Stein, Claudia (2013) Divining and knowing : Karl Sudhoff's historical method. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Volume 87 (Number 2). pp. 198-224. doi:10.1353/bhm.2013.0019

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Abstract

This article investigates the historical method of Karl Sudhoff (1853- 1938), Germany's first professor of medical history. It argues that in order to understand his ideas more fully, we need to step outside the historiography of medical history and assess his methodology in relation to the norms and ideals of German academic history writing in general. The article demonstrates that the philology-based "critical method" of Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) was central to Sudhoff's methodological thinking. It investigates the underlying philosophical and epistemological assumptions of Ranke's method, which tend to be less appreciated than his overt empiricism and explores how Sudhoff applied these to the new professionalizing subdiscipline of the history of medicine. The article argues that Sudhoff's concerns with the methodology of history, which involved a particular conception of the relationship between the human sciences and the medical sciences, offers compelling addresses to our times.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > History
Journal or Publication Title:	Bulletin of the History of Medicine
Publisher:	The Johns Hopkins University Press
ISSN:	0007-5140
Official Date:	2013
Dates:	Date Event 2013 Published
Volume:	Volume 87
Number:	Number 2
Page Range:	pp. 198-224
DOI:	10.1353/bhm.2013.0019
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access

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