He also stated that it was virtually impossible to break in if the upper lock, which was guarded by a sturdy brass plate, was locked. He also reasoned that the building was under constant surveillance, and tenants were advised not to let anyone follow them through the entrance to the building. As the appropriate conclusion to the premises, and also taking into account my less than fully mature countenance, he deduced that in my carelessness I had forgotten to lock the door that day, and some delinquent had taken advantage of that.
Albeit a reasonable and logical explanation from his perception, yet on that day I was above all certain that I had dutifully locked both locks before leaving, and had checked to make sure, once again rendering it impossible to break in without a key, which was also not likely since my father and I both presented the only keys to the apartment upon investigation. All of this conflicted with the manager’s reasoning. However, during the investigation my resourceful father also recounted an instance where I, in my hurry to get to school, had left the door wide open upon departure.
This provided the manager with a seemingly sound historical explanation that if I was capable of carelessness once, under similar circumstances I would also have that capacity. My emotional refutal of that claim did eventually clear my name, but to this day we have yet to find out who was it, and how they could have broken in and taken everything in our apartment that was worth anything. Some may argue that scientific and historical explanations are distinct and immiscible since they address different areas of knowledge. Science is more concerned with seeking universal laws to explain the phenomenons of the physical world.
History, on the other hand, deals with unique and particular scenarios, and even with the deduction of a general law, cannot be further applied and extrapolated to every situation. Both of these explanations rise from the human desire to know one’s surrounding environment and being able to not only account but to also account for their past actions. Not only will a good explanation accomplish both of these outcomes, it must also incorporate the two kinds of explanations discussed when perceiving and analyzing the situation. When the two are united they hold true, and divided they fall as an incomplete inference.
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” The Journal of Philosophy 39 dddd(1942): 38-45. Murzi, Mauro. “Carl Gustav Hempel (1905-1997). ” The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2009. 12 April, 2009 <http://www. iep. utm. edu/h/hempel. htm>. Stanford, Michael. A Companion to the Study of History. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge section.
