Introduction: The Philosophy of Historiography

This book studies our knowledge of history, its nature, historical development, epistemic limits, and scope. In ordinary language “history” is ambiguous. It may mean past events or the study of past events (Dray, 1993, p. 1). In its original Greek historie is etymologically related to the verb “to see” and consequently to inquiry and knowledge. In other languages, “history” means a story (Le Goff, 1992, pp. 101–3). Arthur Marwick (1993, p. 6) distinguished five different uses of “history.” In addition to past events and the activity of research into past events, Marwick added the interpretations that result from research, the accumulated knowledge of the past, based on those interpretations, and what is considered significant of the accumulated knowledge of the past. Ordinary language aside, in this book I use a terminology designed to fit its epistemic focus: By history I mean past events. Historiography is composed of representations of past events, usually texts, but other media such as movies or sound recordings may also represent past events. Historians like Ranke or Mommsen wrote about history, they produced historiography. Historiographers like Momigliano and Iggers wrote about historiography, about the works of historians like Thucydides and Ranke. Scientific historiography, the main topic of this book, is historiography that generates probable knowledge of the past.Historiographic interpretation is the final historiographic product that is ready