193 Is History a (Social) Science?
Before labeling "history" as "science" or "non-science," it may first be necessary to define "science." In everyday concepts, science often takes Newtonian mechanics as its prototype: definite laws, controllable experiments, repeatable results, and accurate predictions of outcomes. However, as is well known, historical events cannot be re-enacted, and society is difficult to control for variables like a laboratory...... In this episode, Xiao P, Zheng Shiliang, and Sha Qingqing discuss the history of the discipline, historiographical methods, and then move on to source criticism, historical materialism, political stance, and narrative issues. Can history borrow methods from the social sciences to pursue reliable evidence and causal explanations? And if a theory of historical explanation has an explanatory power as strong as Newtonian mechanics, will it transform from an analytical tool into a deterministic "master key"? Can history be compressed into a universal law? Or does it still require the researcher's choices and narrative to be presented?
Original Chinese title & description
193 历史学是（社会）科学吗？
在给“历史学”贴上“科学”或“非科学”的标签之前，首先可能需要先来界定“科学”。日常观念中的科学，往往以牛顿力学为原型：确定的规律、可控制的实验、可重复的结果，以及对结果的准确预测。然而，众所周知，历史事件无法重新发生一次，社会也很难像实验室那样控制变量...... 本期节目，小P、郑诗亮和沙青青从学科史谈到史学方法，再进入史料批判、唯物史观、政治立场与叙事问题。历史学是否可以借用社会科学的方法，追求可靠证据和因果解释？而一套历史解释理论如牛顿力学般解释力过强，会不会从分析工具变成决定论的“万能钥匙”？历史能否被压缩成一条普遍规律？还是仍需要研究者的选择与叙事才能得以呈现？
Participation credit “本期参与者”：沙青青（微信公众号：13号埋立地、小红书：Sha-13号埋立地）。
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