Facts and their explanation in historiography (theory of C.G. Hempel)

The present study is focused on the characteristics of historiography, its place in the system of sciences from historiographic and systemic viewpoint. Description and analysis of a historical fact, its epistemological, ontological and methodological status have been mostly dealt with. Making difference between so-called brute facts and institutional ones, the author has created the starting point for the investigation of the character and the essence of the fact with regard to social and historical knowledge. In connection with the character of social reality and the fact. the focus has been moved to the explanation and interpretation. Hempel's scheme R, his concept of rational activity, its limits and possibilities as a tool for explanation in historiography have been dealt with in detail. Although the author refuses strong naturalism in social and historical sciences, she does not refuse the possibility to identify common framework for explanation and interpretation in social and historical knowledge based on "reform" weak naturalism.