Chapter I: General Conditions of Historical Construction

The materials of Historical Construction are isolated facts, of very different kinds, of very different degrees of generality, each belonging to a definite time and place, of different degrees of certainty 211

Subjectivity of History 214

The facts learnt from documents relate to (1) living beings and material objects; (2) actions, individual and collective; (3) motives and conceptions 217

The facts of the past must be imagined on the model of those of the present--Danger of error especially in regard to mental facts 219

Some of the conditions of human life are permanent--The study of these provides a framework into which details taken from documents are to be fitted--For this purpose systematic lists of questions are to be used, drawn up beforehand, and relating to the universal conditions of life 224

Outline of Historical Construction--The division of labour--Historians must use the works of their colleagues and predecessors, but not without critical precautions 228

CHAPTER II

THE GROUPING OF FACTS

Historical facts may be classified and arranged either according to their time and place, or according to their nature--Scheme for the _logical_ classification of general historical facts 232

The selection of facts for treatment--The history of civilisation and "battle-history"--Both needed 236

The determination of groups of men--Precautions to be observed--The notion of "race" 238

The study of institutions--Danger of being misled by metaphors--The questions which should be asked 241

Evolutions: operations involved in the study of them--The place of particular facts (events) in evolution--Important and unimportant facts 244

Periods--How they should be defined 249

CHAPTER III

CONSTRUCTIVE REASONING

Incompleteness of the facts yielded by documents--Cautions to be observed in filling up the gaps by reasoning 252

The argument from silence--When admissible 254

Positive reasoning based on documents--The general principles employed must enter into details, and the particular facts to which they are applied must not be taken in isolation 256