Gestalt of the Empire

Abstract

The term “Empire” as applied today to so different states in known history makes it difficult even to give the definition of empire. Historical knowledge begins with critics of the sources, reconstruction of events and ascertainment of facts. The construction of theory is possible only after the phenomenological description, whereas the thoughtless use of modern models of social sciences leads to modernization, distorting the evidences by inferences. Historians deal with totalities which are hardly susceptible to the use of nomothetic science methods. Using the Hegelian conception of Gestalt, the author demonstrates that the term “Empire” is applicable today to the three different totalities: to the monarchies that existed for many centuries and vanished as the result of the First World War; the imperialist powers of the 19th and 20th centuries, and to the superpowers of the 20th–21st centuries.