Historical Narratives, Evidence, and Explanations

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the logic of evidential reasoning that is based on explanations of particular events. It will be argued that a pragmatic approach to explanation is best suitable for evidential reasoning, given the role empirical and common sense generalizations play in the explanation of historical events. Common sense generalizations will be interpreted as definitional truths in idealized models and it will be shown how this interpretation can make sense of the way such generalizations are used in order to provide explanations.