Untergänge Roms

Zufall, Kausalität und Emergenz als Problem der Geschichte

Abstract

The article deals with the different views of history which we can find behind the many interpretations of the fall of Rome from late antiquity to modern times. These interpretations of historians and non-historians differ in relation to the distinction between contingency and necessity. Within the dominant frame of cause and effect the question of why Rome fell remains unanswerable on principle; and thus it constitutes a phenomenon of emergence in a certain sense. However, even after rejecting theoretical frameworks of causality that question is still raised by many while any answer would only lead to further questions. After all, it seems that the end of a historical appearance remains to be unreachable or unreceivable in the same way as its beginning. Therefore, the question of why Rome fell will always be asked again as long as history and historiography last.