Question: ‘Few Historians think no progress is being made towards truth, but even history’s keenest devotees know objectivity is unattainable’ (Lowenthal) Discuss.
Answer: The ultimate conclusion for an historian is to conclude that he or she has found the truth. This however is an unattainable goal. No historian will ever be able to find what was the real truth because we cannot know the reality of the past. Two reasons help us explain this, firstly, because the past has gone we are unable, in the final analysis, to verify by observation any claim that we make, therefore we cannot be sure what the ‘truth’ is. Secondly, historians can never escape from the cultural and normative environment from which they came....(short extract)
To download the full answer, please Sign in or Register then make a payment or submit 3 of your essays.
- Subject: History
- Course: World History
- Level: Degree
- Year: 2nd/3rd
- Mark: 63%
- Words: 2032
- Date submitted: August 31, 2009
- Date written: Not available
- References: Yes
- Document type: Essay*
- Essay ID: 2039
