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29 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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1.Objectivity
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Herodotus
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• Herodotus shows us that he did not accept everything he was told
• Casts doubts on reports of an incident, indicates his scepticism • His own reconstruction of events and are used to present themes e.g. the Greek division of forms of government → democracy, oligarchy and monarchy • He considers the subjective side of history but then tries to find how to be objective with in that |
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Ranke
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Ranke
• History more than facts → historians “joy in the particular” and “eye for the universal” • Does not escape the context of his times any more than he escapes his own personal and political prejudices • Well award of the impact of the French revolution • On should study the past for its own sake and respect the uniqueness of each age “as it actually happened” • Our subject is mankind as it is, explicable or inexplicable • The significant was that which was provided by the sources to which he had access diplomats reports and diaries • Mainly records of the elites about the elites • Stressed the impact of the individual on history |
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Marx
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• Began ideas of communism/socialism
• Political activist • Cycle → oppressed overthrowing oppressors • Utopia → socialism where ownership is abolished therefore people co-operate & no state is needed • References are to be found scattered in his writings • The mode of production in material life determines their consciousness • Historical materialism • Class conflict never-ending in his view |
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Foucault
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• The separation of knowledge and power is impossible
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a) Is it possible to be objective?
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Herodotus
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Herodotus
• “Whether this latter account be true, or whether the matter happened otherwise, I shall not discuss further” • Herodotus says whether this latter account be true, or whether the matter happened otherwise, I shall no discuss further → shows post-modern views for his time • “He nowhere claims to have been an eye witness or participant in any of the major events or battles that he describes” → Gould • “ I owe it to tell what is being told, but I by no means owe it to believe it” • “Throughout the entire history it is my underlying principle that it is what people severally have said to me, and what I have heard that I must write down” – Herodotus |
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Ranke
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• Presented a convincing criticism of contemporary historiography condemning its reliance on tradition and proposed, instead, Ranke’s own more objective method.
• Considered “the strict presentation of the facts, contingent and unattractive though they may be, is undoubtedly the supreme law” • Occasionally adopts a literary approach in his writing of history • “He taught it to be critical, to be colourless and to be new” • Quested to seek the signature of god in humanity • Invites us to put aside our present values, to avoid judging to attempt to recreate the events of the past • Claimed to let the past speak of itself • History of the popes → take every opportunity to attack the roman catholic church → his criticisms are more calm and considered than angry and unfair |
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Marx
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• Marxism as the political, philosophical and historical truth
• Rigid economic determinism • Concerned with the connection between history and science ( operating in an event) • “they are the real individuals, their activity and the material conditions under which they live, those produced by their activity • “empirical observation must show empirically, without any mystification or speculation, the connection of the social and political structure with production” |
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Foucault
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• Truth is constructed out of a certain set of circumstances
• Truth to be constructed and politically motivated • Relation between history and the history of thought, and obsession of sorts with the status of the human subject → with the problem of knowledge • Provoked much controversy his influence is beyond question • Did not believe it could be human self consciousness • Accepted that language was not the communicator of reality → focus on how it communicated power • Language by presenting a certain type of knowledge as if it were reality or truth • “Truth is linked with systems of power which produce and sustain it” • “I am well aware that I have never written anything but fictions” • does not think people are rational and reflexive beings that have sovereignty of their lives • must question the rational history |
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b) Does the evidence shape the historian’s views or does the historian
shape the evidence? |
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Horodotus
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• Herodotus interrupts the rhythmic progress → inflates the incidents that he tells with dramatic detail
• Special incidents only because Herodotus chose them |
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Ranke
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• As a protestant → barred from papal archives → described Rome and the church 16th cent on basis of private manuscripts → (missing primary evidence)
• ‘From the particular, one can carefully and boldly move up to the general; from general theories, there is no way of looking at the particular’ • Reliance on the documents of evidence allowed him to be diverted from a true account of the past • His history ends up having its own in built bias towards the thinking and attitudes of the aristocracies of the periods about which he writes |
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Marx
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• Historians in a non-communist country are communists themselves
• Evidence was not selected simply to fit the theory • Mutual dependence of theory and evidence |
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Foucault
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• Use of evidence is selective and it often seems as if he has forced his interpretation on his materials
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c) How should the historian use sources?
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???
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Herodotus
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• “Now I cannot deny that there is truth in prophecies and I have no wish to discredit them when they are express in unambiguous language” → Herodotus
• Does not simply accept this source of evidence as infallible → offers examples where oracles are unreliable → some have found to be better then others • Use of above types of evidence with material evidence (descriptions, buildings, bridges and sculptures) → make his work an invaluable source of information on the ancient world • “Throughout the entire history it is my underlying principle that it is what people severally have said to me, and what I have heard that I must write down” – Herodotus • Herodotus has an agenda → there are certain incidents and episodes that the historian wants to accent and in doing so shapes his History to fit his idea of what is needed |
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Ranke
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• Primarily reliance on the “narratives of eye-witnesses and the most genuine immediate documents”
• Considered “the strict presentation of the facts, contingent and unattractive though they may be, is undoubtedly the supreme law” • As a protestant → barred from papal archives → described Rome and the church 16th cent on basis of private manuscripts → (missing primary evidence) • Written by the rich powerful, for the rich and powerful for rich and powerful, about rich and powerful |
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Marx
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• Marxist historiography on a non-communist historians in a non- communist country
• The sheer scope of evidence embodied in his work is staggering → Gov. blue books, ancient and modern works, and major and obscure political economists informed analysis. |
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Foucault
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• Would be common to all mental activity
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4. Content: What is important to write about when writing history?
