External History and Quantitative Methods: From Literature to Philosophy

This article explores the methodological connections between external history of philosophy and quantitative methods, drawing parallels with and taking insights from literary studies, especially Franco Moretti’s distant reading approach. External history, in the sense envisioned by David Bloor’s Strong Programme, seeks—beyond rational reconstruction—social causes of philosophical ideas. Quantitative approaches, already established in the social sciences and digital human- ities, generate nouveaux observables and arguably support causal explanations. Three main types of possible interaction between quantitative methods and external history are identified and discussed: compatibility (external history and quantitative meth- ods somehow go hand in hand), supportiveness (quantitative methods can support or strengthen external history), and blindness (quantitative methods might be inherently blind towards some aspects of external history).