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A Language-Game Justification for Narrative in Historical Explanation

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dc.contributor.authorHall, Brayton Brunoen
dc.contributor.committeechairKlagge, James C.en
dc.contributor.committeememberPatton, Lydia K.en
dc.contributor.committeememberTrogdon, Kelly Griffithen
dc.contributor.departmentPhilosophyen
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-22T08:00:26Zen
dc.date.available2017-06-22T08:00:26Zen
dc.date.issued2017-06-21en
dc.description.abstractThe problem of historical explanation consists in how historical facts are put together. No mere collection of facts constitutes an explanation: there must be some underlying explanation for why those facts occurred in the way they did. Many competing theories of historical explanation have thus been offered, from the highly technical D-N or covering law model, to narrative-based explanations. This paper exposes the flaws in the covering law model proposed by Carl Hempel, and offers a justification for narrative-based explanations by appealing to the notion of language games as used by Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as the narrative and paradigm models of Arthur Danto and Thomas Kuhn for explaining historical events.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralThe problem of historical explanation consists in how historical facts are put together. No mere collection of facts constitutes an explanation: there must be some underlying explanation for why those facts occurred in the way they did. Many competing theories of historical explanation have thus been offered, from the highly technical D-N or covering law model, which imitates the methods of explanation in “hard” scientific inquiry through a careful description of initial conditions and relevant laws and formulas, to narrative-based explanations, or explanations that use a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. This paper exposes the flaws in the covering law model proposed by Carl Hempel, and offers a justification for narrative-based explanations by appealing to the notion of language games as used by Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as the narrative and paradigm models of Arthur Danto and Thomas Kuhn for explaining historical events. The aim of this project is to prevent scientific analysis being incorrectly applied to non-scientific entities, such as persons (e.g. Napoleon Bonaparte) and places (e.g. Russia) which are referenced in ordinary language, and which are in principle irreducible to the primary entities of the so-called “hard” sciences, such as subatomic particles and fundamental forces.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:11653en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/78239en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectPhilosophyen
dc.subjectHistoryen
dc.subjectExplanationen
dc.subjectLanguageen
dc.subjectNarrativeen
dc.subjectCovering Lawen
dc.subjectWittgensteinen
dc.subjectDantoen
dc.subjectHempelen
dc.subjectKuhnen
dc.titleA Language-Game Justification for Narrative in Historical Explanationen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplinePhilosophyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

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