FORUDSIGELIG FORTIDIG FREMTID EN ANALYSE AF KNUD J.V. JESPERSENS TIDSOPFATTELSE OG PERIODISERING I STAT OG NATION

Resumé

ABSTRACT
The article examines how the Danish historian Knud J.V. Jespersen (1942-) has constructed the conception of time in Stat og Nation from 1992. Especially, Jespersen’s periodization is analytically emphasised. This periodization is used to present the argument that European history from the Middle Ages until the present can be seen as an alternation between stability and instability. Methodologically, the article is built on Reinhart Koselleck’s (1923-2006) conception of historical time. This implies the methodological categories, ”the space of experience” and ”the horizon of expectation”. Also Koselleck’s conception of temporal layers is used as an analytical tool. The article concludes that Jespersen’s construction of the horizon of expectation is crucial to the way that Jespersen denotes a period. The horizon of expectation is predictable when Jespersen characterises a period as stabil. Instability relies on an unpredictable horizon of expectation. In contrast, the space of experience does not have the same function. Jespersen constructs the space of experience as a structural basis for comparison between differe nt periods.