UNDISCIPLINED AND PUNISHED

The title of Robert Doran's collection of essays on Hayden White proves provocative and evocative. Provocative because it claims to mark a move within philosophy that pivots on the work of Hayden White, and this despite the fact that White himself explicitly resists inclusion within such a classification, that is, as a philosopher of history. Indeed, another contributor, Arthur Danto, had as of 1995 declared passé the whole subfield of philosophy of history. Doran situates White, then, in a niche White rejects and in any case one largely abandoned by those who do academic philosophy. Thus a question that this title evokes concerns why—whatever philosophy of history happens to be before Hayden White—after him it becomes a topic of philosophical lack of interest, one pursued almost exclusively by those not associated with departments of philosophy. Given White's professional travails, his acquaintance with another undisciplined academic, Richard Rorty, and his long‐standing friendship with preeminent philosophers of history such as Louis Mink, one might well assume that White eschews Doran's disciplinary labeling for a reason. In this regard, reframing him as this book's title does invites a worry that, if only unwittingly, the book elides discussion of why certain positions excite not merely disagreement but prompt rather a type of professional shunning. In failing to confront White's reception (or rather lack thereof) by historians and his position (or rather lack thereof) within philosophy, Doran passes over in silence a highly salient aspect of White's work.     

Ludwig Alsdorf 8.8.1904 – 25.3.1978

Indo-Iranian Journal -     

The Full Hempel

Book reviewed in this article:
The Logic of Historical Explanation by Clayton Roberts     

Information Entropy of Non‐Probabilistic Processes

We derive an expression for the entropy of non‐probabilistic distributions encountered in spatial and mathematical mappings. The entropy of non‐probabilistic distributions can be formulated using probabilistic notions of the hypothetical random redistribution of finite information. We show that the discrete approximation to the information content of spatial maps can be based on the discrete hypergeometric distribution. The resultant “associative” entropy is distinct from the Shannon entropy for probability distributions and addresses several shortcomings of the current entropy paradigm as applied to spatial analysis. The associative entropy statistic is distributed approximately as a chi‐squared random variable under limitations of variation. We formulate a univariate logical equivalent of the associative entropy statistic, freeing the paradigm from the degrees of freedom constraint to which it has been traditionally shackled. This entropy has application in spatial analysis and fuzzy set theory. The associative entropy is based on the concept of proportional information and is related to the Getis G‐statistics of spatial association and the Chi‐squared statistics of sample means. We explore the utility of the theory when applied to spatial distribution of vegetation in New Brunswick, Canada. The limitations and implications of the entropy expression are discussed and suggestions are made for future applications of the theory. This work is part of the development of an information theory framework for the analysis of landscape patterns of animal habitat.     

Transitions to Clean Government: Amnesty as an Anticorruption Measure

Anti-corruption research has been dominated by inquiries into the formal structures of clean governance, while the actual process of changing the culture of corruption has been overlooked. This paper views ‘transition to clean government’ as a conceptual parallel to ‘democratisation’ and anti-corruption measures as instances of transitional justice. Contrary to the mainstream scholarship, it argues that: (1) Measures that lead to clean government differ from measures that contribute to its maintenance; and (2) amnesty may play a crucial role in establishing clean government, if it inspires a change in political culture. To illustrate its propositions, this paper applies the literature on transitional justice and democratisation to anti-corruption strategies and re-examines the particular circumstances surrounding amnesty in Hong Kong's successful transformation into one of the cleanest governments in Asia.     

HISTORY AND THE MANIFEST IMAGE: HAYDEN WHITE AS A PHILOSOPHER OF HISTORY1

To claim that Hayden White has yet to be read seriously as a philosopher of history might seem false on the face of it. But do tropes and the rest provide any epistemic rationale for differing representations of historical events found in histories? As an explanation of White's influence on philosophy of history, such a proffered emphasis only generates a puzzle with regard to taking White seriously, and not an answer to the question of why his efforts should be worthy of any philosophical attention at all. For what makes his emphasis on narrative structure and its associated tropes of philosophical relevance? What, it may well be asked, did (or could) any theory that draws its categories from a stock provided by literary criticism contribute to explicating problems with regard to the warranting of claims about knowledge, explanation, or causation that represent those concerns that philosophy typically brings to this field? Robert Doran's anthologizing of previously uncollected pieces, ranging as they do over a literal half‐century of White's published work, offers an opportunity to identify explicitly those philosophical themes and arguments that regularly and prominently feature there. Moreover, White's essays in this volume demonstrate a credible knowledge of and interest in mainstream analytic philosophers of his era and also reveal White as deeply influenced by or well acquainted with other important philosophers of history. White thus invites a reading of his work as philosophy, and this volume presents the opportunity for accepting it as such.     

Ecological Regression and the Analysis of Voter Behavior

Abstract

The project now underway to produce a new, multi-volume print and online edition of Brian Mitchell's British Historical Statistics is an opportunity to examine the history of the celebrated work. An account of its conception, reception, and evolution provides a window through which to examine a central aspect of economic history's disciplinary history and methodenstreit; certain fundamentals relating to the demand for, and supply of, historical statistics; and to introduce the British Historical Statistics Project, which is now underway but still in its infancy, during which it is closely examining its antecedents in order to learn the correct lessons from that history.