History of ideas and intellectual history: Between marginalisation and innovative transdisciplinary field

Abstract

This paper analyses the emergence of the history of ideas and intellectual history as two influential approaches in contemporary humanities. The origin and development of these disciplines, their similarities and differences, the theoretical-methodological characteristics of several schools that appeared during the 20th century, their most influential representatives, as well as their most significant results are presented. There was a renewal of interest in the history of ideas and particularly in intellectual history at the beginning of the 21st century, characterized by subject ambiguity, theoretical and methodological eclecticism and striking trans-disciplinarity. At the same time, these features represent the greatest advantage of the history of ideas and intellectual history, providing them with perspectives for transdisciplinary synthesis, which is especially important in light of an increasingly pronounced fragmentation of scholarly knowledge.