Companion to the Philosophy of History and Historiography

Aviezer Tucker is a Gvirtzman Memorial Foundation Fellow and teaches at the CEVRO Institute in Prague.  He held research positions at the Australian National University, New York University, Columbia University and the Central European University in Prague. He is the author of Our Knowledge of the Past: A Philosophy of Historiography (2004) and a past president of the Society for the Philosophy of History.

"Like the encompassing nature of the other volumes in the Blackwell Companion to Philosophy series, undergraduate students and scholars with a serious interest in philosophical problems related to history and historiography should benefit from the newest Companion." (Reviews in Religion & Theology, 2012) "This volume does a fine job of showing the field's connections to many of the central concerns of contemporary philosophy. Part Four offers essays addressing the traditional schools and issues of philosophy of history and historiography, as well as valuable essays on postmodernism, Muslim philosophy of history, and philosophy of history at the end of the Cold War, among other topics. Recommended." (Choice, June 2009)"Tucker is to be congratulated…for conceiving of this work, and for soliciting, selecting, organizing, and editing its essays—all of which were written especially for the volume. [E]ach essay presents a particular author's take on a subject, often ending with further questions and suggestions. In this way it resembles a conversational partner who accompanies one along the way, stimulating further reflection as well as providing interesting information and observations. A companion literally is someone who breaks bread with another (com: with; panis: bread), and it certainly is the case that these essays—so clearly written, so mercifully manageable in length, and so sharp in focus—collectively and individually provide a great deal of food for thought.[T]he range and scope of the volume…is impressive by any standard. The fact that the authors are world-class authorities in the areas in which they are writing, and that they have made a special effort (prodded, no doubt, by its editor), to write in clear, jargon-free prose, makes evident the appeal and usefulness of the book. Too, the book is handsomely produced and well copy-edited by Wiley-Blackwell." (Brian Fay, Journal of the Philosophy of History)

• List of Contributors ixAcknowledgments xiGlossary of Terms xii1 Introduction 1Aviezer TuckerPart I Major Fields 72 Philosophy of Historiography 9Peter Kosso3 Philosophy of History 26ZdenFk VaSíCek4 Philosophical Issues in Natural History and Its Historiography 44Carol E. Cleland5 Historians and Philosophy of Historiography 63John ZammitoPart II Basic Problems 856 Historiographic Evidence and Confirmation 87Mark Day and Gregory Radick7 Causation in Historiography 98Aviezer Tucker8 Historiographic Counterfactuals 109Elazar Weinryb9 Historical Necessity and Contingency 120Yemima Ben-Menahem10 Explanation in Historiography 131Graham Macdonald and Cynthia Macdonald11 Historiographic Understanding 142Giuseppina D’Oro12 Colligation 152C. Behan McCullagh13 The Laws of History 162Stephan Berry14 Historiographic Objectivity 172Paul Newall15 Realism about the Past 181Murray Murphey16 Anti-realism about the Past 190Fabrice Pataut17 Narrative and Interpretation 199F. R. Ankersmit18 The Ontology of the Objects of Historiography 209Lars Udehn19 Origins: Common Causes in Historiographic Reasoning 220Aviezer Tucker20 Phylogenetic Inference 231Matt Haber21 Historicism 243Robert D’Amico22 Ethics and the Writing of Historiography 253Jonathan Gorman23 Logical Fallacies of Historians 262Paul Newall24 Historical Fallacies of Historians 274Carlos Spoerhase and Colin G. KingPart III Philosophy and Sub-fields of Historiography 28525 Philosophy of History of Science 287Nicholas Jardine26 Philosophies of Historiography and the Social Sciences 297Harold Kincaid27 The Philosophy of Evolutionary Theory 307Michael Ruse28 The Philosophy of Geology 318Rob Inkpen29 Philosophy of Archaeology 330Ben Jeffares30 Reductionism: Historiography and Psychology 342Cynthia Macdonald and Graham Macdonald31 Historiography and Myth 353Mary Lefkowitz32 Historiography and Memory 362Marie-Claire Lavabre33 Historiographic Schools 371Christopher LloydPart IV Classical Schools and Philosophers of Historiography and History 38134 Leopold Ranke 383Thomas Gil35 Scientific Historiography 393Chris Lorenz36 Darwin 404John S. Wilkins37 Logical Empiricism and Logical Positivism 416Krzysztof Brzechczyn38 Jewish and Christian Philosophy of History 427Samuel Moyn39 Muslim Philosophy of History 437Zaid Ahmad40 Vico 446Joseph Mali41 Kant and Herder 457Sharon Anderson-Gold42 Hegel 468Tom Rockmore43 Neo-Kantianism 477Charles Bambach44 Marx 488Tom Rockmore45 Collingwood and Croce 498Stein Helgeby46 Phenomenology 508David Weberman47 Jan Patocka 518Ivan Chvatík48 Hermeneutics 529Rudolf A. Makkreel49 Postmodernism 540Beverley Southgate50 Philosophy of History at the End of the Cold War 550Krishan KumarIndex 561