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IB TOK History 3 – The problem with historians.
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IB TOK History 3 – The problem with historians.

What is History? Epistemological Problems in Historical Methods

Introduction to the Epistemological Problem

  • The lesson focuses on the epistemological issues arising from historians' methods of understanding the past.
  • It introduces a metaphor comparing historians to cleaning staff at a railway station, emphasizing their role in sorting through remnants of human activity.

The Historian's Role

  • Historians sort through historical "rubbish" and "valuables," categorizing events into meaningful boxes (political, economic, social, etc.).
  • This process of sorting helps construct meaning from the past that those who lived it may not have understood.

Understanding Historical Sources

  • Herbert Butterfield's quote highlights that historians aim to understand people of the past better than they understood themselves.
  • The discussion raises questions about the reliability of primary sources versus secondary sources in capturing historical truth.

Current Events and Future Historians

  • The speaker reflects on contemporary events (Trump's presidency and Brexit) and questions whether those living through them truly grasp their significance compared to future historians.
  • He suggests that some current political figures may be forgotten over time, similar to past politicians associated with failed events.

Dimensions of Historical Understanding

  • David Lowenthal’s perspective: history is both less than and more than the past; it is a selective interpretation imbued with meaning derived from hindsight.
  • Three dimensions:
  • Historical Consciousness: Historians identify patterns and connections invisible to contemporaries.
  • Access to Archives: Historians utilize documents unavailable during events for deeper insights into occurrences like Trump's alleged collusion or Brexit negotiations.
  • Emotional Detachment: Unlike participants, historians can maintain objectivity due to temporal distance from events, allowing for clearer analysis.

Interpretation as an Epistemological Challenge

  • Despite these advantages, history remains an interpretative endeavor rather than an absolute truth; facts can be shaped by narrative desires as noted by Jean-Paul Sartre’s quote on interpretation.

The Nature of Historical Interpretation

The Concept of Contemporary History

  • The speaker emphasizes that "all history is contemporary history," suggesting that each generation interprets the past through the lens of its own experiences and societal context.
  • Histories, such as those of the French Revolution or the fall of Rome, are continually rewritten not solely due to new evidence but because our understanding evolves with societal changes.

Shifting Perspectives in Historical Narratives

  • The speaker illustrates how personal interests shape historical interpretation; for instance, a hundred years ago, narratives often excluded significant groups like the working class, women, and ethnic minorities.
  • This exclusion reflects the historians' focus at that time and highlights how changing societal values influence what aspects of history are deemed important today.

Epistemological Challenges in History

  • The speaker posits that history is fundamentally interpretative and never fully complete; it remains an ongoing process shaped by current perspectives and understandings.
Video description

‘I am beginning to believe that nothing can ever be proved... slow, lazy, sulky, the facts adapt themselves at a pinch to the order I wish to give them’. Antoine Roquetin the historian in Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea. The classic formulation is that ‘primary sources’ are more useful than ‘secondary sources’ because the primary sources were produced by people who experienced the events first hand. Of course, without those primary sources we wouldn’t know anything. However, do those living through an event in the past really have a better understanding of what is happening and of what is important and what isn’t? David Lowenthal once said that history is both more and less than the past. Less because history is only selected bits about the past, but it is also more than the past because history has meaning that the past does not. This meaning can only be derived from the power of hindsight, the work of historians. If you want to know history, first know the historian.