Between positivism and narrativism in Polish methodology of history
Published:
Sep 2, 2013
Keywords:
narrativism positivism idealisation Poznań school of methodology methodology of history
Abstract
This paper has two main purposes. Its primary purpose is to present the reception of the discussion between positivism and narrativism in the Polish methodology of history. A secondary one is to paraphrase, using the notion apparatus of the idealisational theory of science, the issue of the accuracy of explanation. The article consists of six parts. In the first part, Hempel’s deductive-nomological (or covering-law) model of explanation is presented. In the second part, the main tenets and assumptions of the Poznań school of methodology are presented. The emergence of this school at the end of the 1960s delayed the popularisation of narrativism in Polish methodology of history. In the third part, the manifold reasons of this delayed reception are analysed. The popularization of narrativism was only possible in Poland after 1989, but it had a primarily imitative character. This outline of cultural and scientific context allows Chris Lorenz’s proposals (on the problem of the accuracy of explanation) to be put in a wider perspective (part four). Namely, this author describes “a theoretical historical debate” on the status of scientific laws and refers to a post-positivistic approach to science represented by Nancy Cartwright. This approach was to introduce new perspectives to the understanding of lawfulness. In the fifth part, the main assumptions and tenets (for example, modes of explanation) of another post-positivistic approach to science, namely the idealisational theory of science, are presented and compared with the Hempelian model of explanation. In the sixth part, Hempel’s explanatory sketch is paraphrased using the notion apparatus of the idealisational model of science which provides a solution in this theoretical framework, to the problem of accuracy of explanation posed by Lorenz.
Article Details
- How to Cite
-
Brzechczyn, K. (2013). Between positivism and narrativism in Polish methodology of history. Historein, 14(1), 75–87. https://doi.org/10.12681/historein.234
- Section
- DIALOGOS: CROSSING THE BORDERS OF PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The copyright for articles in this journal is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use (with the exception of the non-granted right to make derivative works) with proper attribution for non-commercial uses (licence Creative Commons 4.0). EKT/NHRF retains the worldwide right to reproduce, display, distribute, and use articles published in Historein in all formats and media, either separately or as part of collective works for the full term of copyright. This includes but is not limited to the right to publish articles in an issue of the Journal, copy and distribute individual reprints of the articles, authorize reproduction of articles in their entirety in another EKT/NHRF publication, and authorize reproduction and distribution of articles or abstracts thereof by means of computerized retrieval systems.Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Carl G. Hempel, “The Function of General Laws in History”, in Hempel, Aspects of Scientific Explanation and Other Essays in the Philosophy of Science, (New York: Free Press [1942] 1965): 231-243.
Carl G. Hempel, “Studies in the Logic of Explanation”, in Hempel, Aspects of Scientific Explanation and Other Essays in the Philosophy of Science, (New York: Free Press [1948] 1965): 245-295.
Krzysztof Brzechczyn, “Logical Empiricism and Logical Positivism,” in A Companion to the Philosophy of History and Historiography, ed. Aviezer Tucker, (Malden: Blackwell 2009): 416-426.
Chris Lorenz, “History and Theory” in The Oxford History of Historical Writing, vol. 5, ed. Daniel Woolf and Axel Schneider (Oxford: University Press 2011): 13-35.
Krzysztof Brzechczyn, Polish Discussions on the Nature of Communism and Mechanisms of its Collapse. A Review Article,” East European Politics and Societies, 22 (2008): 828-855.
Jerzy Kmita, Essays on the Theory of Scientific Cognition (Warszawa/Dordrecht: PWN/Reidel [1976] 1991),
Jerzy Kmita, Problems in Historical Epistemology (Warszawa/Dordrecht: PWN/Reidel [1980] 1988).
Epistemology and History, ed. Anna Zeidler-Janiszewska (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 47) (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 1996).
The Courage of Doing Philosophy: Essays Dedicated to Leszek Nowak, eds. Jerzy Brzeziński, Andrzej Klawiter, Theo A. F. Kuipers, Krzysztof Łastowski, Katarzyna Paprzycka, Piotr Przybysz (Amsterdam/New York, NY: Rodopi, 2007).
La realtà modellata. L’approccio idealizzazionale e le sue applicazioni nelle scienze umane, eds. Francesco Coniglione, Roberto Poli (Milano: FrancoAngeli 2008).
