Words and Numbers: A New Approach to Writing Ancient History.

The various forms of disciplinary training that historians receive can lead to different epistemologies and thus complicate attempts to advance interdisciplinary history. For example, the epistemologies of ancient and economic historians affect both their mode of research and their style of presenti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 31 - 59
Main Author: Temin, Peter
Format: Article
Published: MIT Press Summer2019
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:The various forms of disciplinary training that historians receive can lead to different epistemologies and thus complicate attempts to advance interdisciplinary history. For example, the epistemologies of ancient and economic historians affect both their mode of research and their style of presenting results. The testing of hypotheses through the use of simple, small-sample regressions has distinct advantages, but this approach, as well as other tools, creates not only opportunities for progress in ancient history but also obstacles for interdisciplinary history.