According to “History and the Historian” by John Warren, there are several issues that have risen out from the study of history and the defining of what are the “historical truth”. Indeed, these issues are discussed critically especially in the chapter 5 of this book.
First and foremost, the definition of ‘historical truth’ itself may not actually be ‘historical’ at all. This is mainly due to the fact that what has happened in the past can never be able to be fully reconstructed in the present day in order for us to completely appreciate the past’s experience. As a matter of fact, the accounts and historical texts that we have read or studied are not what really happen in the past, it is actually what the historians perceive of the past. In the other words, all those texts are the historical reconstruction of the past from the observations and understanding of the historians themselves. This has eventually leaded to a bigger problem as different historians have different perception of the past and thus give different importance towards certain issues. For better illustration, let’s us look at contemporary Thai history subjects that are taught within the Thai high school curriculum. If one looks closely at how Thai history during the period of Sukhothai are perceived, the main focus of it revolves around the story of the kings, their dynasties and how they have ruled Siam during those time, instead of other subjects which, in my view, are equally important. The examples of such subjects are the livelihood of the Thai people during those times or the ways that they prepare and eat food in those days. Indeed, I suspected that the reasons that Thai history is designed to be taught in that way is due to the motive of the historians at...
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...of combatants in the French Revolutionary war or the diary of the soldier that fought during that time. Clearly the messages found within those texts are open to all kinds of emissions, addition and manipulation depending on the purposes of the writer at that time. As a result, it is not really the “truth” when certain ideas are extracted out of it.
Overall, it can be seen that “historical truth” is most likely not possible to be recovered by the historian due to several difficulties as stated in this paper. In my opinion, the only thing that a historian is able to provide to us is the “truth” from the perspective of the historians. Also, it is important for us to keep in mind that all the historical account can be interpreted in any way that the interpreter wants and we should be on alert and consistently judge any historical reading that we may have come across.
...es are manipulated for his argument. Goldhagen’s controversial and stimulating study encourages research to continue and in 2013 Jewish leaders pressured Pope Francis to open the Vatican archives from 1939-1947. The opening of these archives will instigate more investigations in this field and until these archives are opened the historical record will not be clarified. The importance of these archives illustrates the interesting nature of historical literature. The study of history focuses predominantly around primary materials, however these materials do not provide a definitive depiction of the past. Historians analyze primary sources to deduce an interpretation of the past. The discrepancies between historian’s interpretations form historiographical debate. It would be interesting to examine the extent to which historians are perhaps just academic storytellers.
Each author demonstrates the toughness of the spirit, and provide no solution, as history never does. It is up to the individual to decide whether history will repeat itself, or whether or not a scapegoat will be found. However, Griffin, Rodriguez, and Ellison all did their part in providing possible solutions.…for history.
The purpose of this essay is that history is a result of point of view.
Research of the past is necessary to improve society, and prevent history from resurfacing. There is a debate of whether or not history is based on pure study or if it has been altered by those who tell it. Each side of this argument is represented, William H. McNeill claims that history is subjective rather than factual. Oscar Handlin rebuts this claim by stating that history is a collection of data and evidence. History is not objective and is altered over time. Within the article, “Mythistory, or Truth, Myth, History, and Historians”, McNeill states, “ Only by leaving things out, that is , relegating them to be disregarded…” (McNeill 13). Historians will include only the significant portions of history and leave out details
The world is living histories. For instance, communities speak the languages that are inherited from the past and, practice cultural and religious traditions that have not been created on the spur of a moment. In this sense, acknowledging history is essential for rooting people in time. Nonetheless, sometimes a dreadful past can inhibit a country to undertake its own history. For example, the United States has long been telling
Books, to the scholar, should only be used as a link to gathering information about the past. For these books do not give a definite factual account of the past; they provide information for man to form his own opinions. These books were written by men who already had formulated ideas in their heads spawned by other books. Man must look to these books for inspiration in creating his own thoughts. He must use all the possible resources available to get every side and every opinion out there. When man creates his own thoughts, using every source to aid h...
The investigation references Franz Boas’ theory of historical particularism. The definition of historical particularism is:
It’s truly fascinating how there are so many different approaches to history, how so many different types of minds and schools of thought can come together to study the events of the world’s past. There are so many ways to approach what happened in our past, and the groups of historians previously mentioned are only a fraction of the actual number of different ways of researching and thinking that exists as it pertains to the study of history. History is in some ways, always a mystery, and all historians, regardless of schooling, training or biases, seek to accomplish one goal: to understand what occurred before us and why, and to use that knowledge to learn how the world was shaped into the world we live in today.