Scienza, marxismo e metafisica. Leszek Nowak e la Scuola Metodologica di Poznań, ed. Giacomo Borbone (Villasanta: Limina Mentis Editore 2012).
Krzysztof Brzechczyn, and Piotr Przybysz, „Poznańska Szkoła Metodologiczna,” in Encyklopedia Filozofii Polskiej, vol. 2, ed. Andrzej Maryniarczyk (Lublin: Polskie Towarzystwo Tomasza z Akwinu 2011): 410-413.
Leszek Nowak, The Structure of Idealization. Towards a Systematic Interpretation of Marxian Idea of Science, (Reidel: Dordrecht 1980),
Leszek Nowak, Izabella Nowakowa, The Richness of Idealization (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 69) (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2000).
Jerzy Topolski, Methodology of History, (Dordrecht: Reidel 1976).
Idealization XIII: Modeling in History (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 97), ed. K. Brzechczyn (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2009).
Jerzy Topolski, “Toward an Integrated Model of Historical Explanation,” History and Theory, 30 (1991): 324-338.
Topolski, “Historical Narrative: Towards a Coherent Structure,” History and Theory, 26 (1987): 75-86.
Carl G. Hempel, Podstawy nauk przyrodniczych [Foundations of Science] trans. into Polish by Barbara Stanosz (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowo-Techniczne, 1968).
Ernest Nagel, Struktura nauki. Zagadnienia logiki wyjaśnień naukowych [The Structure of Science] transl. into Polish by Jerzy Giedymin, B. Rassalski, Helena Eilstein (Warszawa: PWN, 1961).
Karl R. Popper, Logika odkrycia naukowego [The Logic of Scientific Discovery], transl. into Polish by Urszula Niklas (Warszawa: PWN 1977).
Jerzy Topolski, Teoria wiedzy historycznej [Theory of Historical Knowledge], (Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 1983).
Jan Pomorski, “Hayden White: historyzm jako relatywizm językowy w historiografii” [Hayden White: Historicism as Linguistic Relativism in Historiography]. Annales Universitates Mariae Curie-Sklodowska, 11 (1986): 189-202.
Sławomir Magala, Review of ‘Tropics of Discourse’, Przegląd Literatury Metodologicznej, 5 (1988): 39-40.
Hayden White, “Zagadnienie przemiany w historii literatury” [The Problem of Change in Literary Criticism], Pamiętnik Literacki, 1 (1989): 277-293.
Hayden White, “Problem narracji we współczesnej teorii historii” [The Question of Narrative in Contemporary Historical Theory], in Metodologiczne problemy narracji historycznej, ed. Pomorski (Lublin: Wyd. UMCS, 1990): 25-62.
Jan Pomorski, “Wprowadzenie: spory wokół narracji historycznej” [Preface: Controversies around Historical Narrative], in Metodologiczne problemy narracji historycznej ed. J. Pomorski, (Lublin: Wyd. UMCS 1990): 11-24.
Hayden White, Tropics of Discourse. Essays in Cultural Criticism (Baltimore/London: The Johns Hopkins University Press 1978).
Franklin Ankersmit, Narracja, reprezentacja, doświadczenie. Studia z teorii historiografii, ed. E. Domańska, (Kraków: Universitas 2004).
Hayden White, Proza historyczna, ed. E. Domańska (Kraków: Universitas 2009).
Hayden White, Poetyka pisarstwa historycznego, eds. E. Domańska, and M. Wilczyński (Kraków: Universitas 2000).
Jerzy Topolski, Jak się pisze i rozumie historię. Tajemnice narracji historycznej [How to Write and Understand History. Secrets of Historical Narrative] (Warszawa: Rytm 1996).
Jan Pomorski, “Jak uprawiać metodologię historii? Wokół koncepcji Jerzego Topolskiego” [How To Do Methodology of History. Among Concepts of Jerzy Topolski], in Światooglądy historiograficzne, ed. Pomorski, (Lublin: Wyd. UMCS 2002), 19-20,
Szymon Malczewski, “Metodologie” Jerzego Topolskiego” [„Methodologies” of Jerzy Topolski], Historyka. Studia Metodologiczne 39 (2009): 89-120.
