| Description |
xiii, 192 pages ; 23 cm |
|
text txt rdacontent |
|
unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Counterfactuals, explanation and understanding -- Plague and fertility in early modern Europe -- The United States in South Korea -- Duccio's painting -- Explanation, understanding and theory. |
| Summary |
Possibilities haunt history. The force of our explanations of events turns on the alternative possibilities those explanations suggest. It is these possible worlds that give us our understanding; and in human affairs, we decide them by practical rather than theoretical judgment. In this widely acclaimed account of the role of counterfactuals in explanation, Geoffrey Hawthorn deploys extended examples to defend his argument. His conclusions cast doubt on existing assumptions about the nature and place of theory, and indeed of the possibility of knowledge itself, in the human sciences. |
| Subject |
History -- Philosophy.
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History -- Methodology.
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Social sciences -- Philosophy.
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Social sciences -- Methodology.
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History -- Methodology.
(OCoLC)fst00958259
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History -- Philosophy.
(OCoLC)fst00958266
|
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Social sciences -- Methodology.
(OCoLC)fst01122933
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Social sciences -- Philosophy.
(OCoLC)fst01122940
|
| ISBN |
0521403596 (hard) |
|
9780521403597 (hard) |
|
0521457769 |
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9780521457767 |
|
