Identity, history, tolerance

The article discusses the role of historical narratives in the formation of identity. Rüsen’s thesis on the contradiction of traditional historical identities that suggest an ethnocentric position with the processes of intercultural communication is analyzed. The potential of historical narratives in overcoming (or restricting) ethnocentrism is considered. It is shown that ethnocentrism is constituted by kinds of the configuration of historical writing rather than by a subjective position of historical narrative authors. The types of stories suggest a) the way of making history using only the criteria of success and failure in the interpretation of the past; b) interpretation of history as teleological continuity; c) merely the necessity to justify (to substantiate claims) or to discredit something. It is alleged that the realization that the form of historical knowledge constructs, not discovers, can facilitate liberation from referential fallacy on the whole and enslavement by certain kinds of stories in particular. It is concluded that the recognition of the constitutive nature of historical narratives allows being independent from the traditional forms of historical knowledge and traditional ideas about their cultural value. In particular, it allows reconsidering the need to apply historical knowledge when constructing identity