Please take some time to read the following passage from E. H. Carr’s book, What is History?, first published in 1962. I would like you
Please take some time to read the following passage from E. H. Carr’s book, What is History?, first published in 1962. I would like you to comment on Carr’s definition, paying special attention to its relevance to the historian’s craft. Comment also on whether this passage has meaning for you. Please keep in mind that I could have pulled similar passages from dozens of other historians but Carr’s book remains something of a classic.
“The historian starts with a provisional selection of facts and a provisional interpretation in the lights of which that selection has been made – by others as well as by himself. As he works, both the interpretation and the selection and ordering of facts undergo subtle and perhaps partly unconscious changes through the reciprocal action of one or the other. And this reciprocal action also involves reciprocity between present and past, since the historian is part of the present and the facts belong to the past. The historian and the facts of history are necessary to one another. The historian without his facts is rootless and futile; the facts without their historian are dead and meaningless. My first answer therefore to the question, What is history?, is that it is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts, an unending dialogue between the past and the present.” (p. 35)
This Discussion requires that you make a minimum of ONE post and THREE replies. Please keep in mind that your posts and your replies should contribute to the discussion rather than simply congratulate someone for a job well-done.
How many of you began this Discussion by looking up Carr and reading about him? Why did you do this?
How many of you did not look up Carr? Why not?
Answer preview for Please take some time to read the following passage from E. H. Carr’s book, What is History?, first published in 1962. I would like you
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