History, the sciences, and uniqueness

pp. 1-16

in: Ramona Cormier, James K. Feibleman, Harold N. Lee, John Sallis, Donald H. Weiss, Epistemology II, Berlin, Springer, 1969

Abstract

In our universities, separate departments of history and of the various sciences attest in practice to the distinction between history and the sciences.¹ The ease with which practice appears to distinguish disciplines is not readily transferred to the delineating of theoretical differences. Generally, theoretical differentiations have been drawn from two major philosophical positions. One view, usually that of philosophical idealism, maintains that differences are found in the objects and the methods of the study. The other view does not admit these distinctions and suggests that differences lie with the objectives of the researcher.