Plausible worlds
Subtitle: possibility and understanding in history and the social sciences
By: Geoffrey Hawthorn.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1991
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 192
Subjects: History -- Philosophy.; History -- Methodology.; Social sciences -- Philosophy.; Social sciences -- Methodology.
Description: 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.