In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien distinguishes between two kinds of truth-happening truth and story truth. Happening truth is the events that actually took place and are true, the unbiased skeleton. However, story truth is adding fictional substance to the bones of the truth, by adding more details that are not necessarily false but not exactly true and show the perspective of the soldiers. Story truth is a more effective way than historical truth to tell about the Vietnam War because it shows how the war was actually viewed by some of the soldiers. Historical truth is only pure facts and sometimes in order to really comprehend what actually took place a little exaggeration is needed.
Iggers opens the book by talking about a revolutionary way that the Western world was taught about history. Throughout the book he ascertains the changes that take place throughout historiography and the nature of history itself. He also examines prior historical notions and the way that historiography was altered after World War II. History morphed from previous antiquarian teachings into a deeper, more evaluated approach. Historians gained a more intimate relationship with postmodern ideas and began looking at history in an objective manner using contemporary discipline. Iggers studies the way postmodernism was changed by new social sciences which allowed more detail into cultural influences and the problems surrounding globalization theories. He also explains the birth of microhistory which replaced macrohistory.
Review of The Social History Of Truth by Steven Shapin Chapter 1 When someone says that something is true,they are usually stating that it corresponds to the facts of how things really are. Academic philosopher’s distiningish what is true and what is taken to be true by a process of sorting?No single being can constitute knowledge. All one can do is offer claims, with evidence, arguments and inducements to the community for its assessment.Knowledge is the result of the communities for its evaluations and action. Trust and the order of society went hand in hand.Richard Rorty believed that if epistemological differenting motion of the truth occurred. Then an “inforced'; agreement should be reached. Popper pointed that most of what we know about the world is based on the observations and communications of others. Trust is a great force in science. It is an unending means for the extension and modification of knowledge. Communication of the world around us through reports is very important in our understanding. Reports may vary because individuals are differently situated in time and space. What one man sees may not be what the others see because they have different points of view or perception of the same scene. Trust is the power of the social world. Trusted persons make some set of their future actions predictable when they make promises and they agree to forgot a certain amount of free action. It is this recognition of free action is at the center of the culture that justifies trust and allows trust to b accomplished and social order to be built and sustained.Chapter 2 Gentlemen were the only ones that possessed the quality of truthfulness. This quality was grounded in his placement in social, biological and economic circumstances. According to Sir Thomas Smith England was made up of four estates: king, major and minor nobility, gentlemen and yeomen. All were considered gentlemen except the yeomen. Gentlemen made up one to five percent of the English population. This small percent held all of the wealth and political power and spoke on behalf of the rest.Gentlemen were characterized according to their wealth. Much of their income came in the form of rents and agricultural land tilled by the unfree. The gentleman was under no obligation to work and was free of want. Aristotle characterized gentlemen to have ancient riches and virtue. The gentleman could also be characterized by their idleness.
As the first chapter in this long analytical book, chapter one serves as the foundation for the rest of the novel, with a basic premise that “history textbooks make fool out of the students.” It shows how portrayal of historical figures and events in the best light for the reputation of United States leads to biased and distorted historical education.
Knowledge is gained through a myriad of personal experiences through a variety of ways that shapes a person’s understanding. The knowledge we obtain is the culmination of our experiences as we learn what our brain interprets from our senses. Knowledge is the transmission of information that shapes a person’s understanding on a particular topic using a way of knowing. The language used by others to formulate our own ideas and thoughts produce knowledge. The knowledge obtained can either be objective and subjective. The two areas of knowledge, history and arts, are both typically at fault for being inaccurate or bias. The role of history is to study, interpret and analyse the events of the past and relay these findings through language. Language communicates thoughts and ideas through a verbal or written broadcast, thus allowing knowledge to be conveyed. The arts are a broad area of knowledge that communicate knowledge through the manipulation of our sense perceptions that allow us to experience sensations through any of our five senses. The inaccuracies and biases of these areas of knowledge and ways of knowing is due to the pre-set beliefs and values that affect how an artist or a historian chooses to express a particular message to others. Each historian belongs to a school of historiography that holds the belief that an event was due to a specific set of factors and the language used supports this claim. Similarly, artists utilize our sense perceptions to convey a message through a painting. Arts are a broad area of knowledge to i...
Historians look at both sides of the event gaining an understanding of the causes or factors leading to the event itself. Historians thus must produce questions in order to study the past events (Dunn). In April 199...
History is a story told over time. It is a way of recreating the past so it can be studied in the present and re-interpreted for future generations. Since humans are the sole beneficiaries of history, it is important for us to know what the purpose of history is and how historians include their own perspective concerning historical events. The purpose and perspective of history is vital in order for individuals to realise how it would be almost impossible for us to live out our lives effectively if we had no knowledge of the past. Also, in order to gain a sound knowledge of the past, we have to understand the political, social and cultural aspects of the times we are studying.