Lexington Books
Pages: 206
Trim: 6¼ x 9
978-1-66690-241-9 • Hardback • June 2022 • $100.00 • (£77.00)
978-1-66690-242-6 • eBook • June 2022 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Adam Timmins holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of York and is an independent scholar. Towards a Realist Philosophy of History is his first monograph.
Chapter One: General Arguments Against Historiographical Realism
Chapter Two: A Two-Stage Model of Historiographical Practice
Chapter Three: The Club of Historical Facts
Chapter Four: Reference
Chapter Five: Colligatory Concepts
Chapter Six: Progress in Historiography
Chapter Seven: Holism
Chapter Eight: Narrative & Realism
Adam Timmins’s book is an immensely important effort to overcome the influence of postmodernist anti-realism in the philosophy of history, typically manifested as the view that historical past did not happen and that it is merely constructed by historians. The book surveys, presents, and refutes arguments in favor of anti-realist positions about historical past and provides a comprehensive theory of historical facts. This rejection of postmodernist anti-realism has important political implications: if historical past did not happen, then past acts of oppression also did not happen, and it becomes impossible to condemn them. In opposition to such views, a realist position, such as the one advocated by Timmins, provides a solid base for a humanist perspective on history.
— Branko Mitrović, Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet