Postnarrativist Philosophy of Historiography

Narrativism has made important contributions to the theory and philosophy of historiography but it is now time to move beyond it to postnarrativism. Kuukkanen shows how it is possible to reject the absolutist truth-functional evaluation of interpretations in historiography and yet accept that historiography can be evaluated by rational standards.

• Philosophy of History
• Philosophy of Historiography
• Theory of History
• Narrativism
• Historiography
• Postmodernism
• Knowledge
• Objectivity
• Objectivism
• Subjectivism
• Rationality
• Constructivism
• Realism
• Relativism
• Ankersmit
• Frank White
• Hayden
• historiography
• history
• reason

“The book with its unique importance. I would not hesitate to say the discussion and the reception of this book may well be decisive for the philosophy of history’s foreseeable future. … the book may even invite a redirection in philosophy of history – a feat rarely achieved since White’s Metahistory.” (Frank Ankersmit, Journal of the Philosophy of History, Vol. 11 (3), 2017)

“Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen’s Postnarrativist Philosophy of Historiography is a major work in the philosophy of history, one that seeks to conceive historiographies not as concerned to represent (‘re-present’) the past but rather to propose ways of regarding it … Kuukkanen’s book tries to get philosophers of history out of the cave, first by showing them that they are in fact in a cave, and then by showing them the sun outside.” (Brian Fay, Journal of the Philosophy of History, Vol. 11, 2017)

“In his recent book, Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen presents an original postnarrativist philosophy of history … . His postnarrativism is an ambitious project deserving close attention. … There is no doubt that his inspiring emphasis on the argumentative nature of history is going to attract many readers and, hopefully, motivate further research.” (Eugen Zeleňák, Journal of the Philosophy of History, Vol. 11 (2), 2017)

“Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen has written an important book. It directly confronts a key theoretical dilemma that has shadowed debate in historiography for several decades: histories cannot be written without using some narrative structure or other, but epistemological evaluation cannot be applied to narratives qua narrative. … Kuukkanen deserves great credit for attempting to reshape a long-stalled debate in a way that enables the theoretical options to be imagined anew.” (Paul A. Roth, History and Theory, Vol. 55, May, 2016)

“I recommend this text. It is lucid and honest in its analysis. It is the kind of text that clearly explicates its arguments and assumptions about how the past and history can be regarded as – in effect – the same thing. The author expends useful time in the Introduction explicating the distinction between historiography (writing history) and history (defined as past events).” (Alun Munslow, Rethinking History, September, 2015)

“... Insgesamt hat Kuukkanen ein innovatives Buch zu einer gerade stattfindenden theoretischen Entwicklung vorgelegt, das für theoretisch interessierte Historiker/innen wie auch für Wissenschaftsphilosoph/innen von Interesse sein sollte. ... Der klare Aufbau und die analytische Sprache des Buchs können für seine weitere kritische Diskussion fruchtbar sein ...” 

• University of Oulu, Finland

  Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen

Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen is Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Oulu in Finland. He received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and has held academic positions in the Universities of Durham and Hull in the UK and Leiden in the Netherlands. Kuukkanen has been awarded Fulbright and EURIAS fellowships and has published in leading international journals in the theory and philosophy of history.

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