The category of historical thinking has a rather unique status. On the one hand, it is widely used; on the other, its exact meaning is very rarely defined. All uses of the term agree on at least two elements: it is treated as central to the study and teaching of history, and it is treated affirma-tively. This article attempts to review the history of the concept within the German tradition of historicism and humanism. It also tries to highlight the role of crisis in the evolution of historical thinking and reconsider its utility and possible future transformation.

The paper considers the vision of the world and the person of Józef Kazimierz Plebański (1831–1897), the Warsaw historian, one of two Polish students of Leopold von Ranke. In my article, I analyse the essential categories and objects which structure his thinking about reality, such as liberty, Providence, moral laws, state, nation, and humanity. At the end, I try to compare the worldview of Plebański with the worldview of historicism.

The author addresses the comprehensive presentation of his conception of the epistemology of history and the idea of historiographical metaphor by philosopher of culture Artur Dobosz, indicating the areas where their views converge and diverge. He introduces into the discussion the lines which Dobosz omitted, yet which significantly supplement the problem field of the epistemology of history that the author has been developing since the early 1990s.