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Toward a logic of historical constitution

Leon J. Goldstein

pp. 19-52

The question which it is my intention to explore in the pages which follow is, What makes an historical reconstruction acceptable? But before I begin, it seems appropriate to say something about the term "historical constitution,' particularly since so far as I know I am the only one who uses it. Such perverse idiosyncracy ought not to be indulged, yet in the present case some justification can be offered. I am not wedded to the term for its own sake, but it does seem to suit my purpose admirably. What I am trying to do when I use it, is to avoid using the established alternatives, because those alternatives carry along with them suggestions about history and historical knowing which I should want to reject.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-1458-7_2

Full citation:

Goldstein, L. J. (1983)., Toward a logic of historical constitution, in R. S. Cohen & M. W. Wartofsky (eds.), Epistemology, methodology, and the social sciences, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 19-52.

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