Page:The processes of history (IA processesofhisto01tegg).pdf/9



The question "Is History a sciencer" has now been debated by successive generations of historians without any general agreement having been reached. It would seem, therefore, that in some particular the problem had been wrongly stated. Hence, following the critique presented in my Prolegomena to History, I have approached the whole matter from a new angle by asking what sort of results might be obtained by a strict application of the method of science to the facts of history. The outcome of this procedure, stated in general terms, is an attempt to do for human history what biologists are engaged in doing for the history of the forms of life, and this publication offers in summary form a first analysis of the factors and processes manifested in the history of man,

For the sake of clearness, and in order that the essential considerations might be brought within a brief comprehensive view, the argument has been condensed and made as explicit as circumstances would permit. Since footnotes and