A distillation of the thought and research to which Herbert Butterfield devoted the last twenty years of his life to, this book, originally published in 1981, traces how differently people understood the relevance of their past and its connection with their religion. It examines ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia; the political perceptiveness of the Hittites; the Jewish sense of God in history, of promise and fulfilment; the classical achievement of scientific history; and the unique Chinese tradition of historical writing. The author explains the problems of the early Christians in relating...

This volume, originally published in 1980 discusses the way in which distinguished historians such as Gibbon, Ranke, Macaulay, De Tocqueville, Marx, Maitland, Bloch, Namier, Wheeler, Butterfield and Braudel have regarded and tackled their discipline. As well as chapters by individual authors who are experts on their chosen historian, there is a substantial introduction by the editor which serves as the basis for a discussion about the problems involved in the writing of history.

Written by one of the most eminent, (if sometimes disputed) historians of the 20th century, this book, originally published in 1939, gives guidance to the would-be historian on historical sources, research and evidence. Although inevitably a product of its time, this volume nonetheless remains one of the most comprehensive guides to historiograhy.

A critical account of the case for historicism from Popper to Foucault, this volume, originally published in 1989, shows the viability of an historicist account of knowledge by replying to traditional objections and the need for defenses of realism and reference at the heart of most alternatives to historicism. The book provides insights to those in philosophy as well as literary criticism, intellectual history, history of science, and cultural criticism.

Originally published in 1972, this book is a systematic analysis of the objectives and methods of history teaching. The book considers the criticisms of the 1960s and 70s of history as a subject and the pressures for its replacement in the school curriculum. It examines the complex psychological background of learning history and suggests that historical understanding makes an important contribution to cognitive growth. It also stresses the important part played by historical material in the emotional and imaginative life of the child. Concluding with a discussion of practical classroom...

The emergence of a sense of the past in Renaissance humanism gave rise to a new historical consciousness about the meaning of history and methods of historical enquiry. This book, originally published in 1986, provides an in-depth critical introduction to the historical thought of some of the most influential thinkers of Western culture, from Machiavelli s reflections on history and power to the revolutionary intuitions of Giambattista Vico s New Science of historical understanding, taking in Bodin, Montaigne, Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Newton, Leibniz and Bayle on the way.

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In this book, originally published in 1962, one of America s most distinguished historians defines the scope and variety fo his field and out lines his views on history s objectives both as a science and as an art. The book provides insight into historians methods of interpreting and presenting the past from Thucydides to twentieth century scholarship on Europe and America. It sets apart the different approaches to history biographical, cultural, intellectual, geographical and political illuminating the peculiar goals, problems and development of each discipline. It discusses the question...

Originally published in 1967, this book is aimed at the student teacher and discusses the philosophy of history and the effective learning of it. It discusses the UK secondary school history syllabus, with a particular emphasis on whether contemporary history is of more relevance to pupils than traditional history. There is a specific chapter on the problems of value-judgements in history and history teaching. From a psychological point of view, the book examines the problems of concept formation, the uses and dangers of analogy and the question of imagination and inference in child and...

Originally published in 1967, this book analyses the method by which historical evidence is built up and compares the nature of historical proof with that of other disciplines such as the law and natural sciences. It examines an extraordinary series of forgeries and distortions from the False Decretals to the biographies of Lytton Strachey, as well as discussing how an historical reputation such as that enjoyed by Judge Jefferies was created.

In Part 1 of this book, originally published in 1980, the focus is on certain claims of R. G. Collingwood regarding the nature of historical understanding, of Charles Beard about the possibility of an objective reconstruction of the past, and of J. W. N. Watkins concerning the reducibility of what historians say about social events and processes to what could have been said about relevant human individuals. Part 2 analyses the way certain historians have distinguished between causes and other explanatory conditions in disputing A. J. P. Taylor s account of the origins of the Second World...