Introduction to the Philosophy of the Historical Sciences

Georg Gangl (University of Oulu, University of Ostrava)

This lecture introduces students to the historical sciences and their philosophical foundations. Disciplines such as historiography, archaeology, evolutionary biology, and paleontology share distinctive features that set them apart from the experimental sciences. These differences concern the nature of their subject matter (ontology), how knowledge about the past is acquired (epistemology), the methods they employ (methodology), and the ways in which findings are represented (narrative). The aim of the lecture is to familiarize students with these unique characteristics and to engage them in the philosophical discussions surrounding them.