Recounting the Past: "Description," Explanation, and Narrative in Historiography

Megill, Allan

doi:10.2307/1873749

Cited by 72 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…Some historians go further and argue that divisions such as these, between "mere" description and explanation, are artificial and misleading. Megill (1989), for example, argues that all historical studies are to various degrees descriptive, explanatory, interpretive, and argumentative. A particular historical study can therefore not be categorised or evaluated on any other basis than that set by the researcher and the research aims.…”

Section: Messy Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rise and Fall of Comprehensive Accounting Theories: R. J. Chambers and Continuously Contemporary Accounting

Persson

2013

SSRN Journal

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Section: Messy Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rise and Fall of Comprehensive Accounting Theories: R. J. Chambers and Continuously Contemporary Accounting

Persson

2013

SSRN Journal

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“…8 Contrast Hayden White's (1987), p. 4, again implicitly positivist, argument that "it is because real events do not offer themselves as stories that their narrativization is so difficult." 9 For this fuller definition of narrative see Megill (1989).…”

Section: Beyond Explanationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical explanation, folk psychology, and narrative

Bevir¹

2000

Philosophical Explorations

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This paper argues history differs from natural science in relying on folk psychology and so narrative explanations. In narratives, actions, beliefs, and proattitudes are joined by conditional and volitional connections. Conditional connections exist when beliefs and pro-attitudes pick up themes from one another.Volitional connections exist when agents command themselves to do something having decided to do it because of a pro-attitude they hold. The paper defends the epistemic legitimacy of narratives by arguing we have legitimate grounds for postulating conditional and volitional connections since they are given to us by a folk psychology we accept as true. HISTORICAL EXPLANATION, FOLK PSYCHOLOGY, AND NARRATIVE I. PreliminariesWhen we say that Susan crossed the road to buy a sandwich, we explain her action by attributing to her a desire to buy a sandwich and a belief that she can do so across the road. Our standard way of explaining human actions is by reference to the beliefs and pro-attitudes of actors. We should not be surprised, therefore, that historical explanations often appeal to beliefs and pro-attitudes. The most obvious examples are explanations of particular actions, whether decided upon by an individual or a group. Consider, for example, Colin Matthew's explanation of W. E.Gladstone's sensational production in 1886 of the controversial Government of Ireland Bill. Matthew describes how the Liberal Party was excluded from the process of discussion and how even the Cabinet was not given adequate time to examine the proposals. 'Gladstone,' he explains, 'hoped to trump Cabinet doubts and party unease by the production of a great bill' (Matthew, 1995, p. 236). The tactics Gladstone deployed are explained here by reference to both his wish to win support for his proposals and his belief, albeit surrounded by doubts, that he could do so through the drama of a great bill. A similar form of explanation appears whenever historians treat collective entities such as classes, institutions, and states as akin to people by ascribing to them things such as intentions.Numerous historical explanations work by pointing to the beliefs and proattitudes that informed an action or set of actions. Historians explain all sorts of aspects of life in this way, including not only particular actions or sets of actions, but

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“…Others have rejected altogether the very possibility of explanation, and have adopted instead a radical scepticism toward any reliable knowledge of past worlds. Still others have embraced postmodernist and deconstructionist approaches, modes of analysis, that signal what has been termed the 'linguistic turn' in the human sciences (Megill 1989;Tilly 1994:2-4). The results are mixed.…”

Section: The Moral Dimension Of Historical Writing and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Moralising the agrarian question: Concealed meanings and competing master narratives in the construction of an imagined South African countryside

Murray

1996

Journal of Contemporary African Studies

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Recounting the Past: "Description," Explanation, and Narrative in Historiography

Cited by 72 publications

References 0 publications

The Rise and Fall of Comprehensive Accounting Theories: R. J. Chambers and Continuously Contemporary Accounting

The Rise and Fall of Comprehensive Accounting Theories: R. J. Chambers and Continuously Contemporary Accounting

Historical explanation, folk psychology, and narrative

Moralising the agrarian question: Concealed meanings and competing master narratives in the construction of an imagined South African countryside

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