Historical narratives : constructable, evaluable, inevitable / Mariana Imaz-Sheinbaum.

New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2024.

©2024

xii, 140 pages ; 24 cm.

"This book explains some of the psychological processes that go into narrative construction and why it is that we have so much variability of historical accounts about a single historical event. A central focus of this book is how historians go from having unconnected units of data to having a coherent, structured and organized flow of experiences. The author argues that the way these connections are established respond to certain Gestalt psychological principles that allow us to understand not only how histories are constructed but also how this construction can be rather different depending on how these principles are applied. To illustrate how these principles are present in histories, the author analyzes classic historical writers such as Burckhardt, Huizinga, Vico and Marx. Along the explanation of why historical multiplicity happens, the book also offers a way to evaluate different historical narratives about the same historical event. To illustrate how the evaluative framework is at play, the author analyzes two views about the so-called discovery of America. The first one explains what happens in 1492 by using the term "discovery." The second one uses the notion of "invention" to talk about the same set of circumstances. The book provides an important epistemic tool to evaluate these different accounts, one that can be applied not only to this case but others alike. This book appeals to scholars, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduate students of history and philosophy. In addition, the book may also attract intellectuals, generally considered that are interested in how philosophy can inform and question the historical practice"-- Provided by publisher.

Constructable, evaluable, inevitable

Online version: Imaz-Sheinbaum, Mariana. Historical narratives New York, NY : Routledge, 2024

English

May 03, 2024

Includes bibliographical references and index.