Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

III. Methods and tools
historian, journalist and diplomat E.H.
Th
ngagd with this sujt intnsly in
Carr
what w all “historial fats”, as
qustiond
y his grat-granddaughtr, Hln
xplaind
an hangd or manipulatd to nfit thos rlaying thm, somthing w ar autly
“Fats
of today. During Carr’s liftim, Stalin’s rgim dstroyd doumnts, altrd vidn
awar
distortd history ... It is th ontinud misrprsntation and misus of fat, dlirat or
and
that Carr intrrogats in What is History? H nourags any studnt of history to
aidntal,
disrning: “What is a historial fat? This is a ruial qustion into whih w must look a
mor losly.” (Carr 2019)
littl
of E.H. Carr’s ky points was that, aus
On
th vast amount of information availal to
of
th fats, thy invitaly nd up hoosing
of
“fats” to mak us of.
whih
is a historial fat? … Aording to th ommonsns viw, thr ar rtain asi fats
“What
ar th sam for all historians and whih form, so to spak, th akon of history—
whih
fat, for xampl, that th Battl of Hastings was fought in 1066. But this viw alls for
th
osrvations. In th first pla, it is not with fats lik ths that th historian is primarily
two
It is no dout important to know that th grat attl was fought in 1066 and not
onrnd.
or 1067 … . Th historian must not gt ths things wrong. But whn points of this kind
1065
raisd, I am rmindd of Housman’s rmark that ‘auray is a duty, not a virtu’. To prais
ar
historian for his auray is lik praising an arhitt for using wll-sasond timr. … It is
a
nssary ondition of his work, ut not his ssntial funtion. … It usd to said that fats
a
for thmslvs. This is, of ours, untru. Th fats spak only whn th historian alls on
spak
it is h who dids to whih fats to giv th floor, and in what ordr or ontxt. … Th
thm:
rason why w ar intrstd to know that th attl was fought at Hastings in 1066 is that
only
rgard it as a major historial vnt. It is th historian who has didd for his own
historians
that Casar’s rossing of that ptty stram, th Ruion, is a fat of history, whras
rasons
rossings of th Ruion y millions of othr popl for or sin intrsts noody at
th
… Th historian is nssarily sltiv. Th lif in a hard or of historial fats xisting
all.
and indpndntly of th historian is a prpostrous fallay, ut on whih it is vry
ojtivly
to radiat.” (Carr 1990)
hard
Carr’s viw, it was vry lar: th historian
In
for th past aus th past annot
spaks
for itslf. Carr thus advisd his studnts
spak
study th historian for studying thir
to
Th impliation for historial knowldg
fats.
to xamin th rol of th intrprtr and
was
might influn thm. Carr was only
what
among many that grappld with ths
on
Collingwood was a pionr of sujtiv
R.G.
arguing a fw dads for Carr
historiism,
historians “ronstrut” history asd
that
a omination of th availal rord and
on
imagination of th thought prosss of
an
in th past. Considr what his all to
popl
mans for nutrality, authntiity
imagination
truth in history.
and
9
Box 9.4: Does the past speak for itself?
his influntial 1961 ook What is History? Carr
Carr (introdud in II.1).
historians, and thir sujtiv intrprtation
qustions of truth and ojtivity in history.
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