The philosophy of history

• List of figures and tables
• p. x

• Preface
• p. xi

• Part I
• Evidence of the Past

• 1
• An introduction to historical practice
• p. 3

• 1
• The past in the present
• p. 3

• 2
• The professionalization of history
• p. 5

• 3
• Relations with the past
• p. 9

• 4
• Forms of historical production
• p. 12

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 15

• 2
• Historical methodology
• p. 16

• 1
• Scissors and paste
• p. 16

• 2
• Rules of historical reasoning
• p. 20

• 3
• Peer reviews
• p. 21

• 4
• A philosophical approach to historical reasoning
• p. 25

• 5
• Primary sources
• p. 27

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 29

• 3
• Reasoning from the evidence
• p. 31

• 1
• Bayesianism
• p. 31

• 2
• The limitations of Bayesianism
• p. 34

• 3
• Explanation and inference
• p. 37

• 4
• Unwinding the spool
• p. 40

• 5
• Explanatory virtues
• p. 42

• 6
• The preservation of testimony
• p. 44

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 49

• Part II
• History as Science

• 4
• Abstraction and laws
• p. 53

• 1
• What's so great about science?
• p. 53

• 2
• Abstraction and quantification
• p. 55

• 3
• Positivism
• p. 59

• 4
• Laws
• p. 62

• 5
• Against universality
• p. 65

• 6
• Rehabilitating causation
• p. 69

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 72

• 5
• The causal sciences
• p. 73

• 1
• Against causation in history
• p. 73

• 2
• Singular causation
• p. 76

• 3
• Causation and contrasts
• p. 80

• 4
• What is a historical theory?
• p. 83

• 5
• Justifying historical theories: comparison and contrast
• p. 88

• 6
• Justifying historical theories: explaining how
• p. 91

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 93

• 6
• Theory and particular
• p. 95

• 1
• The historian's role
• p. 95

• 2
• A priori argument from particularity
• p. 96

• 3
• Applying general terms
• p. 98

• 4
• The 'chemical' sciences
• p. 102

• 5
• Combining theories in practice
• p. 105

• 6
• Narrative and theory
• p. 107

• 7
• Is naturalism the best account of historical practice?
• p. 110

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 111

• Part III
• History as Interpretation

• 7
• Feeling and thought
• p. 115

• 1
• Questions in the philosophy of interpretation
• p. 115

• 2
• Empathy
• p. 118

• 3
• Collingwood and re-enactment
• p. 121

• 4
• Living history
• p. 123

• 5
• All history is the history of thought
• p. 126

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 129

• 8
• Actions, reasons and norms
• p. 130

• 1
• Rationality
• p. 130

• 2
• What is it to act rationally?
• p. 133

• 3
• Meaning and society
• p. 137

• 4
• Social norms
• p. 139

• 5
• The Great Cat Massacre
• p. 144

• 6
• Interim conclusion: interpretation and evidence
• p. 147

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 149

• Part IV
• From Interpretation to Discourse

• 9
• Subject and object
• p. 153

• 1
• Historicism
• p. 153

• 2
• Objectivity and evaluation
• p. 156

• 3
• Selection and importance
• p. 159

• 4
• Dialogue
• p. 162

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 166

• 10
• Narrative
• p. 167

• 1
• What are narratives?
• p. 167

• 2
• Narrative and discourse
• p. 171

• 3
• Metahistory
• p. 174

• 4
• Narrative and truth
• p. 178

• 5
• Collective narrative and metanarrative
• p. 181

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 184

• Part V
• Truth and Reality

• 11
• The absent past
• p. 187

• 1
• Overview: correspondence to reality
• p. 188

• 2
• Overview: anti-realism
• p. 190

• 3
• Beyond statement truth
• p. 194

• 4
• Qualified historical scepticism
• p. 199

• 5
• Construction of the past
• p. 204

• 6
• Present truth and past truth
• p. 207

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 209

• 12
• Underdetermination
• p. 211

• 1
• Coherence and choice
• p. 211

• 2
• Bayesianism reconsidered
• p. 214

• 3
• Historiographical disagreement
• p. 217

• 4
• Social Construction
• p. 220

• 5
• Linguistic Idealism
• p. 222

• 6
• Practical relations to the past
• p. 225

• Further reading and study questions
• p. 228

• Conclusion
• p. 230

• Notes
• p. 233

• References
• p. 243

• Index
• p. 251