Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 8, 2026

William Herbert Dray

William Herbert Dray was a Canadian philosopher of history. He was Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa.

Last revised
Jul 8, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
193 w
Citations
2
Source
William H. Dray
Born(1921-06-23)23 June 1921
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died6 August 2009(2009-08-06) (aged 87)
OccupationWriter, Philosopher, Professor
Alma materUniversity of Toronto (BA)
Oxford University (BA, MA, DPhil)

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.1

He is known for his version of anti-positivist Verstehen in history, in Laws and Explanation in History,2 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

Notes

  1. "Official page". Archived from the original on 2012-02-11. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  2. Michael Martin, Verstehen: The Uses of Understanding in the Social Sciences (2000), p. 103.
Bibliography

Bibliography