Knowing as we do human nature, prejudice to a certain extent is a built in complex in man. With confidence a historian declares the fact is……………… but many of these alleged facts are better than his own observation, remarks and opinion. They are the result of judgments not necessarily compelled by the facts but flowing from the mental make-up of the historian. It is because this historian cannot back up the statements he makes with scientific proof that many people feel that historical knowledge is subjective rather than objective.
The very subject matter of history being reflective thought such subjectivity become inevitable. Voltaire pointed out that history is a pack of tricks we play upon the dead. An element of subjectivity enters at every step in the process of investigation; the present can and does influence our knowledge of the past. Every historian has his own likes, tastes, aptitude and preferences. He may choose either political or social or economic or military or constitutional or art-history and because he or she is specially inclined towards that particular subject, he or she is likely to be affected by it.
Karl Marx would pick only the class struggle, Hegel would concentrate on human spirit. Acton on freedom. The problem of selection such that the history of Europe from A. Imagine the events of A. The English historian think that it was the first war of Indian independence and the historian, either from Russia or America would not agree with either of these views. An element of subjectivity enters at every step in the process of investigation; the present can and does influence our knowledge of the past because past events do not any longer exist anywhere except in mind of the historian, who has now become both subject and object.
He reconstructs or reenacts the past in his own mind and in doing so super imposes at least some of his ideas on past events. The historian would fail to achieve his main goal of narrating an event as it really happened.
It is quite extensive but its perspective is entirely Western Eurocentric. The biased approach to historical writing is present in the teaching of history as well. From the origins of national mass schooling systems in the 19th century, the teaching of history to promote national sentiment has been a high priority. Until today, in most countries history textbook are tools to foster nationalism and patriotism and promote the most favorable version of national history.
In the United States, one of the most striking examples of this approach is the continuous narrative of the United States as a state established on the principles of personal liberty and democracy. Although aspects of U. In many countries, history textbooks are sponsored by the national government and are written to put the national heritage in the most favorable light, although academic historians have often fought against the politicization of the textbooks, sometimes with success.
Interestingly, the 21st-century Germany attempts to be an example of how to remove nationalistic narratives from history education. As the 20th-century history of Germany is filled with events and processes that are rarely a cause of national pride, the history curriculum in Germany controlled by the 16 German states is characterized by a transnational perspective that emphasizes the all-European heritage, minimizes the idea of national pride, and fosters the notion of civil society centered on democracy, human rights, and peace.
Yet, even in the rather unusual German case, Eurocentrism continues to dominate. The challenge to replace national, or even nationalist, perspectives with a more inclusive transnational or global view of human history is also still very present in college-level history curricula. In the United States after World War I, a strong movement emerged at the university level to teach courses in Western Civilization with the aim to give students a common heritage with Europe.
After , attention increasingly moved toward teaching world history or requiring students to take courses in non-western cultures. Yet, world history courses still struggle to move beyond the Eurocentric perspective, focusing heavily on the history of Europe and its links to the United States.
Despite all the progress and much more focus on the groups that have been traditionally excluded from mainstream historical narratives people of color, women, the working class, the poor, the disabled, LGBTQI-identified people, etc. It is only appropriate to state that the present world history book, while written in accordance with the most recent scholarly and educational practices, has been written and edited by authors trained in American universities and published in the United States.
As such, it is also not free from both national U. Privacy Policy. A subjective claim, on the other hand, is not a factual matter; it is an expression of belief, opinion, or personal preference.
Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Sociology How do historians deal with bias? Ben Davis July 22, How do historians deal with bias?
How can history be biased? Why do historians need to be careful of bias? What makes an author historian bias Do they write for the prestige of their respective nation or they write and mold history because of their objectivity and Verity?
What is the most obvious sign of bias in historical text? Is it possible to describe a historical event in an unbiased way? Can a historian be free of bias? How do we decide which events are historically significant? Is there an unbiased history? What would happen if historians are biased while reconstructing history?
Are there bias written history? Are history textbooks reliable? What are the best books to read about American history? What makes a history book reliable? Are history textbooks completely objective? What is the purpose of history textbooks? Can textbooks be biased? What is the main problem of historical objectivity? Is history is an objective discipline?
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