Includes bibliographical references and index.

The author of this text brings together two schools of thought at the forefront of the philosophy of history: that of realism and objectivity. He shows us how the realism debate is inhabited by philosophers, whereas the objectivity argument lies in the hands of historians. The author proposes a synthesis between these two parallel traditions. We see that what historians say they are doing is not necessarily what they are actually doing. Martin Bunzl draws on recent work (from the likes of Foucault to Rorty) to develop a new model for the philosophy of history; a model which essentially calls for the collapse of the realism/objectivity dichotomy. Martin Bunzl merges the two parallel debates of history and philosophy. He draws on relevant discussions ranging from post-structuralism, to the philosophy of science, to notions of realism and objectivity, to debates about the history of women.