B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal
Defeating the Ideal Chronicler: The Problem with the Thought Experiment
Authors: Virmajoki, Veli
Publisher: Brill
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Journal of the Philosophy of History
ISSN: 1872-261X
eISSN: 1872-2636
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/18722636-12341562
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1163/18722636-12341562
In this Letter to the Editor, I argue that Danto’s Ideal Chronicler thought experiment in philosophy of history conflates the properties of events with the relations between events. This oversight leads to misunderstandings regarding the nature of historical knowledge and historical events. The experiment fails to establish any non-trivial conclusions about the retrospective nature of historical truths or the constitution of historical events.