存在，存在的是实证史学——一种主张以科学方法处理历史事实，注重史料收集分类和文献批判技术的史学。本文通过分析所谓实证主义史学家的学术立场，揭示“实证主义史学”概念的有限性，建议学人在以后的研究中采取“实证史学”或“方法学派”的称呼。This paper aims to reevaluate 19th-century French positivist historiography by distinguishing between positivism and historical positivism, exploring the theoretical foundations and practical methodologies that differentiate the two. Positivist historiography, as such, may not truly exist; rather, there exists a positivist historical approach—A form of historiography that advocates for the scientific handling of historical facts, emphasizing the collection and categorization of historical materials and the techniques of documentary criticism. By analyzing the academic positions of so-called positivist historians, this paper reveals the limitations of the concept of “positivist historiography”, suggesting that future scholars adopt terms such as “positivist historiography” or “the methodological school” in subsequent research.