Mehrfachbesprechung: Doris Gerber: Analytische Metaphysik der Geschichte. Handlungen, Geschichten und ihre Erklärung, Frankfurt/M. 2012

Abstract

Currently, epistemological debates on the formation of concepts in the field of history are close to nonexistent. For that reason alone, this book written by philosopher of history Doris Gerber – with which she earned her habilitation degree at the University of Tübingen – is a welcome addition to the literature in the field. In this work, Gerber addresses the metaphysical question of what "history" really is. In this study, she considers approaches typically adopted within the field of history, and questions whether the intention to act is essential in writing history, or whether it is even required in the first place. The findings of the four reviewers that follow are diverse in their opinion of this provocative study.