British Politics in Uncertain Times
Alexander123
Video3historicalnarrativeLecturehistoriography.pptxHistorical narrative
But how does an historian identify, interpret and present facts – and how are these facts strung together to make a credible story of history?
So, contrary to Ranke is a view that history is not a science but an art – but a specific type of art. This idea originates with an Italian: Benedetto Croce 1866-1952.
See Fifty key thinkers on History p41ff
Croce emphasised “historicism” – that the events of history must be placed in the rich context of their time, and interpreted so – not seen as immutable facts.
That we cannot pull out universal truths from history – such as how Marx identified a mode for economic change.
Historicism has been criticised as relativistic but some sensitivity towards historicism – or at least historical context – is crucial for an historian.
Ranke, too, advocated historicism – of the need to understand the past on its own terms.
But whereas he began as a Romantic he increasingly began to claim that the past revealed itself as it really was through a scientific approach to primary sources.
But Croce disagreed – and argued for the more artistic approach of using individual informed intuition.
See The pursuit of history: aims, methods and new directions in the study of modern history
by John Tosh 2010 – Chapter 1
Is there a tension between historicism and contemporary history as driven by present concerns?
And how can we have an effective historicism if we rely on an historians judgment – an historian who is grounded in the present.
Inevitably, historical narrative becomes a compromise…
What we get is historical narrative, informed by facts but interpreted by the historian; grounded in the historical present, in all its richness. Which itself is in a process of understanding itself.
Marnie Hughes-Warrington 2014 Fifty key thinkers on history – EH Carr p29:
But Ranke’s focus of history is also important, and it dominated his followers: history was high politics, great men and wars.
But this too can be questioned by social historians, feminist historians, cultural historians, post-colonialists, or micro-historians.
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