Our Knowledge of the Past : A Philosophy of Historiography

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 new approach to historiography and will be read by philosophers, historians and social scientists interested in the methodological foundations of their disciplines.--Publisher description "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 couterfactuals 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 and Darwinian evolutionary biology. This is a new approach to historiography and will be read by philosophers, historians, and social scientists interested in the methodological foundations of their disciplines."--BOOK JACKET Frontmatter Introduction: The Philosophy of Historiography (page 1) 1. Consensus and Historiographic Knowledge (page 23) 2. The History of Knowledge of History (page 46) 3. The Theory of Scientific Historiography (page 92) 4. Historiographic Opinion (page 141) 5. Historiographic Explanation (page 185) 6. The Limits of Historiographic Knowledge (page 208) 7. Conclusion: Historiography and History (page 254) References (page 263) Notes (page 279) Index (page 287) This book presents a philosophical analysis of the disciplines that reveal scientific knowledge of the past. Aviezer Tucker argues that historiography as a scientific discipline should be considered an attempt to analyze the evidence of past events. This new approach to historiography will interest philosophers, historians and social scientists concerned with the methodological foundations of their disciplines.