Why historians (and everyone else) should care about counterfactuals

Philosophical Studies 163 (2):317-335 (2013)
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Abstract

Abstract   There are at least eight good reasons practicing historians should concern themselves with counterfactual claims. Furthermore, four of these reasons do not even require that we are able to tell which historical counterfactuals are true and which are false. This paper defends the claim that these reasons to be concerned with counterfactuals are good ones, and discusses how each can contribute to the practice of history. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11098-011-9817-z Authors Daniel Nolan, School of Philosophy, Australian National University, 0200 Canberra, Australia Journal Philosophical Studies Online ISSN 1573-0883 Print ISSN 0031-8116.

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Author's Profile

Daniel Nolan
University of Notre Dame

Citations of this work

Conditionals.R. A. Briggs - 2019 - In Richard Pettigrew & Jonathan Weisberg (eds.), The Open Handbook of Formal Epistemology. PhilPapers Foundation. pp. 543-590.
Presidential address: Experimenting with the scientific past.Gregory Radick - 2016 - British Journal for the History of Science 49 (2):153-172.
Contingency and History.Kim Sterelny - 2016 - Philosophy of Science 83 (4):521-539.
The Possibilities of History.Daniel Nolan - 2016 - Journal of the Philosophy of History 10 (3):441-456.

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References found in this work

Counterfactuals.David K. Lewis - 1973 - Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
Counterfactuals.David Lewis - 1973 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 36 (3):602-605.
Counterfactuals.David Lewis - 1973 - Foundations of Language 13 (1):145-151.
Causation as influence.David Lewis - 2000 - Journal of Philosophy 97 (4):182-197.

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