In Defence of History

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Social history is said to have initially been revolutionary in that it shifted emphasis from high politics and “great men” to social movements, economics and “cliometric” or statistical/quantitative approaches. Dismissed in a single sentence and a bizarre one at that, to the effect that 'master-narratives are the hegemonic stories told by those in power' (p.

I tend to follow Evans in this, but I must admit that his presentation of the postmodernists regularly is very caricatured (although he admits postmodernists also have added valuable new insights), and his statements sometimes are worded rather vaguely. For this boldish statement I'm relying (mostly) on Roderick and Easthope, because, like Evans, I haven't read Derrida.

Tiada tujuan moral, atau penyuguhan gagasan ideologikal sebagai matlamat utama penulisan sejarah, hanya perubahan. But it is not aware of this as a general problem - only as a specific one which affects historians in a particular way, and one they can deal with easily if they are scrupulous and attentive. A highly stimulating book, recommended for anyone who is unconvinced by the Brave New world of postmodernism. Evans himself was at the time an expert witness in the David Irving trial to establish whether holocaust denial was acceptable. They would not, however, fit in any obvious way with the neatly categorised (and well written) argument presented in the book, so that it is easy to see why they are left out.

The late nineties was a world of “absent centres and collapsed metanarratives” where there was a serious challenge to the concept of empirical history. Bernard Crick, 'The truth, the whole truth - and nothing but', The Independent Saturday Magazine, 20 September 1997, p. The book covers various topics, i remember one of my favorites was when the book asks whether history should be treated as a science?On erinevate vaadete tutvustamisel ka ysna mõõdukas: ehkki raamat on suunatud eeskätt vastama postmodernistlike mõtlejate kriitikat (eelkõige, et objektiivset ajalootõde pole), ei ründa Evans neid mõõdutundetult (viitab, et mitmed nende toodud uuendused on olnud ka kasulikud) ega ripsuta yleliia tiiba ka hyperempiirilisust võimalikuks pidavate konservatiividega (ehkki sedastab, et ajaloolise tõe – olgu see pealegi osaline või subjektiivsusest teatvalt mõjutet – leidmine on õigete meetoditega võimalik). It admits that there is more than one kind of postmodernism ('there are many different varieties', p.

This book is a strong defence of the historical profession and that it's possible to attain historical truths. Most contemporary critical theory arrives by passing through a single gate, recognition of the distance or gap or non-coincidence between reality and representation. Steve Smith, 'Truth in an age of challenge', The Times Higher Educational Supplement, 28 November 1997, p. His plea for a moderate application of classic historical methods brings him in conflict with postmodernism. Postmodernism and relativism (of which postmodernism is the current incarnation) collapse in a performative contradiction when it’s insights are pushed to their logical conclusions.Historians then are not always providing the absolute truth, and most of them would not claim to, but altogether, are providing the probable truth, in which they have done their best to establish by following the rigorous rules of evidence. In this new edition, Evans replies to his critics — conservative and postmodernist — in a measured, forceful afterword. Penghujung buku ini penulis mengendurkan kritikannya dengan menunjukkan bagaimana pasca-modenisme memang ada mendatangkan manfaat kepada bidang historiografi terutama di dalam mengembangkan daya imaginatif satu-satu karya sejarah tersebut – namun itu hanyalah untuk seketika. Kehadiran ‘scientific method’ pada era moden pula tidak menggugat relevansinya malah hadir sebagai penguat di dalam aspek pembentukan hipotesis, pengungkapan soalan, dan penggunaan hasil ujikaji (statistik, arkeologi dll). And if you come across an argumentative post-modernist at a party, telling you that you don’t know anything, this book will supply you with plenty of arguments to try to convince them otherwise!