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The basic message of this book can be put in a straightforward way: humanities scholars should improve their way of asking questions. Their questions about the human condition need to be as clear and simple as possible to enable unambiguous answers. Simple without being simplistic, nuanced without being embroiled - that is the ideal. Unambiguous answers (not to be confused with irrefutable answers) are much wanted, although not always possible to attain. Moreover, if one wants the questions to be highly significant for the understanding of the human condition, there should not be too many questions. Even in this respect, there is much to be wanted in today's humanities research. Instead of gathering around a limited set of profound questions and holding on to them until the answers begin to appear, generally the humanist guild scatters its scientific energy on too many disparate things - replacing them far too often with hundreds of new questions, 'perspectives' and 'problematisations'. In its turn, such a research culture may hamper a cumulative growth of knowledge, the possibility of which, moreover, is regrettably often denied or even viewed with suspicion.

This book redresses the current problems in the humanities world-wide. Firstly, it presents a set of big but still insufficiently addressed topics that humanities researchers should focus on over a sustained period of time, such as what explains that some kinds of knowledge are widely accepted whereas other kinds of knowledge are rejected, or what explains the widespread diffusion of inequality paralleled by a gradual emergence of egalitarianism over the centuries. Secondly, it discusses what the humanities are or should be, as well as what they are not or should not be. Humanities researchers should consider their field as an integral part of science, uniquely dealing with humans as decision-making, meaning-seeking and self-reflecting agents.

Historiography. --- Historical criticism --- History --- Authorship --- Criticism --- Historiography

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Historiography --- History --- Historiographie --- Histoire --- Methodology --- Méthodologie --- Historiography. --- Methodology. --- Méthodologie --- Historical criticism --- Authorship --- Criticism --- History - Methodology

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Intellectual life. --- Historiography --- History. --- Historical criticism --- History --- Authorship --- Cultural life --- Culture --- Criticism

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Has any question about the historical past ever been finally answered? Of course there is much disagreement among professional historians about what happened in the past and how to explain it. But this incisive study goes one step further and brings into question the very ability of historians to gather and communicate genuine knowledge about the past.Understanding History applies this general question from the philosophy of history to economic history of American slaveholders. Do we understand the American slaveholders? Has the last word on the subject been said? Both the alleged “profitability” of slavery and the purported causes of the American Civil War are philosophically analyzed. Traditional narrative history and econometric history are examined and compared, and their different philosophical assumptions made explicit. The problem of justifying historical methodologies is first set in the wider context of the philosophical problem of knowledge, then lucidly explained and resolved along pragmatic lines. The novelty of Gorman’s approach lies in its comparison of narrative with econometric history, its analysis of empathetic understanding in terms of cost-benefit analysis, and its elucidation of the metaphysical presuppositions of empiricism. It stands out especially for the clarity, rigor, and simplicity of its arguments.

History --- Historiography. --- Philosophy. --- Historical criticism --- History, Modern --- Authorship --- Criticism --- Historiography --- Philosophy --- Historiographie. --- Histoire --- Philosophie. --- Economics --- History. --- hisotriography --- history --- philosophy

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Oral history is vital to our understanding of the cultures and experiences of the past. Unlike written history, oral history forever captures people's feelings, expressions, and nuances of language. But what exactly is oral history? How reliable is the information gathered by oral history? And what does it take to become an oral historian? Donald A. Ritchie, a leading expert in the field, answers these questions and in particular, explains the principles and guidelines created by the Oral History Association to ensure the professional standards of oral historians. Doing Oral History has become

#VCV monografie 2005 --- Historiography --- Oral history --- History --- Oral biography --- Oral tradition --- Historical criticism --- Authorship --- Methodology --- Criticism --- HISTOIRE ORALE --- TEMOIGNAGE HISTORIQUE --- METHODOLOGIE