The philosophy of historiography examines our representations and
knowledge of the past, the relation between evidence, inference,
explanation and narrative. Do we possess knowledge of the past? Do we
just have probable beliefs about the past, or is historiography a piece
of convincing fiction? The philosophy of history is the direct
philosophical examination of history, whether it is necessary or
contingent, whether it has a direction or whether it is coincidental,
and if it has a direction, what it is, and how and why it is unfolding?
The fifty entries in this companion cover the main issues in the
philosophies of historiography and history, including natural history
and the practices of historians. Written by an international and
multi-disciplinary group of experts, these clearly written entries
present a cutting-edge updated picture of current research in the
philosophies of historiography and history. This companion will be of
interest to philosophers, historians, natural historians, and social
scientists.
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.
