Lonergan and Historiography: The Epistemological Philosophy of History / Edition 3

by Thomas J. McPartland

Overview

Although Bernard Lonergan is known primarily for his cognitional theory and theological methodology, he long sought to formulate a modern philosophy of history free of progressive and Marxist biases. Yet he never addressed this in any single work, and his reflections on the subject are scattered in various writings.

In this pioneering work, Thomas McPartland shows how Lonergan’s overall philosophical position offers a fresh and comprehensive basis for considering historiography. Taking Lonergan’s philosophy of historical existence into the realm of an epistemological philosophy of history, he demonstrates how the philosopher’s approach builds on the actual performance of historians and, as a result, integrates the insights of historical specialists into a framework of functional complementarity.

McPartland draws on all of Lonergan’s philosophical writing—as well as on the vast literature of historiography—to detail Lonergan’s notions of historical method, historical objectivity, and historical knowledge. Along the way, he explains what Lonergan means by hermeneutics; by historical description, explanation, ideal-types, and narrative; by evaluative and dialectical analyses; and how these elements are all functionally related to each other. He also delineates the defining features of psychohistory, cultural history, intellectual history, history of ideas, and history of philosophy, indicating how these disciplines play complementary roles in the critical encounter with the past.

Ultimately, McPartland argues that Lonergan has established the principles of a historical discipline—the history of consciousness—that weaves together a philosophy of consciousness with rigorous historical research to grasp long-term trends resulting from “differentiations of consciousness.” His work offers a distinct perspective on historical method that takes historical objectivity seriously while providing new insight into the thought of this important philosopher.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826218841
Publisher:	University of Missouri Press
Publication date:	04/15/2010
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Thomas J. McPartland is professor of Liberal Studies at Kentucky State University and author of Lonergan and the Philosophy of Historical Existence (University of Missouri Press).

Editorial Reviews

“A thorough, well-researched, well-informed, elegantly written work. McPartland unfolds in a single volume the implications of Lonergan’s foundational studies for philosophy of history. In doing so, he does for Lonergan what Lonergan did not have time to do himself.”—Mark D. Morelli, coeditor of The Lonergan Reader

“Avery profound contribution to the contemporary understanding of historiography and its possibilities.”—Glenn Hughes, author of Transcendence and History: The Search for Ultimacy from Ancient Societies to Postmodernity

From the Publisher