The Ideal Explanatory Text in History

A Plea for Ecumenism

Bibliographic Data

ID4495689
AuthorsTor Egil Førland (University of Oslo, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume43
Issue3
Pages321-340
Publication date2004-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory and Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2656 • E-ISSN: 1468-2303
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-2303.2004.00285.x
OpenAlexW2148700573
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited11

This article presents Peter Railton's analysis of scientific explanation and discusses its application in historiography. Although Railton thinks covering laws are basic in explanation, his account is far removed from Hempel. The main feature of Railton's account is its ecumenism. The "ideal explanatory text," a central concept in Railton's analysis, has room for not only causal and intentional, but also structural and functional explanations. The essay shows this by analyzing a number of explanations in history. In Railton's terminology all information that reduces our insecurity as to what the explanandum is due is explanatory. In the "encyclopedic ideal explanatory text," different kinds of explanation converge in the explanandum from different starting points. By incorporating pragmatic aspects, Railton's account is well suited to show how explanations in historiography can be explanatory despite their lack of covering laws or tendency statements. Railton's account is also dynamic, showing how the explanatory quest is a never-ending search for better illumination of the ideal explanatory text. Railton's analysis is briefly compared to, and found compatible with, views on explanation presented by David Lewis, C. Behan McCullagh, and R. G. Collingwood. Confronted with Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutics and Donald Davidson's insistence on the indeterminacy of interpretation, the essay suggests that the objectivity of the ideal explanatory text should be regarded as local, limited to the description under which the action is seen

Ecumenism · Epistemology · Hermeneutics · Historiography · Ideal (ethics) · Indeterminacy (philosophy) · Linguistics · Objectivity (philosophy) · Plea · Political science · Terminology · Theology · Hermeneutics and Narrative Identity · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Science and Climate Studies

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