Plausible Worlds: Possibility and Understanding in History and the Social Sciences (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780521457767)

Possibilities haunt history. The force of our explanations of events turns on the alternative possibilities those explanations suggest. It is these possible worlds that give us our understanding; and in human affairs, we decide them by practical rather than theoretical judgment. In this widely acclaimed account of the role of counterfactuals in explanation, Geoffrey Hawthorn deploys extended examples 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.

Author: Geoffrey Hawthorn
ISBN-10: 0521457769
ISBN-13: 9780521457767
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 11/18/1993
Pages: 208
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.62lbs
Size: 8.45h x 5.42w x 0.68d