Background
Dray, William Herbert was born on June 23, 1921 in Montreal. Son of William John and Florence Edith (Jones) Dray.
Analytic philosopher of history and social studies
Dray, William Herbert was born on June 23, 1921 in Montreal. Son of William John and Florence Edith (Jones) Dray.
Bachelor of Arts History, U. Toronto, 1949; Bachelor of Arts Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford, 1951; Master of Arts, University of Oxford, 1955; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Oxford, 1956; Doctor of Laws (honorary), Trent U., 1987.
Lecturer in Philosophy, Toronto. 1953-1955, and Assistant Professor to Professor, 1955-1968. Professor of Philosophy, Trent, 1968-1976, and Chair.
Department of Philosophy, 1968-1973. Professor of Philosophy cross-appointed to History. Ottawa. 1976-1986, and Professor Emeritus, from 1986.
Visiting appointments at Ohio State. 1959, Case Institute, 1966, Harvard, 1967 and 1973, Stanford, 1962, Duke, 1973.
(This book challenges the popular view that the logical st...)
(This book deals with theoretical problems that arise at p...)
(Format Hardcover Subject History Philosophy of Publisher ...)
(This book explains and defends a central ideas in the the...)
(A central motif of R.G. Collingwood's philosophy of histo...)
Dray’s early work concentrates on the logic of inference and on models of historical inference and explanation. This interest is central in the influential version of his PhD thesis. Laws and Explanations in History (1957), in which he challenges as unnecessary, insufficient and misleading the positivist notion attributed to K. Popper and C. G. Hempel that historical knowledge follows the model of knowledge of physics, requiring the subsumption of events under general laws. Opposing a formal logical understanding of historical explanation, and opting for the adequacy of empirically based explanations in terms of ‘how possibly' rather than ‘why necessarily’, Dray advocates the loosely idealistic claim that human action belongs to a special ‘rational’ category involving reasonable human motives or rationale. Within the philosophy of history itself Dray highlights the important distinction between its speculative branch, pertaining to meaning in history, and its critical branch, which addresses the discipline of history itself. In the latter instance he sees his humanistic approach to historiography as involving logical parallels to literary narrative rather than to science. His interests range widely from ethical judgment in history to epistemological issues of objectivity, truth and the nature of mind especially as these problems arise in philosophy of history. Nor do the metaphysical issues of the nature of cause-effect relations, actions and events escape his attention. Dray's analyses are often informed by or are developments of theses arising from R. G. Collingwood S works, on which Dray is a noted commentator, and Dray has applied his theoretical findings to the actual historical practice of, for example, O. Spengler and A. J. P. Taylor.
Served with Royal Canadian Air Force, 1941-1946, air navigator Canada W. Indies, United Kingdom, Southeast Asia, Royal Canadian Air Force, active reserve, 1956-1966. Fellow Royal Society Canada.
Married Doris Kathleen Best, September 18, 1943. Children: Christopher Reid, Jane Elizabeth.