Certainty in History

Abstract

Certainty, as a decisive belief, contains highest rate of awareness and leaves no rival probability. It has been located in the center of historians attention in the course of time. Probability or non probability of certain knowledge is one of the main questions for historians in the field of historical studies. This question needs to a proper answer in order to clarify that:Is historical knowledge a certain knowledge or not? This study tries- under the descriptive and analytic method – to clarify the meaning of knowledge- generally- and historical knowledge- specificallyand then reopen the meaning and nature of certainty in order to show that we can only achieve psychological certainty in the historical knowledge; because, the contains of historical knowledge- with respect to its specific nature- can not open the way for logical (Epistemological) certainty to achieve it.

Keywords

• general knowledge
• specific knowledge
• knowledge from testifying
• epistemological certainty
• psychological certainty