We follow in superhistory.comquestioning ourselves about the way in which the history. We have started in previous chapters by considering What is History?, and reflecting on how we get the information of the past in historical sourcesraw material of the History. Today we have another very important question for the historians and lovers of this science: Can you know the past as it happened?
The answer is undoubtedly that it is not possible to know the past just as it happened. Why? First of all, because the history feeds on historical sources which are just some fragments of what that was society From the past. Therefore, much of what happened we may not know. Even some facts of the past that we cannot know today, we can get to know later, thanks to new historical discoveries.
Second, because historical knowledge is a construction made by him historianbased on his study of the sources. When a historian decides to investigate the past, you are inevitably faced with different problems. It is not possible to reconstruct the entirety of the past. For this the historians They make a selection of those aspects of the past that are most interesting to them.
This is also highly influenced by the concerns and interests of the society to which he belongs historian. For this reason it is impossible to reconstruct the past objectively: the interests, motivations and purposes of the historian permanently guide the reconstruction of the past.
The problem of objectivity vs. Subjectivity
Why do we say that the History can not be objective? Be objective it means being able to study and analyze an object as it is, regardless of the way of thinking or feeling of the person studying it and – as we said before – that is not possible. That is why we say that the historical science it is subjective, since it is crossed by the vision, interests and decisions of the historiansand also influenced by the society in which they live.
But the subjectivity of historydoes not mean that any historian you can say whatever you want. On the contrary, since history is a science, follow a scientific method and strict procedures. Furthermore, the works of historians are permanently evaluated by other historians to determine that said historical knowledge be valid.
Other articles on historical knowledge:
what is history
Historical sources, raw material of history
History and the problem of subjectivity
History: past, present and future
Historical fact and historical process
Social actors and conflict, the engines of History
Space, change and permanence… elements to understand History
More information:
Historiology on Wikipedia
History and Prehistory. Editorial AZ. Buenos Aires.
ALONSO, M., ELISALDE, R. and VÁZQUEZ, E. History. Modern Europe and Colonial America. Buenos Aires, Aique, 1994
Images
Educared.org.ar