Plausible Worlds: Possibility and Understanding in History and the Social Sciences

ISBN-13: 9780521457767 / Angielski / Miękka / 1993 / 208 str.

Geoffrey Hawthorn

Opis

Possibilities haunt history. The force of our explanations of events turns on the alternative possibilities those explanations suggest. It is these possible worlds that give us our understanding; and in human affairs, we decide them by practical rather than theoretical judgment. In this widely acclaimed account of the role of counterfactuals in explanation, Geoffrey Hawthorn deploys extended examples to defend his argument. His conclusions cast doubt on existing assumptions about the nature and place of theory, and indeed of the possibility of knowledge itself, in the human sciences.

Recenzje

'This volume is a marvelously stimulating and thought provoking work. It ought to be on the reading lists of advanced courses on both the theory and the methodology of history writing.' Allan Megill, The American Historical Review

Spis treści

1. Counterfactuals, explanation and understanding; 2. Plague and fertility in early modern Europe; 3. The United States in South Korea; 4. Duccio's painting; 5. Explanation, understanding and theory.