The Logic of the History of Ideas

This book provides a philosophical analysis of the reasoning appropriate to the history of ideas. It addresses three main questions: what sort of meanings do historians study? How can historians justify claims to have objective knowledge of such meanings? What sorts of explanations are appropriate to such meanings? By answering these questions Mark Bevir seeks to clarify the nature of the history of ideas so as to guide historians in their practice, and to illuminate the process by which human thought develops.