Abstract
The problem of narration emerges when we pass from considerations concerned with pragmatic methodology and focused on research procedures, to the consideration of the results of research (i.e., apragmatic considerations). In many sciences an answer to a given research question takes on the form of a coherent and complete verbal structure. That verbal structure might be called a narrative, although the term may seem somewhat shocking when applied to certain disciplines. For all the differences in the structures of narratives in the various sciences each narrative is a report on the results of research, that is, a coherent sequence of statements about specified facts. From that point of view there is no difference not only between, say, history and geology, but also between history, on the one hand, and physics or musicology, on the other. A physicist, a musicologist and a historian alike must report on the results of their research, conducted by different methods, in a certain order which is accepted in their respective disciplines. This means that they must compose certain fragments into a readable whole (which may prove readable only to those who know the specific language of a given discipline), in which the results of one’s own research, one’s own knowledge, and some results of researches conducted by others, are merged into a possibly well-structured report.
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References
On historical narratives which have had a theoretical significance see A. Danto, The Analytical Philosophy of History, pp. 133-4.
This is not to say that time is treated as something which exists apart from some timeless reality. See J. Topolski, “Czas w narracji historycznej”(Time in Historical Narrative), Studio Metodologiczne, No. 10/1973, p. 3-23.
Cf. N. Rotenstreich, “Historical Time”in: Between Past and Present, New Haven 1958, pp. 51–134. The present writer’s comments differ somewhat from Rotenstreich’s opinion, who explains the flow of time in causal terms. See also G. Simmel, Problem der historischen Zeit, Berlin 1916, Rotenstreich, who treats historical time as a concretization of time in general, does not agree with Simmel, who holds that time in history is a certain relation between facts, while history as a whole is timeless.
Cf. Theories of History, p. 78 (which includes a section of Teoria e practica della storiografia). See also A. Danto, op. cit., p. 116.
W. H. Walsh, Introduction to the Philosophy of History, London 1951, p. 31.
A. Danto, op. cit., pp. 116 ff.
This distinction is made by A. Danto, op. cit., pp. 123 ff.
In A. Danto (p. 149) the concept of Ideal Chronicler has a different sense.
But if we consider the whole of his production, we would rather call him a historian.
R. H. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, pp. 70–1.
H. Madurowicz-Urbańska, Ceny zboża w zachodniej Malopolsce w drugiej polowie XVIII wieku (Grain Prices in the Western Part of Lesser Poland in the Second Half of the 18th Century), Warszawa 1963, p. 60.
The language of popular works is an important but separate problem, which will not be discussed here. Cf. B. Lesnodorski, “Historia i społeczeństwo. Problemy informacji i porozumienia”(History and Society. Problems of Information and Communication), Kwartalnik Historyczny, No. 3/1965, pp. 539–63. He links the popularization of historical knowledge with the spreading of the scientific way of thinking, and also points to the fact that the problem varies from country to country.
Cf. M. Bloch, Apologie pour l’histoire ou métier d’historien, pp. 79–97.
J. Giedymin & J. Kmita, Wyklady z logiki formalnej, teorii komunikacji i metodologii nauk (Lectures on Formai Logic, Communication Theory and the Methodology of Sciences), ed. cit., pp. 73 ff.
Cf. J. Pelc, “Semiotic Functions as Applied to the Analysis of the Concept of Metaphor”, in: Studies in Functional Logical Semiotics of Natural Language, The Hague 1971, pp. 142–94.
R. H. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, ed. cit., p. 67.
G. M. Trevelyan, History of England, London-New York 1947, p. 465.
Ibid., p. 624.
On the role of anecdotes see the interesting comment by Soboul, op. cit., p. 277.
On this issue see J. Giedymin & J. Kmita, op. cit., pp. 210 ff. T. Pawlow-ski, “Pojecia typologiczne w naukach historycznych”(Typological Concepts in Historical Disciplines), Studia Metodologiczne, No. 3/1967; I. Lazari-Pawtow-ska, “O pojęciu typologicznym w humanistyce”(Typological Concepts in the Humanities), Studia Filozoficzne, No. 4/1958,pp. 30-53. The classical work (next to those by M. Weber) is C. G. Hempel & P. Oppenheim, Der Typusbegriff im Lichte der neuen Logik, Leiden 1936. The concept of ideal types (abstractions) in Marx’s works are analysed by L. Nowak in his excellent study U pod-staw marksowskiej metodologii nauk (The Foundations of the Marxian Methodology of Sciences), Warszawa 1971
Cf. J. Dutkiewicz, “Pojecia wlasne nauki historycznej”(Concept Specific to the Science of History), Rocznik Łódzki, vol. V, 1962, pp. 25–32.
E. Nagel, The Structure of Science, ed. cit., pp. 588ff.
J. Giedymin, “Charakterystyka pytan i wnioskowań kontrafaktycznych” (The Characteristics of Questions and Counterfactual Inference), Studia Metodologiczne, No. 1, pp. 23–45.
Ibid., pp. 35-6.
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Topolski, J. (1976). The Nature and Instruments of Historical Narration. In: Methodology of History. Synthese Library, vol 88. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1123-5_25
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