Scientific Fictions and Historical Reality

On the example of Lev Gumilev’s work “In Search of an Imaginary Kingdom: The Legend of the Kingdom of Prester John” the possibility of applying the principle of “Als ob” of Hans Vaihinger in historical research is analyzed. Gumilev reconstructs the history of the Kara-Kidan state according to the principle of “as-if-it-happened”. The principle of “as-if-it-happened” [“Als ob”] allows him to gather into a systematic unity the few historical evidences about the kingdom of Prester John. Gumilev’s method of reconstruction is a practical use of the method of hypothetical modeling that Vaihinger outlines in his seminal treatise. He calls it the method of “scientific fictions.” The first part of the paper outlines Gumilev’s historical reconstruction of the events of the Kara-Kidan state. The second part analyzes the principles of Vaihinger’s “as if”-methodology. Then, in the third part, it is shown that the foundations of the “as if” principle of research were continued in the philosophy of the twentieth century, in particular, in the principle of phenomenological reduction of E. Husserl, in the practice of falsificationism of K. Popper, in the method of deconstruction of J. Derrida and in other methodologies. Derrida and in other methodological practices of philosophers who have departed from the principle of naive objectivism. Gumilev’s study shows that “as if” modeling is a productive practical application of the universal method of hypothetical research in historical science.