Abstract

I take it that the conception of causation as difference-making (see Beebee et al., 2017; Lewis, 1986; Menzies, 2004) is well suited to historiography. In the difference-making conception of causation, “cause is something that makes a difference to its effects” (Menzies, 2004, 139). As Ben-Menahem puts it, “Historical analysis seeks to separate the factors that made a difference from those that did not” (2016, 374). This is not a new insight. Max Weber wrote.