•  7012
    Concepts of Causation in Historiography
    Historical Methods 42 (3): 116-128. 2009.
    This paper aims to apply contemporary theories of causation to historiography. The main purpose is to show that historians can use the concept of causation in a variety of ways, each of which is associated with different historiographical claims and different kinds of argumentation. Through this application, it will also become clear, contrary to what is often stated, that historical narratives are (in a specific way) causal, and that micro-history can be seen as a response to a very specific (c…Read more
  •  1242
    This paper consists of two parts. In the first part, I give an in-depth comparison and analysis of the theories of Frank Ankersmit and Eelco Runia, in which I highlight their most important resemblances and differences. What both have in common is their notion of the presence of the past as a ‘presence in absence’. They differ, however, with respect to the character of this past and the role representation plays in making it present. Second, I also argue that for both Ankersmit and Runia, the pr…Read more
  •  946
    In this article, I question the unspoken assumption in historical theory that there is a trade-off between language or narrative, on the one hand, and experience or presence, on the other. Both critics and proponents of historical experience seem to presuppose that this is indeed the case. I argue that this is not necessarily true, and I analyze how the opposition between language and experience in historical theory can be overcome. More specifically, I identify the necessary conditions for a ph…Read more
  •  925
    Anticipation and the Constitution of Time in the Philosophy of Ernst Cassirer
    International Journal of Computing Anticipatory Systems 23 64-73. 2010.
    In this paper, I will argue with Ernst Cassirer that anticipation plays an essential part in the constitution of time, as seen from a transcendental perspective. Time is, as any transcendental concept, regarded as basically relational and subjective and only in a derivative way objective and indifferent to us. This entails that memory is prior to history, and that anticipation is prior to prediction. In this paper, I will give some examples in order to argue for this point. Furthermore, I will a…Read more
  •  595
    Levinas and Badiou on Ethics, Aesthetics and the Anticipation of the Unanticipatable
    International Journal of Computing Anticipatory Systems. forthcoming.
    In this paper, I will present what I take to be a standard view of morality, and I argue that this view amounts to a paradox: the moral event or moral concern, the source of morality, ultimately leads, through moral theory, to a denial of itself. I will show how Badiou and Levinas take a way out of this and in doing so deny the possibility of anticipating the moral. Furthermore, I claim that this anticipatory moment can be introduced back by means of the concept of “practical wisdom” as used in …Read more
  •  554
    Unravelling the Methodology of Causal Pluralism
    with Anton Froeyman and Leen De Vreese
    Philosophica 81 (1). 2008.
    In this paper we try to bring some clarification in the recent debate on causal pluralism. Our first aim is to clarify what it means to have a pluralistic theory of causation and to articulate the criteria by means of which a certain theory of causation can or cannot qualify as a pluralistic theory of causation. We also show that there is currently no theory on the\nmarket which meets these criteria, and therefore no full-blown pluralist theory of causation exists. Because of this, we offer a ge…Read more
  •  483
    Historische Uitvoeringspraktijk
    de Uil Van Minerva 24 (1): 21-38. 2011.
  •  481
    Betekenisverschuiving in het Causaliteitsbegrip van Ernst Cassirer
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 70 (4): 733-761. 2009.
  •  440
    Hermeneutics, Life and Dialogue. A Sketch of a Buberian Dialogue with the Past
    Journal of the Philosophy of History 8 (3): 407-425. 2014.
    In this paper, I formulate an existentialist view on the dialogue with the past, based on the philosophy of Martin Buber. This view is meant to supplement the traditional, hermeneutical view on the dialogue with the past. In the first part of this paper, I argue that the traditional hermeneutic view on the dialogue with the past is somewhat restricted. In the work of people such as Schleiermacher, Dilthey or even Gadamer, dialogue is always regarded as a primarily cognitive event, focused on the…Read more
  •  129
    The Ontology of Causal Process Theories
    Philosophia 40 (3): 523-538. 2012.
