Justifying Historical Descriptions

by Christopher Behan McCullagh

Overview

In common with history, all the social sciences crucially rely on descriptions of the past for their evidence. But when, if ever, is it reasonable to regard such descriptions as true? This book attempts to establish the conditions that warrant belief in historical descriptions. It does so in a non-technical way, analysing numerous illustrations of the different kinds of argument about the past employed by historians and others. The author concludes that no historical description can be finally proved, and that we are only ever justified in believing them for certain practical purposes. This central question has not been addressed in such a thorough and systematic manner before. It draws on recent philosophy of history and will interest philosophers. But the wealth of material and accessibility of the presentation will also make it very valuable for historians and other social scientists concerned with the logic of their disciplines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521318303
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/25/1984
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Philosophy
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Introduction: truth and justification; 2. Justifying singular descriptions: arguments to the best explanation; 3. Justifying singular descriptions: statistical inferences; 4. Justifying singular descriptions: arguments from criteria and arguments from analogy; 5. Some common inferences in history; 6. Historical generalizations; 7. Justifying singular causal judgements in history; 8. Judgements of 'the most significant cause' in history; 9. Epilogue: truth and interpretation in history; Bibliography; Indices.