The Facts and Values of History essays

The Facts and Values of History essays The facts of history, the values and interpretations of history can all be a subject of repeated debate; it is contested and perceived differently by different types of groups of people and ideas. At the same time it is important to remember that history is a part of our culture, it is something we all share and no individual group owns it. It is our past heritage and although it is gone, we feel a part of it. People from different interest groups and classes, regions and localities, religions and cultures, have seen and will see history in contrasting ways. History is far from simple. Historians are mutually exclusive; the things they say are nonetheless true as longs as these things are within the confines of the ideas and values of their creators. What I mean is that there are many ways for historians to tell the same story, each of them equally valid. There is an ability of historians to be objective with regards to the facts, but there are also propositions that there are some aspects of history that are absolute and may not be questioned. It is not about questions of the facts but about how an individual interprets those facts. Facts do not have, meaning, when you question the meaning of historical events, you are not denying they occurred, its just interpretations are bound to change from class to class, gender to gender, and of course, over time. These historians never ask, Did this historical event happen? but they ask, What happened in this historical event? Carrs essay states that it used to be said that facts speak for themselves. This is, of c ourse, untrue. The facts speak only when this historian calls on them: it is he who decides to which facts to give to the floor, and in what order and context. E.H. Carrs, The Historian and his Facts, I found it interesting because it presents history as something besides facts. He uses several examples throughou...