Download or read book Postnarrativist Philosophy of Historiography written by J. Kuukkanen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-05-13 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Narrativism has made important contributions to the theory and philosophy of historiography but it is now time to move beyond it to postnarrativism. Kuukkanen shows how it is possible to reject the absolutist truth-functional evaluation of interpretations in historiography and yet accept that historiography can be evaluated by rational standards.

Download or read book Philosophy of History written by Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-12 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a recent surge of interest in the field, a volume taking stock of important theoretical shifts in the philosophy of history is greatly needed. A Philosophy of History fills this gap by weaving together a range of perspectives on the field which finds itself at a crossroads, and asks where it is headed in the 21st century. The book takes a concerted effort to go beyond the customary three-fold distinction between the speculative, analytic and narrativist approaches in philosophy of history. It considers, what comes after the enduring 'narrativist turn'. Chapters incorporate cutting-edge discussions on the relevance of contemporary political phenomena such as populism, the relation between science and history, pragmatism and the paradigmatic challenge of the Anthropocene. It also re-evaluates the continued relevance of major historical thinkers like Leibniz and R.G. Collingwood, and the endlessly fresh insights they can offer to key debates in the field today. Philosophy of History is a much-needed reappraisal of the philosophy and theory of history; offering an up-to-date overview of major developments in the field, and addressing the pressing questions of where to go next in a 'post-analytical', 'post-narrativist' world.

Download or read book Towards a Revival of Analytical Philosophy of History written by Krzysztof Brzechczyn and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2017-11-06 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Towards a Revival of Analytical Philosophy of History: Around Paul A. Roth's Vision of Historical Sciences presents the state of the art in the philosophy of history. The purpose of this book is to discuss the revival of analytical philosophy of history proposed by Paul A. Roth, a world-known analytical philosopher of the social sciences and the humanities. The first four papers outline the reasons for the decline of philosophy of history, its present phase of development, and its possible future. The other authors discuss important questions of this field of research including: the ontological status of the past, the epistemological assumptions of historical research, the explanatory dimensions of the narrative. In the last group of papers, the authors apply some of Roth's theoretical ideas within their own fields of research. Contributors are: Krzysztof Brzechczyn, Nancy D. Campbell, Serge Grigoriev, Géza Kállay, Piotr Kowalewski, Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen, Chris Lorenz, Herman Paul, Dawid Rogacz, Paul A. Roth, Laura Stark, Stephen Turner, Rafał Paweł Wierzchosławski, and Eugen Zeleňák.

Download or read book The Philosophical Structure of Historical Explanation written by Paul A. Roth and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Philosophical Structure of Historical Explanation, Paul A. Roth resolves disputes persisting since the nineteenth century about the scientific status of history. He does this by showing why historical explanations must take the form of a narrative, making their logic explicit, and revealing how the rational evaluation of narrative explanation becomes possible. Roth situates narrative explanations within a naturalistic framework and develops a nonrealist (irrealist) metaphysics and epistemology of history—arguing that there exists no one fixed past, but many pasts. The book includes a novel reading of Thomas S. Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, showing how it offers a narrative explanation of theory change in science. This book will be of interest to researchers in historiography, philosophy of history, philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, and epistemology.

Download or read book From History to Theory written by Kerwin Lee Klein and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2011-05-19 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From History to Theory describes major changes in the conceptual language of the humanities, particularly in the discourse of history. In seven beautifully written, closely related essays, Kerwin Lee Klein traces the development of academic vocabularies through the dynamically shifting cultural, political, and linguistic landscapes of the twentieth century. He considers the rise and fall of "philosophy of history" and discusses past attempts to imbue historical discourse with scientific precision. He explores the development of the "meta-narrative" and the post-Marxist view of history and shows how the present resurgence of old words—such as "memory"—in new contexts is providing a way to address marginalized peoples. In analyzing linguistic changes in the North American academy, From History to Theory innovatively ties semantic shifts in academic discourse to key trends in American society, culture, and politics.

Download or read book Our Knowledge of the Past written by Aviezer Tucker and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-04-26 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do historians, comparative linguists, biblical and textual critics and evolutionary biologists establish beliefs about the past? How do they know the past? This book presents a philosophical analysis of the disciplines that offer scientific knowledge of the past. Using the analytic tools of contemporary epistemology and philosophy of science the book covers such topics as evidence, theory, methodology, explanation, determination and underdetermination, coincidence, contingency and counterfactuals in historiography. Aviezer Tucker's central claim is that historiography as a scientific discipline should be thought of as an effort to explain the evidence of past events. He also emphasizes the similarity between historiographic methodology to Darwinian evolutionary biology. This is an important, fresh approach to historiography and will be read by philosophers, historians and social scientists interested in the methodological foundations of their disciplines.

