William Herbert Dray (23 June 1921, in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
– 6 August 2009, in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
) was a Canadian
philosopher of history
Philosophy of history is the philosophical study of history and its discipline. The term was coined by French philosopher Voltaire.
In contemporary philosophy a distinction has developed between ''speculative'' philosophy of history and ''critic ...
. He was Professor Emeritus at the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...
.
He is known for his version of anti-
positivist ''
Verstehen
''Verstehen'' (, ), in the context of German philosophy and social sciences in general, has been used since the late 19th century – in English as in German – with the particular sense of the "interpretive or participatory" examination of socia ...
'' in history, in ''Laws and Explanation in History'',
[Michael Martin, ''Verstehen: The Uses of Understanding in the Social Sciences'' (2000), p. 103.] and his work on
R. G. Collingwood
Robin George Collingwood (; 22 February 1889 – 9 January 1943) was an English philosopher, historian and archaeologist. He is best known for his philosophical works, including ''The Principles of Art'' (1938) and the posthumously published ...
.
Selected publications
* Dray, William H. ''Laws and explanation in history''. Oxford University Press, 1957.
*Dray, William H. ''Philosophy of history''. Prentice-Hall 1964.
*Dray, William H. ''Holism and individualism in history and social science''. 1967.
*Dray, William H. 'On the nature and role of narrative in historiography', in ''History and theory'' 10.2 (1971): 153–171.
*Dray, William H. ''On history and philosophers of history'', vol. 2 of ''Philosophy of History and Culture'', ed. by Krausz, Michael. Brill, 1989.
*Dray, William H. ''History as re-enactment: RG Collingwood's idea of history''. Clarendon Press, 1996.
Notes
References
''Canadian Encyclopedia'' page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dray, William Herbert
1921 births
2009 deaths
20th-century Canadian philosophers
Analytic philosophers
Canadian philosophers
Philosophers of history
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Canadian expatriates in the United Kingdom