Krzysztof Brzechczyn, “Between Science and Literature: The Debate on the Status of History,” in Idealization XIII: Modeling in History (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 97), ed. Brzechczyn (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2009): 7-30.
Leszek Nowak, “Thoughts Are Facts of Possible Worlds. Truths Are Facts of a Given World” Dialectica, 45 (1991): 273-287,
Leszek Nowak, “On the Hidden Unity of Social and Natural Sciences”, in Thinking about Provincialism in Thinking (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 100), eds. K. Brzechczyn, Katarzyna Paprzycka (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2012), 15-50.
Chris Lorenz, “Geschichtswissenschaft und Gesetze: eine zwiespältige Geschichte“, in Gesetz und Gesetzlichkeit in den Wissenschaften, ed. W. Bock, (Darmstadt 2006): 185-199.
Nancy Cartwright, How the Laws of Physics Lie? (Oxford: University Press 1983).
Leszek Nowak, Wstęp do idealizacyjnej teorii nauki [Introduction to the Idealizational Theory of Science] (Warszawa: PWN 1977),
Leszek Nowak “The Idealizational Approach to Science. A New Survey”, in Nowak, Izabela Nowakowa, Idealization X: The Richness of Idealization (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 69) (Amsterdam: Rodopi 2000): 109-184.
Carl G. Hempel, “Studies in the Logic of Explanation”, in Hempel, Aspects of Scientific Explanation and Other Essays in the Philosophy of Science, (New York: Free Press [1948] 1965): 245-295.
Krzysztof Brzechczyn, “Logical Empiricism and Logical Positivism,” in A Companion to the Philosophy of History and Historiography, ed. Aviezer Tucker, (Malden: Blackwell 2009): 416-426.
Chris Lorenz, “History and Theory” in The Oxford History of Historical Writing, vol. 5, ed. Daniel Woolf and Axel Schneider (Oxford: University Press 2011): 13-35.
Krzysztof Brzechczyn, Polish Discussions on the Nature of Communism and Mechanisms of its Collapse. A Review Article,” East European Politics and Societies, 22 (2008): 828-855.
Jerzy Kmita, Essays on the Theory of Scientific Cognition (Warszawa/Dordrecht: PWN/Reidel [1976] 1991),
Jerzy Kmita, Problems in Historical Epistemology (Warszawa/Dordrecht: PWN/Reidel [1980] 1988).
Epistemology and History, ed. Anna Zeidler-Janiszewska (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 47) (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 1996).
The Courage of Doing Philosophy: Essays Dedicated to Leszek Nowak, eds. Jerzy Brzeziński, Andrzej Klawiter, Theo A. F. Kuipers, Krzysztof Łastowski, Katarzyna Paprzycka, Piotr Przybysz (Amsterdam/New York, NY: Rodopi, 2007).
La realtà modellata. L’approccio idealizzazionale e le sue applicazioni nelle scienze umane, eds. Francesco Coniglione, Roberto Poli (Milano: FrancoAngeli 2008).
Scienza, marxismo e metafisica. Leszek Nowak e la Scuola Metodologica di Poznań, ed. Giacomo Borbone (Villasanta: Limina Mentis Editore 2012).
Krzysztof Brzechczyn, and Piotr Przybysz, „Poznańska Szkoła Metodologiczna,” in Encyklopedia Filozofii Polskiej, vol. 2, ed. Andrzej Maryniarczyk (Lublin: Polskie Towarzystwo Tomasza z Akwinu 2011): 410-413.
Leszek Nowak, The Structure of Idealization. Towards a Systematic Interpretation of Marxian Idea of Science, (Reidel: Dordrecht 1980),
Leszek Nowak, Izabella Nowakowa, The Richness of Idealization (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 69) (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2000).
Jerzy Topolski, Methodology of History, (Dordrecht: Reidel 1976).
Idealization XIII: Modeling in History (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 97), ed. K. Brzechczyn (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2009).
Jerzy Topolski, “Toward an Integrated Model of Historical Explanation,” History and Theory, 30 (1991): 324-338.
Topolski, “Historical Narrative: Towards a Coherent Structure,” History and Theory, 26 (1987): 75-86.
