Resource Centre for Philosophy of History and Historiography

Here you will find some literature (below)  and some useful links on philosophy of history and historiography. Please be patient. I try to increase the list little by little, starting with the literature that is most relevant in my current project on post-narrativist philosophy of historiography. Further, my aim is to keep the list focused, which means that the literature of other fields, which may be relevant in some cases, such as on general epistemology or philosophy of science, is not included. 

Below is a list of philosophical texts on historiography that I have used drafting two of the early chapters in my book project. I believe they are some of the most central writings in recent philosophy of historiography.

I have now started to build a thematic listing of literature as well. I should add that the lists are still mostly selective, reflecting on what I have recently read and dealt with. The principle is that I am familiar with the content and have used the publication in the near past in the current project. Later the lists may be expanded through data collection. 

Ankersmit, F. R. 1983. Narrative Logic. A Semantic Analysis of the Historian's Language [PDF] Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: The Hague, Boston and London. 

Ankersmit, F. R. 1986. “The Dilemma of Contemporary Anglo-Saxon Philosophy of History.” History and theory 25 (4): 1-27.

Ankersmit, F. R. 1988. "Historical Representation." History and Theory 27 (3): 205-228.

Ankersmit, F. R. 1989a. “Historiography and Postmodernism.”History and Theory 28 (2): 137-153. 

Ankersmit, F. R. 1989b. "The Use of Language in the Writing of History." In Working with Language: A Multidisciplinary Consideration of Language Use in Work Context, edited by Hywel Coleman Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Ankersmit, F. R. 1990. “[Historiography and Postmodernism: Reconsiderations]:Reply to Professor Zagorin.” History and Theory 29 (3): 275-296.

Ankersmit, F.R. 1994a. History and Tropology. The Rise and Fall of Metaphor. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Ankersmit, F. R. 1994b. “Introduction. Transcendentalism and the Rise and Fall of Metaphor.” In History and Tropology.  1-33.

Ankersmit, F.R. 1994c “Six Theses on Narrativist Philosophy of Historiography.” In History and Tropology. 33-44.

Ankersmit, F. R. 2001. Historical Representation. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 

Ankersmit, Frank, Mark Bevir, Paul Roth, Aviezer Tucer and Alison Wylie. 2007. “The Philosophy of History: An Agenda.” Journal of the Philosophy of History 1 (1): 1-9.

Ankermsit, Frank and Kellner, Hans. 1995. New Philosophy of History. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Cebik, L. B. 1969. “Colligation and the Writing of History.” Monist 53(1):40-57.

Croce, Benedetto. 1923. History, Its Theory and Practice. New York:  hw Wilson Company

Collingwood, R. G. 1946. The Idea of History. Oxford.

Danto, A.C. “Narrative sentences.” History and Theory 2, no. 2 (1962): 146–179. 

Day, M. 2008. The Philosophy of History. London: Continuum.

Dray, William. 1957. Laws and Explanation in History. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Dray, William. 1959. “ ‘Explaining what’ in History.” Theories of History, edited by Patrick Gardiner. New York: The Free Press.

Dray, W. H. “On the Nature and Role of Narrative in Historiography.” History and Theory 10, no. 2 (1971): 153. 

Ely, R.G. “The Historical Analysis of Change Author ( s ): Richard G . Ely.” Mind 82, no. 325 (1973): 89-94.

Ely, R.G., Rolf Gruner, and W.H. Dray. “Mandelbaum on historical narrative: A discussion.” History and theory 8, no. 2 (1969): 275–294. 

Evans, R. J. (2000). In Defence of History. London: Granta Books. 

Gallie, W.B. “The historical understanding.” History and Theory 3, no. 2 (1963): 149–202.

Gallie, W. B. 1964. Philosophy and the Historical Understanding. London: Chatto and Windus. 

Gardiner, P. (ed.) 1974. The Philosophy of History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Hook, S. (ed.) 1963. Philosophy and History. New York: New York University Press. 

Jenkins, K. 1991. Re-thinking History. London: Routledge.

Louch, A.R. “History as narrative.” History and Theory 8, no. 1 (1969): 54–70. 

Mandelbaum, M. “A critique of philosophies of history.” The Journal of Philosophy 45, no. 14 (1948): 365-378. 

Mandelbaum, M. “The History of Philosophy: Some Methodological Issues.” The Journal of Philosophy 74, no. 10 (1977): 561–572. 

Mandelbaum, Maurice. “A note on history as narrative.” History and theory 6, no. 3 (1967): 413–419. 

McCullagh, C B. 1969. “Narrative and Explanation in History.” Mind 78, no. 310 (1969): 256-261.

Mink, L.O. “The autonomy of historical understanding.” History and Theory 5, no. 1 (1966): 24–47. 

Mink, L. O. “History and fiction as modes of comprehension.” New Literary History 1 (1970): 541-558. 

Olafson, Frederick A. “Narrative History and the Concept of Action.” History and Theory 9, no. 3 (1970): 265-289.

Walsh, W. H. 1942. “The Intelligibility of History.” Philosophy 16 (66): 128-143.

Walsh, W. H. 1958. Introduction to Philosophy of History. London: Hutchinson University Library.

Walsh, W. H. 1974. “Colligatory Concepts in History.” In The Philosophy of History, edited by Patrick Gardiner. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 127-144.

Watkins, J. W. N. 1953. “Ideal Types and Historical Explanation.” In Reading in the Philosophy of Science, edited by H. Feigl and M. Brodbeck. New York: Appleton Century Crofts.

White, Hayden. 1987. The Content of the Form. Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation.  Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.

White, Hayden. 2001. “The Historical Text as Literary Artifact.” In The History and Narrative Reader, edited by G. Roberts. London: Routledge. 221-237.

White, Morton. 1963. “The Logic of Historical Narration.” In Philosophy and History, edited by Sidney Hook. New York: New York University Press. 

White, Morton. 1965. Foundations of Historical Knowledge. New York: Harper & Row.