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1st Edition

Values, Objectivity, and Explanation in Historiography

By Tor Egil Førland Copyright 2017

208 Pages

by Routledge

206 Pages

by Routledge

206 Pages

by Routledge

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Description

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... Read more

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Objectivity, Values, and Theory Choice

1. Participants and Fellow Travelers: The Left, the Soviet Union, and the Fall of Objectivism

2. Court Historian: Matters of Fact

3. Witches Cannot Fly: A Critique of the Notion of Situated Truths

4. In Defense of Objectivity: Facts and Theory Choice in Historiography

Part II: Explanation and Causality

5. The Ideal Explanatory Text in History: A Plea for Ecumenism

6. Mentality as a Social Emergent: Can the Zeitgeist Have Explanatory Power?

7. Acts of God?: Miracles and Scientific Explanation

8. Problems of Causation in Historiography

Author(s)

Biography

Tor Egil Førland is professor of contemporary history and head of the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History at the University of Oslo.

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