Justifying Historical Descriptions

By Christopher Behan McCullagh

Book Overview

In common with history, all the social sciences crucially rely on descriptions of the past for their evidence. But when, if ever, is it reasonable to regard such descriptions as true? This book attempts to establish the conditions that warrant belief in historical descriptions. It does so in a non-technical way, analysing numerous illustrations of the different kinds of argument about the past employed by historians and others. The author concludes that no historical description can be finally proved, and that we are only ever justified in believing them for certain practical purposes. This central question has not been addressed in such a thorough and systematic manner before. It draws on recent philosophy of history and will interest philosophers. But the wealth of material and accessibility of the presentation will also make it very valuable for historians and other social scientists concerned with the logic of their disciplines.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521318300
• ISBN13: 9780521318303
• Release Date: November 1984
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Learn why certain historical writing is persuasive

McCullagh does as good as any other critic of historical writing and the discipline of history, in laying valid and helpful criteria for analyzing the truth or falsehood of a thesis and its evidence. He discusses the - comprehensiveness of the evidence, - its explanatory scope (including the usage of varying sources), - its explanatory power for the observable sources, - its plausibility and coherence with existing understandings of truth, - the thesis's avoidance of claims not already accepted by the discipline - its ability to not imply many false statements, when combined with other existing and compelling theses, - and the thesis's overall persuasiveness when matched with rival theses, based on its ability to fulfill the previous six conditions. (Thanks to William Lane Craig for bringing his work to my attention.)