The Poverty of Anti-realism: Critical Perspectives on Postmodernist Philosophy of History

From the global geopolitical arena to the smart city, control over knowledge—particularly over data and intellectual property—has become a key battleground for the exercise of economic and political power. For companies and governments alike, control over knowledge—what scholar Susan Strange calls the knowledge structure—has become a goal unto itself. The rising dominance of the knowledge structure is leading to a massive redistribution of power, including from individuals to companies and states. Strong intellectual property rights have concentrated economic benefits in a smaller number of hands, while the “internet of things” is reshaping basic notions of property, ownership, and control. In the scramble to create and control data and intellectual property, governments and companies alike are engaging in ever-more surveillance. This open access book is a guide to and analysis of these changes, and of the emerging phenomenon of the knowledge-driven society. It highlights how the pursuit of the control over knowledge has become its own ideology, with its own set of experts drawn from those with the ability to collect and manipulate digital data. Haggart and Tusikov propose a workable path forward—knowledge decommodification—to ensure that our new knowledge is not treated simply as a commodity to be bought and sold, but as a way to meet the needs of the individuals and communities that create this knowledge in the first place. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Being Realist about History by Tor Egil Førland and Branko Mitrovic Part I: Philosophical Contexts Chapter 1: Idealism in Historical Theory 1970–2020 by Adam Timmins Chapter 2: A Deceiving Resemblance: Realism Debates in Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Historiography by Veli Virmajoki Part II: Critiques Chapter 3: Historical Accuracy and Historians’ Objectivity by Branko Mitrovic Chapter 4: Historiography beyond Partisanship: Establishing Facts and Evaluating Theories by Tor Egil Førland Chapter 5: Irrealism and Historical Theory: A User’s Guide by Adam Timmins Chapter 6: Saving Historical Reality (Even If We Construct It) by David Weberman Part III: Political Implications Chapter 7: Is Historical Antirealism (Ever) Politically Progressive? by Ian Verstegen Chapter 8: Postmodern Frankenstein; or, the Alternative Facts Monster by Tor Egil Førland Chapter 9: Arguments, Partisanship, and Politics: Is Anti-realism in the Philosophy of History a Right-Wing Ideology? by Brank

About the Author :
Tor Egil Førland is professor of history and head of the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo. Branko Mitrovic is professor of architectural history and theory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Review :
The book is an intellectual feat … The contributor’s relentless attempt at keeping the house of philosophy of history clean and the ambition to convert the anti-realist infidels is praiseworthy. First past the post: this anthology is the first collection of essays in the philosophy of historiography past post-modernism, post-post-modernist if you wish. It challenges the dogma that knowledge of the past is entirely dependent on the perspectives of those who represent history and that hence historiography is a construction of historians rather than evidence based probable representation of the past, from Nietzsche to Foucault to Trump, and from politically reductionist extreme left to extreme right. As post-post replaces post-, philosophies of historiography and historiographic relativism recedes along with political totalitarianism and emotivist populism, this collection offers an alternative future through a philosophical reinterpretation of the historical sciences.