2. In “The Concept of Scientific History” Isaiah Berlin distinguishes two kinds of data, with the fancy names nomothetic and idiographic. “Nomothetic” means fit for law-like generalizations (with reliable regularities). “Idiographic” means knowledge gained through direct relationship with the particular. It’s not clear that all data has (nomothetic) patterns. 3. Berlin says “because” is used differently in science and history. In science, it means reliably causal. In history, it means a looser, narrative kind of causation, a useful explanation of the complex web of factors affecting a particular situation. 4. Since Plato (and especially since Newton) we’ve generally privileged universal timeless truths. But we know history’s truths are often particular to context and times (idiographic). 5. Physics enjoys a closedness that human life lacks. Nothing that physics studies chooses or innovates. History and economics study things that often change how they act and react. The (nomothetic) methods of the inanimate sciences face extra challenges in social sciences. 6. Statistics, probability, or aggregation can’t always help. Prior distributions can be upset by spreading behavioral changes, making social systems less predictable. This doesn’t rule out aggregate patterns but nothing guarantees their stability either. (e.g. this discontinuity between pay and productivity). - bigthink.com