Chronisms : on the past and future of the relation of times

Abstract

Anachronisms are a well-known chronological misconduct, by some even regarded as a historical mortal sin. Less known are prochronisms, parachronisms and metachronisms. Between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries, however, all these chronisms were intensively discussed in the scholarly world. On the one hand, we pursue these concepts with the interest of a history of historiographical practice. What is hidden behind these chronisms? And why did scholars in early modern Europe think that they needed these chronological instruments? On the other hand, and in a more general way, we see these chronisms as forms of how present times connect themselves with absent times (pasts and futures). We call these temporal relations ‘chronoferences.’ Against this background, chronisms prove to be interesting for a theory of history. They can be reconceptualized to make clear how present times relate to pasts.