The Exemplifying Past
A Philosophy of History
Published on 1. October 2025
158 pages
978-1-040-78109-8 (ISBN)
Description
This book addresses a wide range of philosophical problems about history and the semantics of time. The point of departure is the distinction between events under the description of past witnesses and their contemporaries and events under the description of historians. Its main claim is that a thesis on the past is exemplified rather than being justified by the available evidence. Such thesis, the book argues, retroactively becomes concrete in the past under consideration. This book will not only appeal to philosophers and historians, but to students and scholars across the humanities.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
File size
28,00 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-78109-8 (9781040781098)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 12/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€80.30
Not yet published
Book
07/2018
Amsterdam University Press
€156.20
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Dr. Chiel van den Akker is lecturer Historical Theory at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is the author of Elementaire Deeltjes - Geschiedenis (Athenaeum 2019) and The Exemplifying Past. A Philosophy of History (Amsterdam University Press 2018).
Content
Preface, 1. Introduction: Retroaction, Indeterminacy, and Seeing-in, 2. Periods and Other Minds, 3. Mink's Riddle of Narrative Truth, 4. Resemblance, Substitution, Expression, 5. Exemplification, 6. Danto's End of Art, Bibliography, Index
