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3.1 Historical
Method
Version 1.2 February 2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (Previous Version)
These
are the questions we ask in the introduction (Section 0.1.6 – paragraph 14):
Why
do we have so much trouble agreeing on our history? Can history tell us
anything? Can we learn anything from history? Or are we condemned to repeat
it? Can we honestly say we understand how history unfolds? Or can we only
tell lots of individual stories? Do the famous people make history? Or are
they subject to blind historical forces? Can history be objective, or is it
always tainted? Is history only written by whoever wins the war? If what we
believe now is a product of our history, is there any reason to believe we
are any closer to the truth now rather than earlier?
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We need to understand what the “facts of history” are. We
generally assume that the real historical “facts” can't be changed, but we can
change what we believe they were. But what makes a “fact” an historical one? Once
we know the facts then we can supposedly join the dots together to make a story
and explain how and why things happened as they did, based on the historical
records (all sorts of written documents, but also video and oral histories) as
well as scientific evidence. We must avoid looking only at one side of a
story, such as the victors in a war or social movement, and we must be aware of
and try to counteract the inbuilt biases we have acquired from our culture and
learning. We believe it is reasonable to attempt to construct an historical
consensus, of what has happened globally over the long term.Â
We are not blind to the risks involved and the
controversies that will arise, as people come to the task from different
backgrounds with different preconceptions and theoretical frameworks, and as we
learn more “facts” and gain more “insight”. The goal is not only laudable but
doable!
We have to understand how we can develop
reliable history because too many of our leaders are ignorant or deliberately
distort history to gain or maintain our support.Â
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We propose to look at how we know what we know about
history under the following headings:
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1. Historical Facts:
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Can we say what really are the facts of history?
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Is it
reasonable to break down this area into these topics at this level?
Click on
feedback, or add a comment below, to tell us if you agree or disagree, or
suggest improvements.
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2. Historical Theories:
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Can we reliably join the facts into stories?
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3. Historical Documents:
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Do we only get history from old documents?
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4. Scientific Support:
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Can science help work out what happened?
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5. Previous Bogus History:
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How have we been misled in the past?
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6. Recent Bogus History:
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How have we been misled recently?
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7. Post Modernism:
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Can we work out what really happened?
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8. Long Term Global History
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Can we find a global historical consensus?
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As stated in the
chapter overview, this
is the current summary of our conclusions in this area:
History aims to describe humanity’s
past and identify trends into the future by reasoning about the
evidence, like science, and openly debating the process
and conclusions, but there is a lot of biased, oversimplified or plainly bogus
history designed to promote one nation or group over another and we must be
wary of it.
 more                                                             Statement
14
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* * * * * * *
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We
need help (obviously).
1. We need constructive feedback from
readers, whether positive or negative. Use the comments section on each
web page.
2. We need help with writing,
especially Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5, especially from non-Anglos, on
● the
science of our origins and human nature,
● long
term global history,
● identifying
the good and bad of indigenous religions, the major traditional world
religions, and modern responses to religion, and
● a
world-wide perspective on art and culture and the media.
3. We need help to translate into other
languages. We can do a first draft translation using eg Google Translate,
but that needs to be checked and refined.
4. We need administrative help to
establish and run local branches of a Reasonable Global Way: eg Reasonable Way Melbourne, or Reasonable
Way New York!
5. We need technical help, to maintain and
enhance the web site, for marketing and promotion, for legal matters, and to
develop educational resources.
6. We need funding, to provide an
ongoing revenue stream to maintain the organisation and its assets, and support
the activities noted above.
If you can help, click on Help Us
for more info, or click on Feedback (in main
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