Download or read book A Personalist Philosophy of History written by Bennett Gilbert and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical study has traditionally been built around the placement of the human at the center of inquiry. The de-stabilized concepts of the human in contemporary thought challenge this configuration. However, the ways in which these challenges provoke new historical perspectives both expand and enrich historical study but are also weak and vulnerable in their concept of the human, lacking or omitting something valuable in our self-understanding. A Personalist Philosophy of History argues for a robust concept of personhood in our experience of the past as a way to resolve this conflict. Focused on those who know history, rather than on the abstract properties of knowledge, it extends the moral agency of persons into non-human, trans-human, and deep history domains. It describes an approach to moral life through historical experience and study, rather than through abstractions. And it describes a kind of historiography that matches factual accuracy to both the constructed nature of understanding and to unavoidable moral purpose.

Download or read book A Companion to the Philosophy of History and Historiography written by Aviezer Tucker and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-06-28 with total page 581 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A COMPANION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY The philosophy of historiography examines our representations and knowledge of the past, the relation between evidence, inference, explanation and narrative. Do we possess knowledge of the past? Do we just have probable beliefs about the past, or is historiography a piece of convincing fiction? The philosophy of history is the direct philosophical examination of history, whether it is necessary or contingent, whether it has a direction or whether it is coincidental, and if it has a direction, what it is, and how and why it is unfolding? The fifty entries in this Companion cover the main issues in the philosophies of historiography and history, including natural history and the practices of historians. Written by an international and multi-disciplinary group of experts, these clearly written entries present a cutting-edge updated picture of current research in the philosophies of historiography and history. This Companion will be of interest to philosophers, historians, natural historians, and social scientists.

Download or read book The Representation of External Threats written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-03-27 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Representation of External Threats, Eberhard Crailsheim and María Dolores Elizalde present a collection of articles that trace the phenomenon of external threats in a multitude of settings across Asia, America, and Europe. The scope ranges from military threats against the Byzantine rulers of the 7th century to the perception of cultural and economic threats in the late 19th century Atlantic, and includes conceptual threats to the construction of national histories. Focussing on the different ways in which such threats were socially constructed, the articles offer a variety of perspectives and interdisciplinary methods to understand the development and representations of external threats, concentrating on the effect of 'threat communication' for societies and political actors. Contributors are Anna Abalian, Vladimir Belous, Eberhard Crailsheim, María Dolores Elizalde, Rodrigo Escribano Roca, Simon C. Kemper, Irena Kozmanová, David Manzano Cosano, Federico Niglia, Derek Kane O’Leary, Alexandr Osipian, Pedro Ponte e Sousa, Theresia Raum, Jean-Noël Sanchez, Marie Schreier, Stephan Steiner, Srikanth Thaliyakkattil, Ionut Untea and Qiong Yu.

Download or read book The Halberd at Red Cliff written by Xiaofei Tian and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-10-26 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The turn of the third century CE—known as the Jian’an era or Three Kingdoms period—holds double significance for the Chinese cultural tradition. Its writings laid the foundation of classical poetry and literary criticism. Its historical personages and events have also inspired works of poetry, fiction, drama, film, and art throughout Chinese history, including Internet fantasy literature today. There is a vast body of secondary literature on these two subjects individually, but very little on their interface. The image of the Jian’an era, with its feasting, drinking, heroism, and literary panache, as well as intense male friendship, was to return time and again in the romanticized narrative of the Three Kingdoms. How did Jian’an bifurcate into two distinct nostalgias, one of which was the first paradigmatic embodiment of wen (literary graces, cultural patterning), and the other of wu (heroic martial virtue)? How did these largely segregated nostalgias negotiate with one another? And how is the predominantly male world of the Three Kingdoms appropriated by young women in contemporary China? The Halberd at Red Cliff investigates how these associations were closely related in their complex origins and then came to be divergent in their later metamorphoses."

Download or read book That Noble Dream written by Peter Novick and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1988-09-30 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aspiration to relate the past 'as it really happened' has been the central goal of American professional historians since the late nineteenth century. In this remarkable history of the profession, Peter Novick shows how the idea and ideal of objectivity were elaborated, challenged, modified, and defended over the last century. Drawing on the unpublished correspondence as well as the published writings of hundreds of American historians from J. Franklin Jameson and Charles Beard to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Eugene Genovese, That Noble Dream is a richly textured account of what American historians have thought they were doing, or ought to be doing, when they wrote history - how their principles influenced their practice and practical exigencies influenced their principles.

Download or read book Mamluk Historiography Revisited Narratological Perspectives written by Stephan Conermann and published by V&R Unipress. This book was released on 2018-08-13 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume discusses Mamluk historical texts with an emphasis on literary/stylistic analysis, basically ignoring issues of 'factuality' versus 'fictivity'. None of the authors set out to write 'fiction'; nor would their audience have received their accounts as such. The events depicted were a matter of historical record; but their meaning was geared both to contemporary and to general concerns. The fact of telling them is part and parcel of the historian's task; the means of telling them has to do with the historian's choice of style; and style is all-important in conveying meaning. Were these accounts not considered 'true', the purpose behind their telling and the meaning they convey, would, arguably, be lost; but were they not told in the most effective manner, their meaning might not be clearly grasped.

