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  3. Plausible Worlds
  • Cited by 133
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      05 August 2012
      30 August 1991
      ISBN:
      9780511621222
      9780521457767
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511621222
      Dimensions:
      Weight & Pages:
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.227kg, 208 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Philosophy: General Interest, History, Philosophy, History of Ideas and Intellectual History
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    Subjects:
    Philosophy: General Interest, History, Philosophy, History of Ideas and Intellectual History
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    Book description

    Possibilities haunt history. The force of our explanations of events turns on the alternative possibilities these explanations suggest. It is these possible worlds which give us our understanding; and in human affairs we decide them by practical rather than theoretical judgement. In his widely acclaimed account of the role of counterfactuals in explanation, Geoffrey Hawthorn deploys extended examples from history and modern times to defend his argument. His conclusions cast doubt on existing assumptions about the nature and place of theory, and indeed of the possibility of knowledge itself, in the human sciences.

    Reviews

    ‘Hawthorn’s Plausible Worlds is not only a good read, filled with all sorts of fascinating information, but a book that raises very large and interesting questions about the nature of explanation in the human sciences. I found his answers to the questions persuasive.’

    Richard Rorty

    ‘This volume is a marvelously stimulating and thought provoking work. It ought to be on the reading lists of advanced courses on both the theory and the methodology of history writing.’

    Allan Megill Source: The American Historical Review

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