On Arthur C. Danto's Philosophy of History and the Problem of the Historical Condicionality of NArrative Frameworks
Abstract
Arthur C. Danto's philosophical study of history is overshadowed by his more famous texts in the area of the philosophy of art. In the current discussion on the philosophy of history it follows then that the thematization of Danto's conception of narrative and narrative sentences predominates. The author of this article instead focuses on the retrospective character of the uncovering of the meaning of historical events by
Danto and argues that not the only the meaning of the given events is historically conditioned, as Danto claims, but also the narrative through which the significance is communicated. Although Danto does not address this problem, this study aims to show that this thesis is consistent with his philosophy. Narratives and historical textsOn in general are representations in Danto's sense of the word, and all representations are, in their essence, also historical. This fact is clearly revealed in Danto's texts about art, and it is on these that the author's argument is based.