Understanding History

Has any question about the historical past ever been finally answered? Of course there is much disagreement among professional historians about what happened in the past and how to explain it. But this incisive study goes one step further and brings into question the very ability of historians to ga...

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Autor principal: Gorman, Jonathan
Formato: Online
Lenguaje:inglés
Publicado: University of Ottawa Press / Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa 2021
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Acceso en línea:578813
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author Gorman, Jonathan
author_browse Gorman, Jonathan
author_facet Gorman, Jonathan
author_sort Gorman, Jonathan
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Has any question about the historical past ever been finally answered? Of course there is much disagreement among professional historians about what happened in the past and how to explain it. But this incisive study goes one step further and brings into question the very ability of historians to gather and communicate genuine knowledge about the past.<i>Understanding History</i> applies this general question from the philosophy of history to economic history of American slaveholders. Do we understand the American slaveholders? Has the last word on the subject been said? Both the alleged “profitability” of slavery and the purported causes of the American Civil War are philosophically analyzed. Traditional narrative history and econometric history are examined and compared, and their different philosophical assumptions made explicit. The problem of justifying historical methodologies is first set in the wider context of the philosophical problem of knowledge, then lucidly explained and resolved along pragmatic lines. The novelty of Gorman’s approach lies in its comparison of narrative with econometric history, its analysis of empathetic understanding in terms of cost-benefit analysis, and its elucidation of the metaphysical presuppositions of empiricism. It stands out especially for the clarity, rigor, and simplicity of its arguments.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-314392025-07-30T10:20:35Z Understanding History Gorman, Jonathan philosophy history Cliometrics David Hume Empiricism Metaphysics Slavery thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy Has any question about the historical past ever been finally answered? Of course there is much disagreement among professional historians about what happened in the past and how to explain it. But this incisive study goes one step further and brings into question the very ability of historians to gather and communicate genuine knowledge about the past.<i>Understanding History</i> applies this general question from the philosophy of history to economic history of American slaveholders. Do we understand the American slaveholders? Has the last word on the subject been said? Both the alleged “profitability” of slavery and the purported causes of the American Civil War are philosophically analyzed. Traditional narrative history and econometric history are examined and compared, and their different philosophical assumptions made explicit. The problem of justifying historical methodologies is first set in the wider context of the philosophical problem of knowledge, then lucidly explained and resolved along pragmatic lines. The novelty of Gorman’s approach lies in its comparison of narrative with econometric history, its analysis of empathetic understanding in terms of cost-benefit analysis, and its elucidation of the metaphysical presuppositions of empiricism. It stands out especially for the clarity, rigor, and simplicity of its arguments. 2021-02-10T12:58:18Z 2015-11-03 00:00:00 2020-04-01T14:26:17Z 1992 book 578813 OCN: 747088993 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/32996 9780776617374 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/31439 eng Philosophica open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/32996/1/578813.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/32996/1/578813.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/32996/1/578813.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/32996/1/578813.pdf University of Ottawa Press / Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa 10.26530/OAPEN_578813 10.26530/OAPEN_578813 66acbd65-c929-45de-b070-9f23bf72fdd8 9780776617374 135 open access
spellingShingle philosophy
history
Cliometrics
David Hume
Empiricism
Metaphysics
Slavery
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
Gorman, Jonathan
Understanding History
title Understanding History
title_full Understanding History
title_fullStr Understanding History
title_full_unstemmed Understanding History
title_short Understanding History
title_sort understanding history
topic philosophy
history
Cliometrics
David Hume
Empiricism
Metaphysics
Slavery
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
topic_facet philosophy
history
Cliometrics
David Hume
Empiricism
Metaphysics
Slavery
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy
url 578813
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