Reading in Historiography and Iterative Measurement: Atheism, Forgery, Cannibalism and Deification

Abstract
Recently, there has been a revival of the Neo-Kantian tradition in Michael Friedman’s Dynamics of Reason and in Hasok Chang’s attention to “ontological principles” in scientific practices. However, Chang and Friedman’s work is limited to a focus on the natural sciences. In this paper, I will evaluate the potential viability of finding relativized a priori principles in the practice of historiography. To this end, I will first summarize the crucial features of such principles that both Friedman and Chang highlight: their justification cannot be given through experience but relies on their vindication in the iterative process of empirical research. Moreover, these principles are the conditions of possibility for the justification of empirical claims themselves. Secondly, I will apply these features to a paradigmatic case in historiography, namely the textual critique of the Donation of Constantine. I will also suggest how this account could illuminate other cases, such as the study of 16th century atheism. Thirdly, I will argue that such applications offer good grounds to understand the conditions of epistemic success in historiography in the same way as in the natural sciences.