— historicist , n. , adj.
/hi stawr"euh siz'euhm, -stor"-/ , n.
1. a theory that history is determined by immutable laws and not by human agency.
2. a theory that all cultural phenomena are historically determined and that historians must study each period without imposing any personal or absolute value system.
3. a profound or excessive respect for historical institutions, as laws or traditions.
4. a search for laws of historical evolution that would explain and predict historical phenomena.
[ 1890-95; HISTORIC + -ISM; cf. G Historismus ]