Historical seminar as a form of the professional training of historians in the university of Lviv in the second half of nineteenth century

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to reveal the preconditions for the foundation and the process of development of the historical seminar at Lviv University in the second half of the nineteenth century. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity. Both, general science (induction, deduction, synthesis), and special-scientific methods (problem-chronological, historical-descriptive, historical-comparative, statistical) have been used. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the introduction of a seminar-based format of teaching history at the University of Lviv has been analyzed on a broad background of changes that took place in the field of higher education at that time in Europe. Features of didactic-organizational activity of professors-heads of the historical seminar are shown for the first time in the history of Lviv historiography. On the basis of the annual reports on the work of the seminar, we determined the number of students, participants, and didactic forms of work in classes. Conclusions The beginning of the nineteenth century brought along significant changes in the methods of research, narration and study of history in the western world. History became a professional scientific discipline, and the mastery of historical specialty began to require special studies at the university. Important changes took place in didactic forms of historical studies; in most European universities seminars were set up, in which students began to critically examine documents and conduct independent research. In 1852, the history seminar was introduced at Lviv University, which at that time belonged to the educational system of the Habsburg monarchy. In 1873, the historical seminar was divided into two divisions – the general world and Austrian history. The most successful historical seminar in Lviv was under the direction of Professor Xavier Liske. Due to his fruitful didactic and organizational work, the seminar became an important component of the preparation of young historians and perhaps the most important prerequisite for the institutionalization of historical science in Lviv at the end of the nineteenth century.