Histories and Fallacies: Problems Faced in the Writing of History
Overview
How do we know the stories told by historians are true? To what extent can we rely on their interpretations of the past? Histories and Fallacies is a primer on the conceptual and methodological problems in the discipline of history. Historian Carl Trueman presents a series of classic historical problems as a way to examine what history is, what it means, and how it can be told and understood. Each chapter gives an account of a particular problem, examines classic examples of that problem, and then suggests a solution or approach that will bear fruit for the writer or reader of history. Readers who follow Trueman’s deft writing will not just be learning theory but will already be practicing fruitful approaches to history. Histories and Fallacies guides both readers and writers of history away from dead ends and methodological mistakes, and into a fresh confidence in the productive nature of the historical task.
Top Highlights
“One of the greatest temptations for historians, particularly perhaps for historians studying the history of ideas, is to impose on the past ideas, categories, or values that were simply nonexistent or that did not have the same function or significance during the time being studied.” (Page 109)
“Historians who commit the genetic fallacy are guilty of the error of allowing the origins of something to determine its current nature or meaning.” (Page 158)
“A second form of anachronism is one that sees the past’s agenda simply in terms of modern developments.” (Page 110)
“Another common error to avoid is that of post hoc, propter hoc, or literally, ‘after this, because of this.’ In its most brutal and obvious form, this is the argument that because event B happened after event A, therefore there must be some causal connection between the two things. Sometimes there is no connection; other times the connection might be a whole lot more complicated than the historian has made it out to be.” (Page 152)
“A second problem with generalizing is that it can frequently lead the historian to make claims that are logically unsound, particularly in analogical arguments that move from one set of circumstances to another in order to draw inferences about the latter.” (Page 161)
- Title: Histories and Fallacies: Problems Faced in the Writing of History
- Author: Carl R. Trueman
- Publisher: Crossway
- Print Publication Date: 2010
- Logos Release Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Historiography › Handbooks, manuals, etc; History › Philosophy; History › Methodology; History › Errors, inventions, etc
- ISBNs: 9781581349238, 9781433512636, 9781433512643, 9781433520808, 1581349238, 1433512637, 1433512645, 143352080X
- Resource ID: LLS:HSTRSFLLCSWRHST
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:39:36Z