Historical Narrative: A Dispute Between Constructionism and Scientific Realism

• Authors: Václav Černík , Jozef Viceník
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

An intense discussion about the issue of historical narrative arose during the time when the naïve realism of classical historiography was being critiqued and led to a dispute, in the last century, between constructionism and critical or scientific realism. We can distinguish between constructionism and noetic constructivism. According to ontological constructionism all facts are human constructions; according to noetic constructivism, our notions and theories are constructs with objective meaning (sense and reference); they refer to objective reality. Scientific realism recognizes the existence of noetic construction but does not regard facts as our constructions, as pure fictions. The point of contention is the question over whether historical narrative is merely a discursive construction or whether it is also a scientific reconstruction of the past. Resolving the dispute over whether historical narrative can be objectively true, or whether it is subject to empirical control or not, is dependent on finding the answer to this question.

Keywords

EN

historical narrative; ontological constructionism; noetic constructivism; scientific realism

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 182-193

Dates

published

2009-06-01

online

2009-06-19

Contributors

author

Václav Černík

• Institute of Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

author

Jozef Viceník

• Institute of Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

References

• Ankersmit, F.R. Six Theses on Narrativist Philosophy of History. In History and Tropology: The Rise and Fall of Metaphor. Berkeley: University of California Press, 333-343, 1994.
• Appleby, J., Hunt, L., Jacob, M.Jak říkat pravdu o dějinách. Brno: Centrum poro studium demokracie a kultury, 2002.
• Cleleand, C.E. Methodological and Epistemic Diferences between Historical Science and Experimental Science. Philosophy of Science 69, 474-496, 2002.
• Collingwood, R. G.The Idea of History. Oxford Univ. Press, 1986.
• Croce, B.History as the Story of Liberty. London: George Allen and Unwin Limited, 1941.
• Černík, V., Viceník, J. Formovanie teórie spoločenského faktu. Filozofia 63, no. 8, 670-682, 2008.
• Černík, V., Viceník, J. (Ed.).Zákon, explanácia a interpretácia v spoločenských vedách. Bratislava: Iris, 2005.
• Danto, A.C.Analytical Philosophy of History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
• Domanska, E.Wokol metahistorii. In M. Stanford. An Introduction to the Philosophy of History. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
• Eco, U.Meno ruže. Bratislava: Sme, 2004.
• Fergusson, N. et al.Virtuální dejiny. Historické alternativy. Praha: Nakladatelství Dokořán, 2001.
• Gulyga, A.V. O povaze historického poznání. In Teoretické problémy historie. Praha, 1972.
• Hawking, S.The Universe in a Nutshell. New York: A Bantam Book, 2001.
• Kleinhaus, M.G., Bushes, Ch. J. J., de Regt, H.W. Terra Incognita: Explanation and Reduction in Earth Science. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 19, No.3, 289-317, 2005.[WoS]
• Magagnini, A.Etruskové. Poklady starobylých civilizací. Praha: Universum, 2008.
• Marx, K.Kapitál. Bratislava: Pravda, 1985.
• Passmore, J.A. The Objectivity of History. In W.H. Dray (Ed.). Philosophical Analysis and History. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.
• Pomorski, J.Historyk i Metodologia. Lublin: Wydawnictvo Marie Currie-Sklodowska, 1991.
• Russel, B.History as an Art. London: Aldington, 1954.
• Stanford, M.An Introduction to the Philosophy of History. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
• Šuch, J. Frank Ankersmit: Narativní logika a historická reprezentácia. Historický časopis 57, No. 1, 3-18, 2009.
• Topolski, J.Marksizm i historia. Warszawa: PWN, 1977.
• Topolski, J.Metodologia historie. Warszawa: PWN, 1984.
• Topolski, J.Wprowadzeni do histoprie. Poznan: Wydawnictvo Poznanskie, 1998.
• Toynbee, A.J.Studium dějin. Úvod. Praha: Práh, 1995.
• Vico, G.Základy nové vědy o společenské přirozenosti národú. Praha: Academia, 1991.
• White, H.Poetika pisarstva historicznego. (E. Domanska, M. Wilczynski). Krakow: Univerista, 2000.
• Zeleňák, E.Virtuální dějiny. Historické alternativy. Praha: Nakladatelství Dokořán, 2001.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10023-009-0032-x