Historical Knowledge, Historical Error
A Contemporary Guide to Practice
- Contents
- Review Quotes
- Awards

Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Need for Historical Epistemology
Part I. Memory
1. History with Memory, History without Memory
Memory versus History
History and the Present
Conflicting Attitudes toward the Past
History’s Legitimate Roles
2. History, Memory, Identity
Identity and the Memory Wave
Identity, Memory, and Historical Understanding
History, Memory, and the Unknown
Part II. Narrative and Knowledge
3. Does Narrative Have a Cognitive Value of Its Own?
The “Crisis” of Narrative
The Epistemological Limits of Narrative
4. Narrative and the Four Tasks of History-Writing
Explanation and Description
Narrative and Braudel’s Mediterranean
The Four Tasks of History-Writing
Part III. Objectivity and Speculation
5. Objectivity for Historians
Objectivity and Commitment
Defining Objectivity
6. A Case Study in Historical Epistemology: What Did the Neighbors Know about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings?
(by Steven Shepard, Phillip Honenberger, and Allan Megill)
A Disputed Case
Inference to the Best Explanation
Thagard’s Three Criteria
A Fourth Criterion
Inferring the Relationship
The Case for Our Alternative Account
7. Counterfactual History: On Niall Ferguson’s Virtual History and Similar Works
Part IV. Fragmentation
8. Fragmentation and the Future of Historiography: On Peter Novick’s That Noble Dream
9. “Grand Narrative” and the Discipline of History
Four Ideal-Typical Attitudes toward the Overall Coherence of History
Four Postulates Suggested by the Preceding Account
10. Coherence and Incoherence in Historical Studies: From the Annales School to the New Cultural History
The Annales School and the Problem of Coherence
The Annales School: From Convergence to Multiplicity
Coherence as a Willed Commitment
Conclusion: Against Current Fashion
Notes
Index
“Historical Knowledge, Historical Error is part of a resurgence of interest in the philosophy of history. Allan Megill knows his history and is more than usually sophisticated as a philosopher. He has useful and wise things to say on a host of topics including memory, counterfactuals, narrative, and professionalization. By no means do I agree with all that Megill has argued, but he is intelligent, clear, and displays a scholarly integrity that is rock-solid. The book deserves our extended attention.”--Bruce Kuklick, University of Pennsylvania
“Megill’s book represents a major and much-needed intervention in the debates that have engaged historians and philosophers of history in the last two or three decades. Coming from someone who has thought deeply, carefully, and long on the meanings of historical objectivity for our times, this is a book that presents a fresh and clear point of view. Megill’s argument deserves attention from everybody who wonders about where the discipline of history might be headed once the dust has settled on the tired debates over objectivity versus relativist skepticism.”--Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago
Choice Magazine: CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Awards
Won
History: American History | European History | History of Ideas
Literature and Literary Criticism: General Criticism and Critical Theory
Philosophy: Philosophy of Society
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