Abstract:
There is a pronounced tendency within contemporary philosophy of history to think of
historical knowledge as something apart from the kind of knowledge generated in the
sciences. This has given rise to a myriad of epistemological issues. For if historical
knowledge is not related to the scientific, then what is it? By what logic does it proceed? How
are historical conclusions justified? Although almost the entirety of contemporary
philosophy of history has been dedicated to such questions, there has been little real and
agreed upon progress. Rather than fire yet another salvo in this rhetorical war, however, this
thesis wishes instead to examine what lies beneath the basic presumption of separatism
which animates it. Part One examines several paradigmatic examples of twentieth century
philosophy of history in order to identify the grounds by which their authors considered
history fundamentally different in kind from the sciences. It is concluded that, in each case,
the case for separatism fows from the pervasive assumption that any body of knowledge
which might rightly be called a science can be recognised by its search for general laws of
nature. As history does not seem to share this aim, it is therefore considered to be knowledge
of a fundamentally different kind. This thesis terms this the "nomothetic assumption." Part
Two argues that such nomothetic assumptions are not an accurate representation of either
scientific theory or practice and therefore that any assumption of separatism based upon
them is unsound. To do this, examples of acknowledged scientific problems from the
biological and geological sciences which do not involve the use of general laws are
examined, with the aim of discovering how these historical disciplines are able to do the
work of explanation in their absence. They do so, it is concluded, through a mechanism of
epistemic (as opposed to literary) narrative. Having thus identified how historical sciences
proceed without making direct use of laws, Part Two then generalises this model of scientific
narrative and shows how it can be used to model existing practices in human history. This
conclusion has far-reaching consequences, for it brings a single definition, method, and logic
of confirmation to all studies of the past – whether traditionally acknowledged as scientific or
historical. Thus all historical enquiries proceed by a common logic and by a common
method. This effectively and definitively places human history among the sciences, without
the need for the kind of radical transformation past attempts to do this have required.
