Discussion of Chance Causes in Historiography: Use of Counterfactual Thinking and History in History Education and Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the place of Counterfactual thinking and counterfactual history in the historiography and the use of it in history education and teaching. Important works in academic publications of counterfactual history were the study of Robert Fogel and Niall Ferguson. On the other hand, counterfactual thinking, it was criticized by historians like E.H. Carr and E.P. Thompson. However, in the second half of XX. century, by postmodern approaches, counterfactual thinking was reflected in literary and artistic products. In this context, "Ottoman Republic" can be mentioned as a counterfactual cinema product in Turkey. As a result of the review, some important counterfactual studies have been identified in terms of history education and teaching in the foreign literature. It is also understood that there are also counterfactual history-based history textbooks. In domestic literature, counterfactual studies were not found in history education researches. On the other hand, several counterfactual questions were found in social studies and history textbooks in Turkey. The counterfactual thinking is beneficial in terms of history education, such as increasing the power of historical comprehension, developing creative thinking, stimulating critical thinking skills, and recognizing deterministic approaches. The dangers of counterfactual thinking and counterfactual history are counterfactuals such as ideological counterfactuals, ethical judgment counterfactuals. However, these counterfactuals can be turn into an opportunity for history education.