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William Herbert Dray (23 June 1921, in Montreal – 6 August 2009, in Toronto) was a Canadian philosopher of history. He was Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa.

He is known for his version of anti-positivist Verstehen in history, in Laws and Explanation in History, and his work on R. G. Collingwood.

Selected publications

• Dray, William H. Laws and explanation in history. Oxford University Press, 1957.
• Dray, William H. Philosophy of history. Prentice-Hall 1964.
• Dray, William H. Holism and individualism in history and social science. 1967.
• Dray, William H. 'On the nature and role of narrative in historiography', in History and theory 10.2 (1971): 153–171.
• Dray, William H. On history and philosophers of history, vol. 2 of Philosophy of History and Culture, ed. by Krausz, Michael. Brill, 1989.
• Dray, William H. History as re-enactment: RG Collingwood's idea of history. Clarendon Press, 1996.

Notes

1. Official page
2. Michael Martin, Verstehen: The Uses of Understanding in the Social Sciences (2000), p. 103.

References

• Canadian Encyclopedia page

• 1921 births
• 2009 deaths
• 20th-century Canadian philosophers
• Analytic philosophers
• 21st-century Canadian philosophers
• Philosophers of history
• Alumni of the University of Oxford
• Canadian expatriates in the United Kingdom
• University of Toronto alumni