Causality and intentionality: a contribution to the debate on the explanatory dimension of historiograhy

The process of reconstructing the past comprises the explanatory procedure. Although relativized in recent decades, this article argues the need for emphasizing such procedure, based on the acknowledgment of the referent–representation relationship, which reintroduced the theme of historicity in the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Alencar Arrais, Cristiano
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP)
Repositorio:História da Historiografia
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.www.historiadahistoriografia.com.br:article/1632
Acceso en línea:https://www.historiadahistoriografia.com.br/revista/article/view/1632
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Historical explanation
theory of history
historical causality
Explicação histórica
Teoria da história
Causalidade histórica
Explicación histórica
teoría de la história
causalidad histórica
Descripción
Sumario:The process of reconstructing the past comprises the explanatory procedure. Although relativized in recent decades, this article argues the need for emphasizing such procedure, based on the acknowledgment of the referent–representation relationship, which reintroduced the theme of historicity in the theory of history. My hypothesis states that historians’ reconstructive bases reinforce the role of intentionality as the structuring principle of historical explanation. Moreover, considering the multi-descriptive nature of historiography, which does not object to the core of tropological reflections, examining the internal logic of historical explanations counters relativistic theses – generally expressed in pseudo-historical arguments that confound different explanations with divergent explanations.