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The Structures of History
In The Structures of History Christopher Lloyd questions whether narration on its own can provide a real understanding of history, and addresses in philosophical and practical terms the fundamental problems of whether it is possible to know and to explain the history of human societies, and if so how these tasks might be approached.
The book revolves around an inquiry into the general nature of historical structures, how these have been studied by historians, anthropologists, sociologists and philosophers, and how they relate to events, actions and beliefs. The author draws upon a wide range of reference in the philosophy of history and science, and in the writings of historians and social scientists during the last two centuries. The thrust of his account is against the relativism of such as Rorty, Foucault and Derrida, and for the complex socio-historical realism exemplified in the writings of Geertz, Gellner, Ladurie and Mann.
Christopher Lloyd concludes that an objective understanding of the past is not an impossible ambition, and he provides a searching analysis of the framework and methods necessary to its realization.
The book revolves around an inquiry into the general nature of historical structures, how these have been studied by historians, anthropologists, sociologists and philosophers, and how they relate to events, actions and beliefs. The author draws upon a wide range of reference in the philosophy of history and science, and in the writings of historians and social scientists during the last two centuries. The thrust of his account is against the relativism of such as Rorty, Foucault and Derrida, and for the complex socio-historical realism exemplified in the writings of Geertz, Gellner, Ladurie and Mann.
Christopher Lloyd concludes that an objective understanding of the past is not an impossible ambition, and he provides a searching analysis of the framework and methods necessary to its realization.
271 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Christopher Lloyd
9 books1 followerProfessor Christopher Lloyd is an economic historian and political economist.
He was educated in the Universities of New England in Australia and Sussex and Oxford in England.
Most of his career has been spent in the Departments of Economic History and Economics at University of New England with periods spent as visiting professor at ANU, Duke, UC Davis, Zaragoza, Helsinki, Exeter, and MPI Jena. From 2007-2013 he was a visiting professor in the Nordic Centre of Excellence on the Welfare State (Nordwel) based in Helsinki and is now a Guest Professor at the Finnish Centre of Excellence in History at Tampere and Jyväskylä Universities.
Professor Lloyd has published extensively in the following areas:
* the historical political economy of Australia, particularly regimes of regulation and the issues of resource-curse development, the role of the developmental state, and pension regulation;
* the history of Social Democratic Welfare Capitalism on a world-wide scale of the past century or more;
* the comparative world-wide history of settler capitalist economies (including Australia);
* indigenous participation and hybridity in the history of the Australian economy;
* long-run interactions of geopolitics, economies, and environments;
* socio-economic evolution theory;
* the philosophy and methodology of social science history.
He has published six books and numerous articles and chapters.
He was educated in the Universities of New England in Australia and Sussex and Oxford in England.
Most of his career has been spent in the Departments of Economic History and Economics at University of New England with periods spent as visiting professor at ANU, Duke, UC Davis, Zaragoza, Helsinki, Exeter, and MPI Jena. From 2007-2013 he was a visiting professor in the Nordic Centre of Excellence on the Welfare State (Nordwel) based in Helsinki and is now a Guest Professor at the Finnish Centre of Excellence in History at Tampere and Jyväskylä Universities.
Professor Lloyd has published extensively in the following areas:
* the historical political economy of Australia, particularly regimes of regulation and the issues of resource-curse development, the role of the developmental state, and pension regulation;
* the history of Social Democratic Welfare Capitalism on a world-wide scale of the past century or more;
* the comparative world-wide history of settler capitalist economies (including Australia);
* indigenous participation and hybridity in the history of the Australian economy;
* long-run interactions of geopolitics, economies, and environments;
* socio-economic evolution theory;
* the philosophy and methodology of social science history.
He has published six books and numerous articles and chapters.
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