Sketching a Theory of Historical Intentionality - Thing by Thing

The category of intentionality (and unintentionality) – even though it remains implicit – continues to play a key role in how we construct history, how we think about history and how we inquire into history. In my talk I will analyse the different forms and degrees of intentionality in relation to the constitution of material evidence with which historians work, i.e., evidence as objects produced or adapted by human beings to commemorate someone or something and material entities identified as historical evidence. This in order to reflect from an unprecedented perspective on how historicity is thought and constructed, and on the eternal question of what history actually is.