Carl G. Hempel, Podstawy nauk przyrodniczych [Foundations of Science] trans. into Polish by Barbara Stanosz (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowo-Techniczne, 1968).
Ernest Nagel, Struktura nauki. Zagadnienia logiki wyjaśnień naukowych [The Structure of Science] transl. into Polish by Jerzy Giedymin, B. Rassalski, Helena Eilstein (Warszawa: PWN, 1961).
Karl R. Popper, Logika odkrycia naukowego [The Logic of Scientific Discovery], transl. into Polish by Urszula Niklas (Warszawa: PWN 1977).
Jerzy Topolski, Teoria wiedzy historycznej [Theory of Historical Knowledge], (Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 1983).
Jan Pomorski, “Hayden White: historyzm jako relatywizm językowy w historiografii” [Hayden White: Historicism as Linguistic Relativism in Historiography]. Annales Universitates Mariae Curie-Sklodowska, 11 (1986): 189-202.
Sławomir Magala, Review of ‘Tropics of Discourse’, Przegląd Literatury Metodologicznej, 5 (1988): 39-40.
Hayden White, “Zagadnienie przemiany w historii literatury” [The Problem of Change in Literary Criticism], Pamiętnik Literacki, 1 (1989): 277-293.
Hayden White, “Problem narracji we współczesnej teorii historii” [The Question of Narrative in Contemporary Historical Theory], in Metodologiczne problemy narracji historycznej, ed. Pomorski (Lublin: Wyd. UMCS, 1990): 25-62.
Jan Pomorski, “Wprowadzenie: spory wokół narracji historycznej” [Preface: Controversies around Historical Narrative], in Metodologiczne problemy narracji historycznej ed. J. Pomorski, (Lublin: Wyd. UMCS 1990): 11-24.
Hayden White, Tropics of Discourse. Essays in Cultural Criticism (Baltimore/London: The Johns Hopkins University Press 1978).
Franklin Ankersmit, Narracja, reprezentacja, doświadczenie. Studia z teorii historiografii, ed. E. Domańska, (Kraków: Universitas 2004).
Hayden White, Proza historyczna, ed. E. Domańska (Kraków: Universitas 2009).
Hayden White, Poetyka pisarstwa historycznego, eds. E. Domańska, and M. Wilczyński (Kraków: Universitas 2000).
Jerzy Topolski, Jak się pisze i rozumie historię. Tajemnice narracji historycznej [How to Write and Understand History. Secrets of Historical Narrative] (Warszawa: Rytm 1996).
Jan Pomorski, “Jak uprawiać metodologię historii? Wokół koncepcji Jerzego Topolskiego” [How To Do Methodology of History. Among Concepts of Jerzy Topolski], in Światooglądy historiograficzne, ed. Pomorski, (Lublin: Wyd. UMCS 2002), 19-20,
Szymon Malczewski, “Metodologie” Jerzego Topolskiego” [„Methodologies” of Jerzy Topolski], Historyka. Studia Metodologiczne 39 (2009): 89-120.
Krzysztof Brzechczyn, “Between Science and Literature: The Debate on the Status of History,” in Idealization XIII: Modeling in History (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 97), ed. Brzechczyn (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2009): 7-30.
Leszek Nowak, “Thoughts Are Facts of Possible Worlds. Truths Are Facts of a Given World” Dialectica, 45 (1991): 273-287,
Leszek Nowak, “On the Hidden Unity of Social and Natural Sciences”, in Thinking about Provincialism in Thinking (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 100), eds. K. Brzechczyn, Katarzyna Paprzycka (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2012), 15-50.
Chris Lorenz, “Geschichtswissenschaft und Gesetze: eine zwiespältige Geschichte“, in Gesetz und Gesetzlichkeit in den Wissenschaften, ed. W. Bock, (Darmstadt 2006): 185-199.
Nancy Cartwright, How the Laws of Physics Lie? (Oxford: University Press 1983).
Leszek Nowak, Wstęp do idealizacyjnej teorii nauki [Introduction to the Idealizational Theory of Science] (Warszawa: PWN 1977),
Leszek Nowak “The Idealizational Approach to Science. A New Survey”, in Nowak, Izabela Nowakowa, Idealization X: The Richness of Idealization (Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 69) (Amsterdam: Rodopi 2000): 109-184.
