ABSTRACT
Historians draw upon their general beliefs about the causes of human actions in two quite different contexts. The first is when interpreting evidence. Once historians have decided who created a piece of observable evidence, they are interested in the circumstances of its creation so as to learn more about the past, particularly those features of the past which interest them. The second context is when historians want to explain an action of some historical significance, and then the causes they look for depend upon the kind of explanation they desire. It may be they want to know all the important causes of the action; or just the most important; or the conditions which account for one action being performed rather than another.