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Ranke
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• A strong focus on the actions of kings and other political leaders
• Economic, social, cultural and other non-political forces are not considered of great importance • He is looking for more than straightforward factual info about dates or events from his sources. • The feelings or ideas of those who produces the sources were as meaningful and true |
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Marx
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• Marx changed the content
• Explored the content of people • Theories → people studied working class & oppressed people • Male dominated political and diplomatic history → opened the door to a much wider definition of what constituted the discipline of history • Demonstrate the extent to which those discriminated against were able to against the odds make their own histories • Likes to write about real experiences “arrive at men in the flesh” • “how absurd is the conception of history held hitherto, which neglects the real relationships and confines itself to high-sounding dramas of princes and states” • ridiculed member of his generation who believed themselves to be self-made, self sufficient and independent |
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Foucault
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• Demands of what others considered thought-worthy
• Ideas or concepts → European from the early modern period • It is a simple fact of human experience always embodied enacted and situated • Content is personal • Known for tracing the development of western civilisation • He sought to explore the conditions that give rise to forms of discourse and knowledge • His form of social analysis challenged other thinkers o look at institutions, ideas and events in new ways • Social features such as madness, gender and sexuality • Features are cultural constructions • Repressive and permissive procedures that determine how knowledge is applies, distributed, values and rejected • People are entagled in an invisible web of power relations • must question the rational history • interrogate what seems to be natural in our identity |
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5. Method: How should a historian communicate?
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?????
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Herodotus
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• Puts in re-creative dialogue of a story which is several hundred years old
• Suggests he travelled widely (Egypt, Cyrene, Babylon & Italy etc..) • At least a primary source from travelling • Herodotus embarks on the “demonstration of his research in order to preserve the essential facts of recent events • Cites ethnic groups as sources • Offers alternate versions of events on 125+ occasions • His own reconstruction of events and are used to present themes e.g. the Greek division of forms of government → democracy, oligarchy and monarchy • Provides an abstract cause for a complex historical development • “ I owe it to tell what is being told, but I by no means owe it to believe it” • “Throughout the entire history it is my underlying principle that it is what people severally have said to me, and what I have heard that I must write down” – Herodotus • Herodotus does not value documentary evidence very highly • dramatic detail ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES |
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Ranke
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• Aim was to reconstruct the unique periods of the past as they actually were and to avoid injecting the history of former times with the spirit of the present → historicism
• Primarily reliance on the “narratives of eye-witnesses and the most genuine immediate documents” • Occasionally adopts a literary approach in his writing of history • History more than facts → historians “joy in the particular” and “eye for the universal” • Increases the readability of von Ranke but is it retelling the past “as it actually was” • Stressed the impact of the individual on history – ELITES • Displayed the gifts we normally associate with story tellers or playwrights- Taste for anecdotes • Ranke argued that the historians task was both a science and an art • COMBINED HISTORY SCIENCE AND LITERARY DEVICES |
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Marx
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• Begins metaphorically
• Uses poetic language → “drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour” • way • Capitalism Marx → comes into the world “dripping from head to foot from every pore, with blood and dirt” • Study of individuals and events provided a test of Marx views of history • “men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please” • a discussion of language and symbolism • his method mixed the abstract and the concrete • he approached historical writing as both science and literary art • techniques → metaphor, oxymoron, leitmotif, epigram, alliteration → underscore is most important points • suggests that his ideas of historical progress is mistaken → simply imposing his own prejudices on an extremely complex reality • evidence was a necessary but not sufficient condition • 1 → historical analysis of sources → 2 → |
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Foucault
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• Melding of philosophical and historical
• Developed and used what he called an “archaeological method” • Drawing on seemingly random sources • Is only one episteme (system of knowledge) • A particular system of knowledge is a tool for upholding power • Should be 3-D, abandon the surface-level study of the ideas of individuals • An analysis of deeper or more fundamental structures • Should uncover the ways of thinking • Idea that an argument can be made convincing if it is delivered forcefully • Chooses to shock → descriptive primary sources → very different • Are annoyingly placed out of order, disrupting ones sense of logical sequence • Writing is thick and metaphoric and the point of view of the narrative line is often lost • Beginning one issue is at stake, by the end we seem to be reading about something else • Provocatively un unorthodox attitude |