    There is a widespread belief that the so-called process theories of causation developed by Wesley Salmon and Phil Dowe have given us an original account of what causation really is. In this paper, I show that this is a misconception. The notion of “causal process” does not offer us a new ontological account of causation. I make this argument by explicating the implicit ontological commitments in Salmon and Dowe’s theories. From this, it is clear that Salmon’s Mark Transmission Theory collapses t…Read more
  •  91
    Introduction: Social Epistemology Meets the Philosophy of the Humanities
    with Laszlo Kosolosky and Jeroen Van Bouwel
    Foundations of Science 21 (1): 1-13. 2016.
    From time to time, when I explain to a new acquaintance that I’m a philosopher of science, my interlocutor will nod agreeably and remark that that surely means I’m interested in the ethical status of various kinds of scientific research, the impact that science has had on our values, or the role that the sciences play in contemporary democracies. Although this common response hardly corresponds to what professional philosophers of science have done for the past decades, or even centuries, it is …Read more
  •  41
    Virtues of Historiography
    Journal of the Philosophy of History 6 (3): 415-431. 2012.
    In this paper, I take up Herman Paul’s suggestion to analyze the process of writing history in terms of virtues. In contrast to Paul, however, I argue that the concept of virtue used here should not be based on virtue epistemology, but rather on virtue ethics. The reason is that virtue epistemology is discriminative towards non-coginitive virtues and incompatible with the Ankersmitian/Whitean view of historiography as a multivocal path from historical reality to historical representation. Virtue…Read more
  •  40
    On Lawfulness in History and Historiography
    History and Theory 51 (2): 172-192. 2012.
    The use of general and universal laws in historiography has been the subject of debate ever since the end of the nineteenth century. Since the 1970s there has been a growing consensus that general laws such as those in the natural sciences are not applicable in the scientific writing of history. We will argue against this consensus view, not by claiming that the underlying conception of what historiography is—or should be—is wrong, but by contending that it is based on a misconception of what ge…Read more
  •  36
    Postnarrativist Philosophy of Historiography_ _, written by Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen
    New Content is Available for Journal of the Philosophy of History. forthcoming.
    _ Source: _Page Count 5
  •  33
    Stille crisis of stilte voor de storm? Over het statuut van de humanities in tijden van neoliberalisme
    with Jens De Vleminck
    de Uil Van Minerva 26 (3): 175-184. 2013.
  •  24
    Review of Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen, Postnarrativist Philosophy of Historiography
    Journal of the Philosophy of History 11 (1): 33-37. 2017.
    _ Source: _Page Count 5
  •  14
    De Humanities: een bedreigde soort?
    with Jens De Vleminck
    de Uil Van Minerva 26. 2013.
  •  13
    The Words Of History
    History and Theory 53 (2): 244-252. 2014.
    In From History to Theory, Kerwin Lee Klein writes a history of the central terms of the discipline of theory of history, such as “historiography,” “philosophy of history,” “theory of history,” and “memory.” Klein tells us when and how these terms were used, how the usage of some declined during the twentieth century, and how other terms became increasingly popular. More important, Klein also shows that the use of these words is not innocent. Using words such as “theory” or “historiography” impl…Read more
  •  9
    Introduction: The Future of the Theory and Philosophy of History
    with Broos Delanote, Berber Bevernage, and Kenan Van De Mieroop
    Journal of the Philosophy of History 8 (2): 141-148. 2014.
  •  4
    "This book introduces a new way of looking at the writing of history. Rather than as the production of knowledge or the telling of stories, it sees writing history as an ethical, existential and emotional engagement with the people from the past. The conceptual and philosophical basis for this view is provided by the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. In the first part, the view is presented and contrasted with other, competing views, such as those of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Michel Foucualt. In the …Read more
  • Shifts of Meaning in Cassirer's Conception of Causation
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 70 (4): 733-761. 2008.