On the Role of the Individual in History
E408355
"On the Role of the Individual in History" is a Marxist theoretical essay by Georgi Plekhanov that analyzes how personal agency and great individuals interact with broader social and economic forces in shaping historical development.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Great Man theory of history | 1 |
| On the Role of the Individual in History canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4038081 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On the Role of the Individual in History Context triple: [Georgi Plekhanov, notableWork, On the Role of the Individual in History]
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A.
Lectures on the Philosophy of History
Lectures on the Philosophy of History is a posthumously published collection of G. W. F. Hegel’s university lectures that presents his influential view of world history as a rational process expressing the development of human freedom.
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B.
The Origin and Goal of History
The Origin and Goal of History is a philosophical work by Karl Jaspers that explores the meaning, structure, and spiritual dimensions of human history, introducing his influential concept of the "Axial Age."
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C.
The Meaning of History
The Meaning of History is a philosophical work by Russian religious thinker Nicolas Berdyaev that explores the spiritual and existential significance of historical events and humanity’s destiny.
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D.
Introduction to the Philosophy of History
Introduction to the Philosophy of History is a seminal work by Raymond Aron that examines the nature, methods, and limits of historical knowledge and understanding.
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E.
The General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century
The General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century is a seminal 1851 political treatise by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon that articulates his anarchist vision of social and economic reorganization without centralized state authority.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On the Role of the Individual in History Target entity description: "On the Role of the Individual in History" is a Marxist theoretical essay by Georgi Plekhanov that analyzes how personal agency and great individuals interact with broader social and economic forces in shaping historical development.
-
A.
Lectures on the Philosophy of History
Lectures on the Philosophy of History is a posthumously published collection of G. W. F. Hegel’s university lectures that presents his influential view of world history as a rational process expressing the development of human freedom.
-
B.
The Origin and Goal of History
The Origin and Goal of History is a philosophical work by Karl Jaspers that explores the meaning, structure, and spiritual dimensions of human history, introducing his influential concept of the "Axial Age."
-
C.
The Meaning of History
The Meaning of History is a philosophical work by Russian religious thinker Nicolas Berdyaev that explores the spiritual and existential significance of historical events and humanity’s destiny.
-
D.
Introduction to the Philosophy of History
Introduction to the Philosophy of History is a seminal work by Raymond Aron that examines the nature, methods, and limits of historical knowledge and understanding.
-
E.
The General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century
The General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century is a seminal 1851 political treatise by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon that articulates his anarchist vision of social and economic reorganization without centralized state authority.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (43)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Marxist theoretical work
ⓘ
essay ⓘ philosophical work ⓘ |
| addresses |
conditions for emergence of influential individuals
ⓘ
problem of historical necessity and contingency ⓘ relationship between leaders and masses ⓘ |
| aimsTo | reconcile recognition of individual agency with historical materialism ⓘ |
| analyzes |
determinants of historical events in class relations and productive forces
ⓘ
interaction of individual leaders with social and economic conditions ⓘ limits of personal agency in historical development ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Russian Social Democratic movement
ⓘ
linked to:
Mensheviks
|
| author | Georgi Plekhanov ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Russian Empire ⓘ |
| critiques |
idealistic explanations of history
ⓘ
subjectivist overestimation of personal will ⓘ |
| field |
Marxist philosophy
ⓘ
philosophy of history ⓘ political theory ⓘ |
| genre |
Marxist theory
ⓘ
political philosophy ⓘ |
| historicalContext | late 19th century Marxist debates ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Friedrich Engels
ⓘ
Karl Marx ⓘ |
| language | Russian ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
Marxist theory of history
ⓘ
great man theory critique ⓘ historical materialism ⓘ relationship between personal agency and social forces ⓘ role of the individual in history ⓘ |
| movement | Marxism ⓘ |
| notableFor |
influence on later Marxist discussions of leadership and history
ⓘ
systematic Marxist treatment of individual agency ⓘ |
| philosophicalClaim |
historical laws operate through actions of individuals
ⓘ
individuals are necessary but not sufficient causes of major historical events ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition |
dialectical materialism
ⓘ
historical materialism ⓘ |
| positionOnCausality |
personal qualities of leaders are secondary and conditioned factors
ⓘ
social and economic conditions are primary causes of historical change ⓘ |
| positionOnGreatMen |
great individuals are products of their epoch
ⓘ
great individuals express the needs and tendencies of their time ⓘ |
| positionOnIndividual |
individuals can influence the form and tempo of events
ⓘ
individuals cannot arbitrarily change underlying social and economic laws ⓘ |
| supports | materialist conception of history ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: On the Role of the Individual in History Description of subject: "On the Role of the Individual in History" is a Marxist theoretical essay by Georgi Plekhanov that analyzes how personal agency and great individuals interact with broader social and economic forces in shaping historical development.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: On the Role of the Individual in History