The Limits of Historical Knowledge

“ The doubtful story of successive events.” With this contemptuous phrase1 Bernard Bosanquet brushed aside the claim of history to be considered a study deserving the attention of a thoughtful mind. Unsatisfactory in form, because never rising above uncertainty; unsatisfactory in matter, because alw...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Philosophical Studies 1928-04, Vol.3 (10), p.213-222
Main Author: Collingwood, R. G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Existence
Games
Historians
Historical particularism
Historical realism
History
Philosophical realism
Skepticism
Thought
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Summary:“ The doubtful story of successive events.” With this contemptuous phrase1 Bernard Bosanquet brushed aside the claim of history to be considered a study deserving the attention of a thoughtful mind. Unsatisfactory in form, because never rising above uncertainty; unsatisfactory in matter, because always concerned with the transitory, the successive, the merely particular as opposed to the universal; a chronicle of small beer, and an untrustworthy chronicle at that. Yet Bosanquet was well read in history; he had taught it as a young man at Oxford, and his first published work had been a translation of a recent German book on the Athenian constitution; he knew that a vast amount of the world's best genius in the last hundred years had been devoted to historical studies; and when, late in life, he asked himself what it came to, that was all he could say.
ISSN:0031-8191
1752-6795
1469-817X
DOI:10.1017/S0031819100017459