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Meaning, Truth, and Reference in Historical Representation
A Love-Based Theory of Practical Reasons
Frank Ankersmit
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History / Philosophy of History
Philosophy
The Normativity of What We Care About Katrien Schaubroeck a love-based reason theory as a new perspective in the debate on practical reasons
€ 39,50 / £35.00 isbn 978 90 5867 905 5 06/2012
Reasons and obligations pervade our lives. The alarm clock gives us a reason to get up in the morning, the expectations of colleagues or clients give us a reason to do our jobs well, the misery in developing countries gives us a reason to donate money, headaches give us a reason to take an aspirin. Looking for unity in variety, philosophers wonder what makes a consideration count as a reason to do something. The nature and source of practical reasons has been debated intensively over the last three decennia in analytic philosophy. This book discusses the three most influential theories in current debates, referred to as the desire-based, the value-based, and the rationality-based theories of practical reasons. The author argues that all three are defective because they overlook the role of what agents care about. In the end it is our being concerned about other people, leading a meaningful life, and being healthy (among other things) that give us reasons to do certain things rather than others. Drawing on insights from Harry Frankfurt, the author presents a love-based reason theory as a new and promising perspective in the debate on practical reasons.
a powerful and provocative contribution to the debate about the nature of historical writing
Frank Ankersmit is the author of many books and essays on the theory of history. In this original work, he provides, for the first time, a systematic account of his understanding of the nature of historical writing. This rehabilitation of historicism will surprise many, as will the way in which Ankersmit goes about it. Ankersmit argues that the historicist account of historical writing (from Herder, via Ranke and Humboldt, to Dilthey) is correct but needs to be translated from its original romanticist vocabulary into a more modern philosophical idiom. This translation, he maintains, ‘reveals the basic truths about the nature of the past itself, how we relate to it, and how we make sense of the past in historical writing.’ ‘In my view, Frank Ankersmit, is the most original and important philosopher of history writing today. There is no question but that he knows this field inside out – he seems to have read virtually everything relevant to it. Even more important he has an original and extremely stimulating perspective on the object of philosophy of history, namely, the human attempt to come to grips with the past. Meaning, Truth and Reference in Historical Representation significantly clarifies Ankersmit’s views and claims.’ – Allan Megill, University of Virginia, author of Historical Knowledge, Historical Error: A Contemporary Guide to Practice
16 x 24 cm
€ 32,50 / £28.00 isbn 978 90 5867 914 7 05/2012 15,6 x 23,5 cm
Paperback
katrien schaubroeck is postdoctoral researcher at the Universiteit Utrecht, working
ca. 256 p.
on the nwo-project ‘What can the humanities contribute to our practical self-understanding?’
‘What is not in this book I consider of no relevance to the proper understanding of ‘historical writing’.’ – from the Preface
nur 737 English
Paperback 264 p. nur 687 English
frank ankersmit is emeritus professor of intellectual history and philosophy of history Also of interest The Concept of Love in 17th and 18th Century Philosophy
at Groningen University, a recipient of the university’s medal of honour, and a member of
Co-edition with Cornell
the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences.
University Press
Gábor Boros, Herman De Dijn, Martin Moors (eds)
Selling rights for
€ 34,50 / £30.00, isbn 978 90 5867 651 1, January 2008, English
Europe
