Note 861 — Chapter I · : THE HISTORICAL SCHOOL AND THE CONFLICT OF METHODS

It is interesting to learn the views of historians on this point. Meyer thinks that the object of history is not to discover the general laws of development, but to describe and explain particular concrete events as they succeed one another. Such descriptions can only be made in accordance with the rules of historical criticism, but explanation is only possible with the aid of analogy. “It is only by the use of analogy that the historian can explain past events, especially where there are psychological motives that require analysis. The explanation thus given will necessarily be of a subjective character, and from its very nature somewhat problematic.” Cf. Ed. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterthums, Introduction, 2nd ed. §§ 112 et seq. There does not seem to be any connection between this method and that of Aug. Comte. One becomes still more convinced of this after reading Langlois and Seignobos’s Introduction aux Études historiques or G. Monod’s study in historical method in De la Méthode dans les Sciences (Paris, 1909), or, finally, the numerous articles dealing with this question of method which have appeared in the Revue de Synthèse historique.