I have been wondering recently about how to rationally approach topics that are naturally subjective. Specifically, this came up in conversation about history and historiography. Historic events are objective of course, but a lot of historical scholarship concerns itself with not just describing events, but speculating as to their causes and results. This is naturally going to be influenced by the historian’s own cultural context and existing biases.
How can rationalists engage with this inherently subjective topic, and apply rationality techniques? We can try to take account of the historian’s biases, but in many cases that will require us to do some historical research—it is probably not possible to get an accurate, objective account.
This applies to a certain extent to other fields I am sure, but history and historiography are perhaps the most scholarly ones I can bring to mind.
Hmm. I was a little tired and rushed when I wrote this. There are a few thoughts I’d like to add concerning historiography.
As I said above, history, because of its subjective nature, is always influenced by the historian’s bias. Historiography could maybe be called the study of these biases, but is in itself subject to the same flaws.
No historian’s viewpoint on a historical event will be fully objective. But just because no approach can be perfect, does not mean that all approaches can be equally imperfect. My question isn’t so much about how to be a rational historian, but more: is there a rational way to evaluate the relative worths of different historical viewpoints?
I have been wondering recently about how to rationally approach topics that are naturally subjective. Specifically, this came up in conversation about history and historiography. Historic events are objective of course, but a lot of historical scholarship concerns itself with not just describing events, but speculating as to their causes and results. This is naturally going to be influenced by the historian’s own cultural context and existing biases.
How can rationalists engage with this inherently subjective topic, and apply rationality techniques? We can try to take account of the historian’s biases, but in many cases that will require us to do some historical research—it is probably not possible to get an accurate, objective account.
This applies to a certain extent to other fields I am sure, but history and historiography are perhaps the most scholarly ones I can bring to mind.
Hmm. I was a little tired and rushed when I wrote this. There are a few thoughts I’d like to add concerning historiography.
As I said above, history, because of its subjective nature, is always influenced by the historian’s bias. Historiography could maybe be called the study of these biases, but is in itself subject to the same flaws.
No historian’s viewpoint on a historical event will be fully objective. But just because no approach can be perfect, does not mean that all approaches can be equally imperfect. My question isn’t so much about how to be a rational historian, but more: is there a rational way to evaluate the relative worths of different historical viewpoints?