Components of narratives
historical statements and laws
pp. 625-642
in: , Methodology of history, Berlin, Springer, 1976Abstract
A historical statement is the basic component of historical narratives. It is usually described by the indication that it contains a spatio-temporal determinant, that is, that it refers to a specified place and a specified time. In historiography, however, a strictly historical statement, if it is to be a component of a narrative, must meet the additional condition, namely it must refer to (a) historical fact(s). This proviso does not apply to historical regularities formulated as strictly general statements.