{{Short description|Canadian philosopher (1921–2009)}} {{Infobox writer | name = William H. Dray | alma_mater = University of Toronto (BA)<br>Oxford University (BA, MA, DPhil) | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1921|6|23}} | birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2009|8|6|1921|8|23}} | occupation = Writer, Philosopher, Professor }} '''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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.philosophy.uottawa.ca/faculty/dray.html |title=Official page |access-date=2008-04-07 |archive-date=2012-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211122302/http://www.philosophy.uottawa.ca/faculty/dray.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
He is known for his version of anti-positivist ''Verstehen'' in history, in ''Laws and Explanation in History'',<ref>Michael Martin, ''Verstehen: The Uses of Understanding in the Social Sciences'' (2000), p. 103.</ref> 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== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/william-herbert-dray ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' page]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dray, William Herbert}} Category:1921 births Category:2009 deaths Category:20th-century Canadian philosophers Category:Analytic philosophers Category:21st-century Canadian philosophers Category:Philosophers of history Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford Category:Canadian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:University of Toronto alumni