Historians' Paradox The Study of History in Our Time

Name: Historians' Paradox The Study of History in Our Time
Price: 4.71 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780814737156

ISBN-10: 0814737153

ISBN-13: 9780814737156

Edition: 2010

Authors: Peter Charles Hoffer

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Book details

List price: $28.00
Copyright year: 2010
Publisher: New York University Press
Publication date: 8/2/2010
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 226
Size: 6.00" wide x 9.00" long x 0.50" tall
Weight: 0.748



Preface


Introduction


Why History Is Impossible, Yet Necessary All the Same



It Would Be Logical to Assume ...


Can we really know about the past? Maybe we can. All about facts, deduction, inference, and reasoning.



What's Wrong with This Argument?


Historians use facts to make arguments. Sometimes those arguments are wrongheaded. But historians can learn to do better.



Historians and the Loaded Question


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


Historical causation in words and with numbers is a vital part of our scholarship, and any philosophy of history.



One of Us Is Lying


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


Historians have their own politics, and politicians use history all the time. Strange bedfellows, and a lesson for both.



Historians in the Marketplace


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


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


The oldest and most vexing of historical dilemmas, and the one that historians alone may be able to solve.


Conclusion


A Bridge to the Past


Glossary


All the terminology introduced in the text, explained one more time.


A Very Brief Bibliographical Essay


Index


About the Author