Comparing Comparing: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Comparative Methods and their Histories

Ben Hutchinson (Kent): "Comparison and its Discontents"

6 p.m. c.t., Seminarraum 13, Rabinstr. 8, 53111 Bonn

Lecture as part of the workshop "Comparing Comparing". 

As both a method and fundamental process of concept formation, comparison is central to all kinds of inquiry: it is through comparison that categories emerge, distinctions take shape, and the boundaries of scholarly objects are drawn. While forms of comparison have long shaped the pursuit of knowledge, the late 18th and early 19th centuries saw the rise of comparison as the “preeminent method for finding commonalities across an extraordinary range of aesthetic, social, and scientific fields of research, from philology to anatomy, from geology to sociology.” (Griffiths 2017, 474) This period witnessed both the formalisation of comparison within specific fields and the development of shared comparative frameworks across disciplines. A fundamental feature of this formalisation was the geographical expansion of the scope of inquiry, either in the search for universal truths or to situate spatial discrepancies within linear models of historical progress. At the same time, distinct disciplinary needs and epistemic traditions shaped how comparison was conceptualised and applied.

More recently, the limits of comparative approaches have been a topic of concern. Comparison is entangled with practices of inclusion and exclusion, raising questions about whose knowledge is legitimised, what is rendered comparable, and how boundaries between disciplines, traditions, and histories are drawn. Understanding the historical contexts in which comparative methods emerged, along with their theoretical underpinnings, allows for a more critical reflection on the methodological choices scholars make today. By bringing together scholars from diverse fields, we aim to foster a dialogue on the ways in which these historical perspectives on comparison can inform contemporary methodological debates and practices across disciplines.

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