EVALUATION OF V. O. KLYUCHEVSKY’S SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTION BY RUSSIAN HISTORIOGRAPHERS IN THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 21ST CENTURIES

Abstract

This article analyzes historiographical literature exploring the scientific works by V. O. Klyuchevsky, a famous Russian historian. The article’s objective is to summarize major historiographical opinions that were made in the previous century with regard to his scientific works. The article addresses historiographical assessments made by Klyuchevsky’s contemporaries and disciples, Soviet and foreign researchers and modern Russia’s scholars. It is noted that these assessments are diverse and contradicting and that scientific issues related to characterizing Klyuchevsky’s scientific methodology and identifying the existence of the Kluychevsky school are still relevant. The article concludes that the historical science retains an open question about the impact of the Klyuchevsky school on the formation of the Belarusian historiography in the 1920–1930s and in the subsequent Soviet period. Noteworthy are issues regarding V. O. Kljuchevsky’s and his disciples’ methodology of working with historical sources, i.e. their practical use of the comparative historical method, statistical method, typology, retrospective, and other traditional scientific historical research methods. Research in this area could contribute to updating modern theoretical ideas regarding the methodology of scientific historical knowledge and would make it possible to enrich university lecture courses on source criticism and historical methods with scientific examples.