I consider the motives of historians devising counterfactual histories, analyze the narrative structure of these histories, and assess their merits. Richard Evans attacked counterfactual histories as motivated by wishful thinking. And he claimed that they could not contribute anything to the understanding of the past because they are concerned “with pointing out supposedly preferable alternatives.” Both claims can be refuted with two particular counterfactual histories of biology. An analysis of the narrative structure of counterfactual histories suggests objective criteria that can distinguish those that have been designed, in order to reach a certain narrative ending, from those that were open-ended at the beginning. These criteria are then applied to two examples from the history of biology: Bowler's Darwin Deleted and Radick's ‘Other Histories, Other Biologies.’ Radick did not determine his counterfactual in advance, to meet a certain narrative ending. This refutes the first claim (wishful thinking). Bowler self-avowedly did design his counterfactual in advance, but its narrative ending still contributes to understanding. In particular, it shows that the idea of natural selection is not necessarily associated with its social discontents. This refutes the second claim (cannot contribute to understanding).
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Ian Hesketh;
(2016)
Counterfactuals and history: Contingency and convergence in histories of science and life
(/isis/citation/CBB385183310/)
Article
Hu, Zonggang;
(2011)
Tong Te-Kong and Oral History of Science Works
(/isis/citation/CBB001221317/)
Article
Luca Tambolo;
(2020)
An unappreciated merit of counterfactual histories of science
(/isis/citation/CBB925918030/)
Article
Stephen J. Weininger;
(2022)
“The Poor Sister:” Coming to Grips with Recent and Contemporary Chemistry
(/isis/citation/CBB175973451/)
Article
Hallvard J. Fossheim;
(2019)
Past responsibility: History and the ethics of research on ethnic groups
(/isis/citation/CBB562849198/)
Article
Peter J. T. Morris;
Jeffrey I. Seeman;
(2022)
The Importance of Plurality and Mutual Respect in the Practice of the History of Chemistry
(/isis/citation/CBB375881495/)
Article
Luca Tambolo;
(2020)
So close no matter how far: counterfactuals in history of science and the inevitability/contingency controversy
(/isis/citation/CBB732121930/)
Article
Joachim L. Dagg;
(2017)
How counterfactuals of Red-Queen theory shed light on science and its historiography
(/isis/citation/CBB638039701/)
Article
Thierry Hoquet;
(2021)
Pluralizing Darwin: Making Counter-Factual History of Science Significant
(/isis/citation/CBB581465929/)
Article
Jeffrey I. Seeman;
(2022)
Remote Interviewing and the History of Chemistry
(/isis/citation/CBB903379745/)
Article
Robert Bud;
(2016)
Representing scale: What should be special about the heritage of mass science?
(/isis/citation/CBB100969947/)
Article
David Rabouin;
Anne-Lise Rey;
(2022)
La science classique dans la Revue d’histoire des sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB509066510/)
Article
Duan, Lian;
(2011)
Museums of Natural Science and Technology and Oral History
(/isis/citation/CBB001221318/)
Article
Miguel García-Sancho;
(2016)
The proactive historian: Methodological opportunities presented by the new archives documenting genomics
(/isis/citation/CBB617165915/)
Article
Paul Merchant;
(2019)
What Oral Historians and Historians of Science Can Learn from Each Other
(/isis/citation/CBB829034696/)
Article
Wang, Yangzong;
(2011)
The Chinese Way in Science and the Oral History of Modern Science in China
(/isis/citation/CBB001221315/)
Article
Stéphane Tirard;
(2022)
L’histoire de l’histoire naturelle et de l’évolutionnisme dans la Revue d’histoire des sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB014960563/)
Article
Michael Buchner;
Tobias A. Jopp;
Mark Spoerer;
Lino Wehrheim;
(2020)
Zur Konjunktur des Zählens – oder wie man Quantifizierung quantifiziert. Eine empirische Analyse der Anwendung quantitativer Methoden in der deutschen Geschichtswissenschaft
(/isis/citation/CBB984634291/)
Article
William H. Brock;
(2022)
The Long and Short of It: The Future Writing of History of Chemistry
(/isis/citation/CBB683831416/)
Article
Fan, Fa-ti;
Yuan, Jian;
(2012)
Views and Reflections on Doing the History of Science: Interview with Fan Fa-ti
(/isis/citation/CBB001200187/)
Bulletin for the History of Chemistry
Chinese Journal for the History of Science and Technology
Revue d'Histoire des Sciences
Ziran Kexueshi Yanjiu (Studies in the History of Natural Sciences)
Synthese
Be the first to comment!