Path dependence, politics of time and metamorphosis of history

Path dependence, used in social sciences to model phenomena of various natures, provides an opportunity to reflect on how knowledge about the past works. In the new millennium, the ethos of history and its role in the lives of people occupy a large place in transdisciplinary research programs and discussions, in which not only historians, but also philosophers and representatives of all sciences, without exception, participate. It is connected with rethinking the conceptual foundations of historical knowledge and the formation of a new historical culture. The article discusses modern controversial trends in the epistemology of historiography related to the problems of historical dynamics and such basic concepts for historical knowledge as historicity, historical time, and the politics of time. Analysis of avant-garde trends in intellectual culture allows us to show how changes occur in the understanding and production of the historical. In the context of a rapidly changing world and a radical renewal of temporal experience, the discovery of the politics of time, the rethinking of historicity, and the search for high-quality historical time clarify the specifics of modern historical research, which is born at the intersection of theory and practice. Culture affirms the idea of the performative role of history and historians in our time. Historians do not just study the past; they participate in forming historicity and the temporal regime in which they live, helping people analyze life situations, make decisions, form the rules of communication, and create "institutions" as basic cultural structures that determine life in the present and allow them to find resources for thinking about the future.