The Historians' Paradox

by Hoffer, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780814737156
• ISBN10: 0814737153
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-08-02
• Publisher: New York Univ Pr

Summary

How do we know what happened in the past? We cannot go back, and no amount of historical data can enable us to understand with absolute certainty what life was like "then." It is easy to demolish the very idea of historical knowing, but it is impossible to demolish the importance of historical knowing. In an age of cable television pundits and anonymous bloggers duelling over history, the value of owning history increases at the same time as our confidence in history as a way of knowing crumbles. Historical knowledge thus presents a paradox - the more it is required, the less reliable it has become. To reconcile this paradox - that history is impossible but necessary - Peter Charles Hoffer proposes a practical, workable philosophy of history for our times, one that is robust and realistic, and that speaks to anyone who reads, writes and teaches history. The philosophy of history that Hoffer supports inThe Historians' Paradoxis driven by a continual and careful search for the authentic, but without confining the real to a finite or closed set of facts. Hoffer urges us to think and live with a keen awareness that history is everywhere, to accept the impossibility of measuring its reliability, but to never approach it unquestioningly. Covering a sweeping range of philosophies (from ancient history to game theory), methodological approaches to writing history, and the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies of argument, Hoffer constructs a philosophy of history that is reasonable, free of fallacy, and supported by appropriate evidence that is itself tenable.The Historians' Paradoxbrings together accounts of actual historical events, anecdotes about historians, insights from philosophers of history, and the personal experience of a long time scholar and teacher. Throughout, Hoffer liberally spices the mixture with humour to create a philosophy of history for our times.

Author Biography

Peter Charles Hoffer is Distinguished Research Professor of History at the University of Georgia. He has authored and co-authored over twenty books, including Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, and Fraud in American History from Bancroft and Parkman to Ambrose, Bellesiles, Ellis and Goodwin.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Why History Is Impossible, Yet Necessary All the Same
It Would Be Logical to Assume ...	p. 9
Can we really know about the past? Maybe we can. All about facts, deduction, inference, and reasoning.
What's Wrong with This Argument?	p. 33
Historians use facts to make arguments. Sometimes those arguments are wrongheaded. But historians can learn to do better.
Historians and the Loaded Question	p. 52
Historians are not asking the loaded question and its benign cousins, the hypothetical and the rhetorical questions, are a useful part of historical analysis and teaching.
Cause for Alarm	p. 65
Historical causation in words and with numbers is a vital part of our scholarship, and any philosophy of history.
One of Us Is Lying	p. 87
And why not? Historians lie, and some entire histories are lies for hire or profit. But lying is a part of history too that can be turned to good use.
The Politics of History and History in Politics	p. 106
Historians have their own politics, and politicians use history all the time. Strange bedfellows, and a lesson for both.
Historians in the Marketplace	p. 128
Historians are not just scholars or teachers. They are pitchmen and popularizers. What does that mean for a philosophy of history? Let's ask game theory.
Uncertainties	p. 146
Are historians' words also things? Can historians find patterns in the chaos of the evidence? Can there be a true history, or will history always be relative to the time and place of its students?
Historians Confront the Problem of Evil	p. 163
The oldest and most vexing of historical dilemmas, and the one that historians alone may be able to solve.
Conclusion	p. 179
A Bridge to the Past
Glossary	p. 183
All the terminology introduced in the text, explained one more time.
A Very Brief Bibliographical Essay	p. 189
Index	p. 207
About the Author	p. 215
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