Conclusion
Although the topics discussed above occupied a central position in 20th-century critical discussion, they represent only a sample of the issues with which analytical philosophers of history were concerned: other problems that attracted attention related to the freedom and responsibility of historical agents, the nature and description of historical events, and the role of narrative in history. Here, as elsewhere, the approach adopted often produced results of considerable interest, throwing a revealing light on features of historical inquiry that are easily missed or ignored by theorists in the grip of some powerful dogma or ideology. Even so, it perhaps was accompanied by a too-ready acquiescence in the view that history is “in order as it is,” the philosopher’s function being confined to offering a purely descriptive elucidation of typical modes of historical thought and argument. In accepting this conception of their role, analytical philosophers of history no doubt were partly, and understandably, influenced by a desire to avoid emulating the heady ambitions of their speculative predecessors. Yet, normative questions regarding the validity or adequacy of established procedures within any domain can always be legitimately raised; in the case of history, there seems to be no compelling reason to assume that such problems necessarily lie beyond the scope of philosophical criticism and appraisal.
Literature:
Robin G. Collingwood, The Idea of History (1946),
Karl R. Popper, The Poverty of Historicism (1957),
M.C. Lemon, Philosophy of History: A Guide for Students (2003),
Patrick L. Gardiner, The Nature of Historical Explanation, 3rd ed. (1967);
William H. Dray,Laws and Explanation in History (1957);
Peter Winch, The Idea of a Social Science and Its Relation to Philosophy (1958);
Morton G. White, Foundations of Historical Knowledge(1965),
Frank E. Manuel, Shapes of Philosophical History(1965),
William Dray, Perspectives in History (1980),
Anthony Giddens, A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism: Power, Property, and the State(1982);
Hilary Putnam, Reason, Truth and History (1981)
Lawrence Stone, The Past and the Present (1981)
John W. Miller, The Philosophy of History with Reflections and Aphorisms (1981)
F.R. Ankersmit and Hans Kellner (eds.), A New Philosophy of History (1995).