Abstract

In 1783, during the height of the German Enlightenment, August Ludwig Schlözer published this essay on history as an autonomous critical science. Schlözer had helped to establish history as an independent academic discipline at Göttingen University. His essay outlines four criteria for criticizing historical work. Such pieces should be true, complete, broad in scope, and well written. Though the Greeks were fine painters of history, their accounts could not match the first three of these ideals. The most thorough history would probably require separate individuals to undertake the collection, verification, and editing of usable information. Only then could the results be written by a "historical painter." Schlözer undertook all of these tasks himself in his five-volume work on ancient Russia, entitled Nestor