ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to argue that natural science can be a rational form of enquiry if and only if the writing of a true dramatic narrative—that is, of history understood in a particular way—can be a rational activity. It also argues that physics presupposes history and history of a kind that invokes just those concepts of tradition, intelligibility, and epistemological crises. The chapter suggests that the best account that can be given of why some scientific theories are superior to others presupposes the possibility of constructing an intelligible dramatic narrative which can claim historical truth and in which such theories are the subject of successive episodes. When the connection between narrative and tradition on the one hand, and theory and method on the other, is lost sight of, the philosophy of science is set insoluble problems. One further aspect of narratives and their role in epistemological crises remains to be noticed.
