Values Objectivity and Explanation in Historiography

Bringing sophisticated philosophy to bear on real-life historiography Values Objectivity and Explanation in Historiography rekindles and invigorates the debate on two perennials in the theory and methodology of history. One is the tension between historians' values and the idealâor illusionâof objective historiography. The other is historical explanation. The point of departure for the treatment of values and objectivity is an exceptionally heated debate on Cold War historiography in Denmark involving not only historians but also the political parties the national newspapers and the courts. The in-depth analysis that follows concludes that historians can produce accounts that deserve the label objective even though their descriptions are tinged by ineluctable epistemic instability. A separate chapter dissects the postmodern notion of situated truths. The second part of the book proffers a new take on historical explanation. It is based on the notion of the ideal explanatory text which allows for not only causalâincluding intentionalâbut also nomological structural and functional explanations. The approach which can accommodate narrative explanations driven by causal plots is ecumenical but not all-encompassing. Emergent social properties and supernatural entities are excluded from the ideal explanatory text making scientific historiography methodologically individualisticâalbeit with room for explanations at higher levels when pragmatically justifiedâand atheist. The Open Access version of this book available at http://www. taylorfrancis. com has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative License. . Language: English