No discipline has been more praised or more criticized than the writing of history. Cioero claimed that history teaches men how to live. Aris totle denied it the very name of science and regwded poetry as the higher wisdom. At various times history has been assigned a command ing or a demeaning statIUs in the hierarchy of sciences. Today one can admire the increasing precision and sophistication of the methods used by historia:ns. On the other hand, Thucydides' History of the PeZo ponesian War still serves as the ideal model of how to reconstruct the historical past. Even those who deny the possibility of an objective reconstruction of the past would themselves likie to be recorded by historians, "objectively" or not. Dislike of history and fear of its verdict are not incompatible with reverence and awe for its practitioners, the historians. So man's attitude to history is ambiguous. The controversy about history continues. Widely differing issues are at stake. Historians themselves, however, are the least engaged in the struggle. Rarely does a historian decide to open the door of his study and join in the melee about the meaning of history. More often he slams it shut and returns to his studies, oblivious of the fact that with the passage of thne the gap between his scientific work and its audience might widen. The historian does not shun the battle, he merely chooses his own battleground.

Inhalt
One Methodology and History.- I. The Subject Matter of the Methodology of Sciences.- II. The Subject Matter of the Methodology of History.- III. The Scope of the Subject Matter (Domain) of Historical Research.- Two Patterns of Historical Research.- Grounds for Classification.- IV. Pragmatic Reflection.- V. Critical Reflection.- VI. Erudite and Genetic Reflection.- VII. Structural Reflection.- VIII. Logical Reflection.- IX. Dialectical Reflection.- Three the Objective Methodology of History.- X. Historical Facts.- XI. The Process of History (Causality and Determinism).- XII. The Process of History (Historical Regularities).- Four the Pragmatic Methodology of History. Theory of Source-Based and Non-Source-Based Knowledge.- XIII. The Nature of Historical Cognition.- XIV. Questions and Answers. a General Reconstruction of Historical Research.- XV. Theory of Source-Based Knowledge.- XVI. Theory of Non-Source-Based Knowledge.- XVII. The Functions of Source-Based and Non-Source-Based Knowledge.- Five the Pragmatic Methodology of History: the Methods of Reconstruction of the Process of History.- XVIII. The Authenticity of Sources and the Reliability of Informants.- XIX. Methods of Establishing Historical Facts.- XX. Quantitative Methods in Historical Research.- XXI. The Procedure of Explanation in Historical Research.- XXII. Construction and Synthesis.- Six the Apragmatic Methodology of History.- XXIII. The Nature and Instruments of Historical Narration.- XXIV. Components of Narratives: Historical Statements and Laws.- XXV. Elements of Historical Narratives: Evaluations.- XXVI. The Methodological Structure of Historical Research.- Index of Names.