Knowra Philosophy of history Philosophy of history The branch of philosophy that examines how historical knowledge is possible, how events are explained and caused, and whether history has an overall pattern or direction.
Historical method : Methods historians use to evaluate sources, establish facts, and construct accounts of the past. Its rules of evidence underpin philosophical questions about historical knowledge.
Covering-law model : An account of explanation in which events are explained by deriving them from general laws and initial conditions. It tests whether historical explanation can work like explanation in the natural sciences.
Historicism : An approach that interprets ideas and institutions through their development within particular historical contexts. Its emphasis on context differs from claims about universal laws of historical change.
G. W. F. Hegel : A German philosopher whose idealist system interpreted history as the development of freedom and self-consciousness. His account became a major model of history as a directional process.
Historical explanation : An account of why a past event occurred, connecting it to causes, conditions, motives, or reasons. It is the central practice whose logic philosophers of history examine.
Narrative explanation : An explanation that makes events intelligible by arranging them into a temporally ordered story. It shows how sequence and plot can explain without reducing events to general laws.
Positivism : The view that reliable knowledge rests on observable evidence and methods modeled on the natural sciences. It contrasts with approaches that give narrative or interpretation a distinctive role in history.
Karl Marx : A German philosopher and political economist who analyzed society through material production and class conflict. His theory recast historical direction in terms of material and social relations.
Historical causation : The relations among events, conditions, and actions that contribute to historical outcomes. It raises questions about necessity, contingency, and causal explanation in history.
Counterfactual history : The study of alternative pasts formed by asking what would have happened if events had differed. Counterfactuals help assess whether a proposed cause made a difference.
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