AS A HISTORY THINKER ARNOLD J. TOYNBEE

Abstract

Toynbee, a thinker of history, has given some advice on history perception and writing to those who are interested in history, while conveying the valve of history and why it is a matter of review. Toynbee, who states that the only time a historian has captured people alive is his time, calls the contemporary history as the time that historian himself lived. He expresses that the interpretation of generations themselves and to arriving at judgments by feelings. Toynbee believes that in order to be a neutral writer, even if it is too difficult, events must be avoided from senses. Toynbee has a special interest especially for civilizations. While he was categorizing the World according to civilizations in his work A Study of History, he emphasized on the similarities, differences, existence and evanesce of civilizations. He also talked about religions, divine religions and included them in the civilization category. In this study, Toynbee’s interpretation of history will be referred, especially the matter of civilization that he has been working on will be examined in detail.