THE LOGIC OF HISTORICAL CAUSALITY: IS PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION NECESSARY?

Abstract

The target priority of almost every field of scientific activity is to achieve the simplest and at the same time convincing mechanism for explaining the internal logic and cause-and-effect relationships in the field of its subject profile. Historical science is no exception to the outlined general rule: it also seeks to identify the most concise and preferably linear algorithms of historical procedurality. The need for such a target benchmark is due to the desire to provide the field of knowledge about history with the most objective and unbiased format, which is fully subject to scientometric formalization and verification. This thesis can also be stated in the reverse sequence: if the field of knowledge is not subject to scientometric formalization and verification, then its objectivity and impartiality, and at the same time its scientific status, are under a big question mark.

But what if the subject area is a complex systemic object of an open type that cannot be correctly formalized by linear extrapolations and simplified interpretative models? And the sphere of historical knowledge, by the way, is just such a systemic object of an open type. Undoubtedly, reductionism is an integral attribute of the cognitology of any subject profile, but it is necessary to understand the limits within which reductionism is acceptable for the perception of realities and effective for their assimilation. Going beyond these limits automatically denies the scientific status of knowledge, giving it distinct mythological features. In order for historical science not to fall into this trap, it needs to resort to the services of philosophical reflection more often. Involving the interpretative and argumentative resources of philosophy will bring it as close as possible to the goal of semantic, semantic and causal demarcation of historical reality - especially in the context of factors of free will and the role of the individual in history.

Keywords: cause-and-effect relationships, internal logic of historical process, features and patterns, reflection, determinism, personal factor in history.