{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78239"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78239","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A Language-Game Justification for Narrative in Historical Explanation","abstract":"The problem of historical explanation consists in how historical facts are put together. No mere collection of facts constitutes an explanation: there must be some underlying explanation for why those facts occurred in the way they did. Many competing theories of historical explanation have thus been offered, from the highly technical D-N or covering law model, to narrative-based explanations. 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No mere collection of facts constitutes an explanation: there must be some underlying explanation for why those facts occurred in the way they did. Many competing theories of historical explanation have thus been offered, from the highly technical D-N or covering law model, to narrative-based explanations. This paper exposes the flaws in the covering law model proposed by Carl Hempel, and offers a justification for narrative-based explanations by appealing to the notion of language games as used by Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as the narrative and paradigm models of Arthur Danto and Thomas Kuhn for explaining historical events."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["The problem of historical explanation consists in how historical facts are put together. No mere collection of facts constitutes an explanation: there must be some underlying explanation for why those facts occurred in the way they did. Many competing theories of historical explanation have thus been offered, from the highly technical D-N or covering law model, which imitates the methods of explanation in “hard” scientific inquiry through a careful description of initial conditions and relevant laws and formulas, to narrative-based explanations, or explanations that use a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. This paper exposes the flaws in the covering law model proposed by Carl Hempel, and offers a justification for narrative-based explanations by appealing to the notion of language games as used by Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as the narrative and paradigm models of Arthur Danto and Thomas Kuhn for explaining historical events. The aim of this project is to prevent scientific analysis being incorrectly applied to non-scientific entities, such as persons (e.g. Napoleon Bonaparte) and places (e.g. Russia) which are referenced in ordinary language, and which are in principle irreducible to the primary entities of the so-called “hard” sciences, such as subatomic particles and fundamental forces."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Language-Game Justification for Narrative in Historical Explanation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Klagge, James C."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Patton, Lydia K.","Trogdon, Kelly Griffith"],"dc:contributor.department":["Philosophy"],"dc:creator":["Hall, Brayton Bruno"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2017-06-22T08:00:26Z"],"dc:date.available":["2017-06-22T08:00:26Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2017-06-21"],"dc:description.abstract":["The problem of historical explanation consists in how historical facts are put together. No mere collection of facts constitutes an explanation: there must be some underlying explanation for why those facts occurred in the way they did. Many competing theories of historical explanation have thus been offered, from the highly technical D-N or covering law model, to narrative-based explanations. This paper exposes the flaws in the covering law model proposed by Carl Hempel, and offers a justification for narrative-based explanations by appealing to the notion of language games as used by Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as the narrative and paradigm models of Arthur Danto and Thomas Kuhn for explaining historical events."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["The problem of historical explanation consists in how historical facts are put together. No mere collection of facts constitutes an explanation: there must be some underlying explanation for why those facts occurred in the way they did. Many competing theories of historical explanation have thus been offered, from the highly technical D-N or covering law model, which imitates the methods of explanation in “hard” scientific inquiry through a careful description of initial conditions and relevant laws and formulas, to narrative-based explanations, or explanations that use a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. This paper exposes the flaws in the covering law model proposed by Carl Hempel, and offers a justification for narrative-based explanations by appealing to the notion of language games as used by Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as the narrative and paradigm models of Arthur Danto and Thomas Kuhn for explaining historical events. The aim of this project is to prevent scientific analysis being incorrectly applied to non-scientific entities, such as persons (e.g. Napoleon Bonaparte) and places (e.g. Russia) which are referenced in ordinary language, and which are in principle irreducible to the primary entities of the so-called “hard” sciences, such as subatomic particles and fundamental forces."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Arts"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:11653"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/78239"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Philosophy","History","Explanation","Language","Narrative","Covering Law","Wittgenstein","Danto","Hempel","Kuhn"],"dc:title":["A Language-Game Justification for Narrative in Historical Explanation"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Philosophy"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:26Z"}