Hayot 28: "history is (ontologically) a kind of bed or garden for the development of ontological uniqueness [...] throwing up at infinitely small intervals sets of circumstances, events, attitudes, and collections of physical and mental phenomena, each of which will never appear in precisely the same way again"
seen a certain way, then, "the very substance of history (or of things historically considered) is in and of itself [...] simply incompatible with the natural-scientific method" (which seeks repeatable laws, in the manner of the "nomothetic disciplines")
"events considered historically are unique, in the sense that they take place only once. They are incomparable, fundamentally particular, unrepeatable. They cannot, therefore, be subject to any law, or indeed any methodology, save one that emerges from their particular uniqueness" (28)
"The claim is that for human beings, the uniqueness of history--both as a[n] experienced sequence of events and as a structure giving rise to 'personalities' (i.e., historical individuals)--has an inherent value." (37)
Idiographic historical knowledge "orients itself toward something fundamental in the being of the object that it addresses (namely, its status as a historical particular)"