ABSTRACT
When studying the history of science in the GDR, a thought expressed by Kocka (1993:11) applies: interpreting the phenomena in the GDR exclusively as a prelude to its collapse not only leads too easily to one-sidedness, but also ‘introduces the danger of grossly ignoring the question of possible alternative courses within the historical constellation'. Considering and interpreting the collapse of the GDR as the sole reference system quickly leads to a new kind of teleology, of ‘retrospective determinism' (Bendix 1982:65). The result would be fixed and ‘only its historical explanation needs to be given. But that is too simple. There is a great danger of riding a transformed philosophy of history that has merely changed the sign of the former way of thinking' (Kohli 1994:31).
