Over several decades, there has been a methodological debate on the nature and use of anachronisms in the historiography of science. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by presenting a basic typology of anachronisms. Firstly, it distinguishes conceptual anachronisms from relational ones. While the first group is based on the improper use of certain terms, the latter includes creating connections and influences across the history of science. Further, three main groups of anachronisms are differentiated. The first kind of anachronisms imposes the disciplinary matrix of the present day onto the past and contains mainly conceptual anachronisms. The second group concerns the evaluation of individual research outcomes and includes both relational and conceptual anachronisms. The third group of anachronisms creates relations across great spans of time and consists of relational anachronisms. In the conclusion of the paper, it is argued that in presenting the history of science it is neither appropriate nor desirable to completely avoid anachronisms.
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