Uniqueness and historical laws
Philosophy of Science 47 (2):260-276 (1980)
| Abstract | This paper presents an argument for the claim that historical events are unique in a nontrivial sense which entails the inapplicability of the Hempelian D-N model to historical explanations. Some previous criticisms of Hempel are shown to be general criticisms of the D-N model which can be outflanked in cases where a reduction to fundamental laws is available. I then survey grounds for denying that explanations by reasons can be effectively reduced to causal explanations, and for rejecting methodological individualism. I conclude with some positive remarks concerning the structure of historical explanations and sense in which historical events are unique. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,705 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesLeon J. Goldstein (1967). Theory in History. Philosophy of Science 34 (1):23-40.
Mary B. Williams (1986). The Logical Skeleton of Darwin's Historical Methodology. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986:514 - 521.
James Farr (1982). Humean Explanations in the Moral Sciences. Inquiry 25 (1):57 – 80.
Laird Addis (1968). Historicism and Historical Laws of Development. Inquiry 11 (1-4):155 – 174.
Gregory Currie (1980). The Role of Normative Assumptions in Historical Explanation. Philosophy of Science 47 (3):456-473.
Merrilee H. Salmon (2003). Causal Explanations of Behavior. Philosophy of Science 70 (4):720-738.
Aviezer Tucker (1998). Unique Events: The Underdetermination of Explanation. Erkenntnis 48 (1):61-83.
Not By Me (1983). Historical Laws in Modern Biology. Acta Biotheoretica 32 (3).
Leon J. Goldstein (1962). Evidence and Events in History. Philosophy of Science 29 (2):175-194.
Stanley Paluch (1968). The Covering Law Model of Historical Explanation. Inquiry 11 (1-4):368 – 387.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads9 ( #114,124 of 549,128 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,361 of 549,128 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
