History as a Creative Process

FAIN: FA-11612-76

Dale Porter
Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5200)

To develop book length study, entitled, "History as a Creative Process,' which aims to bridge the gap between analytical philosophers, whose theoretical arguments have been generally critical of historical explanation, and working historian with a traditional suspicion of general hypotheses. Grantee will apply the doctrines of Alfred North Whitehead to the problems of historical method in a discussion of the theory and practice of writing intelligible explanatory narratives. Grantee will show the relation between Whitehead's metaphysical categories and the terms used in art and literary criticism thus constructing a system of analysis that strengthens history's ties to the humanities while preserving its scientific respectability.