Download or read book Values Objectivity and Explanation in Historiography written by Tor Egil Førland and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-01-20 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing sophisticated philosophy to bear on real-life historiography, Values, Objectivity, and Explanation in Historiography rekindles and invigorates the debate on two perennials in the theory and methodology of history. One is the tension between historians' values and the ideal—or illusion—of objective historiography. The other is historical explanation. The point of departure for the treatment of values and objectivity is an exceptionally heated debate on Cold War historiography in Denmark, involving not only historians but also the political parties, the national newspapers, and the courts. The in-depth analysis that follows concludes that historians can produce accounts that deserve the label "objective," even though their descriptions are tinged by ineluctable epistemic instability. A separate chapter dissects the postmodern notion of situated truths. The second part of the book proffers a new take on historical explanation. It is based on the notion of the ideal explanatory text, which allows for not only causal—including intentional—but also nomological, structural, and functional explanations. The approach, which can accommodate narrative explanations driven by causal plots, is ecumenical but not all-encompassing. Emergent social properties and supernatural entities are excluded from the ideal explanatory text, making scientific historiography methodologically individualistic—albeit with room for explanations at higher levels when pragmatically justified—and atheist. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative License.

Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Historical Theory written by Chiel van den Akker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Companion provides a wide-ranging and up-to-date overview of the conceptual issues that history as a discipline and mode of thought gives rise to. The book offers both historical and systematic treatments of these issues, as well as addressing their contemporary relevance. Structured in three parts – Modes and Schools of Historical Thought, Epistemology and Metaphysics of History, and Issues and Challenges in Historical Theory – it offers the reader a wide scope and expert treatment of each topic in this vibrant field that can be read in any order. An international team of experts both discuss the basis of their topic and present their own view, offering the reader a cutting-edge contribution while ensuring their chapters are of interest to both students and specialists in the field of historical theory and engaging with the very nature of historical thought, the metaphysics of historical existence, the politics of history-writing, and the intelligibility of the historical process. The volume is an indispensable companion to the study of history and essential reading for anyone interested in the reflection on the nature of history and our historical existence.

Download or read book Materialist Philosophy of History written by Branko Mitrovic´ and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-07-08 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does it mean for our understanding of history if we assume that everything is physical and that no immaterial entities, forces, or phenomena exist? A Materialist Philosophy of History: A Realist Antidote to Postmodernism examines the implications of a materialist worldview in contemporary philosophy of history. Materialism has wide-ranging consequences for historical research as well as for the credibility of various conceptions of the historical past. Branko Mitrović shows how these implications pertain both to the nature of social institutions and the capacities of historical figures to decide, act, acquire beliefs, and communicate and to the methodology of historical research and problems, such as the interpretation and the translation of historical documents. A materialist view also entails rejecting the view that forces such as culture, language, or society can construct physical reality or that the historical past is constructed through the work of the historian. This book examines these consequences and presents a comprehensive materialist perspective on historical research and the understanding of the historical past.

Download or read book The SAGE Handbook of Historical Theory written by Nancy Partner and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2012-12-18 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The SAGE Handbook of Historical Theory introduces the foundations of modern historical theory and the applications of theory to a full range of sub-fields of historical research, bringing the reader as up to date as possible with continuing debates and current developments. The book is divided into three key parts, covering: - Part I. Foundations: The Theoretical Grounds for Knowledge of the Past - Part II. Applications: Theory-Intensive Areas in History - Part III. Coda. Post-Postmodernism: Directions and Interrogations. This important handbook brings together, in one volume, discussions of modernity, empiricism, deconstruction, narrative and postmodernity in the continuing evolution of the historical discipline into our post-postmodern era. Chapters are written by leading academics from around the world and cover a wide array of specialized areas of the discipline, including social history, intellectual history, gender, memory, psychoanalysis and cultural history. The influence of major thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Hayden White is fully examined. This handbook is an essential resource for practising historians, and students of history, and will appeal to scholars in related disciplines in the social sciences and humanities who seek a closer understanding of the theoretical foundations of history.

Download or read book Historical Understanding written by Louis O. Mink, Jr. and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Louis 0. Mink (1921–1983) was one of the world's leading theorists in the philosophy of history. His work in this area, however, was published mostly as essays in journals and anthologies, and has not been collected until now. Historical Understanding brings together twelve of his essays (two of them previously unpublished) that share a concern with the nature of historical understanding. Mink takes up issues that dominate current discussions in the philosophy of history: the distinctive nature of historical understanding, the relation of history to natural science and to fiction, and the cognitive status of narratives. His conclusions, presented here within a broad epistemological context, constitute a powerful argument for the autonomy of historical understanding. Lucidly written and richly illustrated with examples, this volume will be welcomed by a wide range of readers interested in philosophy, the theory of history, and literary theory.