A Companion to the Philosophy of History and Historiography

by Aviezer Tucker (Editor)

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.

Genres: History, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Cultural, World History

576 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2008

Reviews

[Mahdi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great introduction to the philosophy of historiography. The first two parts, major fields, and basic problems, clearly address some fundamental conceptual problems which historiography have been dealing with since Ranke to these days. Last two part is about subfields of historiography and classic schools. For these later parts, I know some better introductions.

[Jerome · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful introduction to the theoretical frameworks of historical views and views of history.

[Nathan Nadeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read a good chunk of the essays in here, very good guide to the contemporary field

[José Angel Hernández]

It was a slog...but all around interesting...