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Re: revisionism
> --- Don Smith <dasmith at rotse2_physics.lsa.umich.edu>
> wrote:
> The only time I hear the
> > term is when it seems that
> > people feel their sacred cows (whatever they are)
> to
> > be threatened
that's a general perception of what i meant when i
referenced the movement. but it does have its place
in academic "history" :) it also has working
relationship with new criticism (literary).
> > scientific method provides. It's the best way to
> > weed out the wacky from the
> > plausible.
and then kelvin added:
> I concur. The problem I see is that when a lot of
> people talk about history, it seems to be in terms
> of
> "my history", "your history", and they tend to bend
> history to fit their agendas. Call me naive, but I
> believe that history is about the way it WAS - the
> facts - not any persons perspective on it. I don't
> get to rewrite it just because it reflects on "my
> people" in a way other than I would like.
while that's the attitude i think is ideal, what we're
dealing with is an inseparability b/w the so-called
facts and their messengers. i think you're saying we
have some omnipotent access to _deciferable_ facts in
hindsight (maybe even outside the contexts). even
when we do search out contexts, we do so from the
vantage point of our own contexts. i'm not saying we
can never know anything. but i think it'll eventually
boil down to certain faith decisions (faith in the
laws of physics, faith in whatever, for some of us:
religious faith), no matter where you fall.
with regard to the "right" plausibility structure
(wacky vs. plausible), that in itself is a value
judgment attached to an authoritative tradition. it
has no more claim to objectivity than do the most
overt of agendas.
i'm all for wanting clear answers (and wading through
a whole lot with an open mind), but we are no more
clearly proven or justified (from a human perspective)
in our supposedly scientific assessments than are
other groups. it all begins with some matter of
faith. we all accept certain things to be true on
which we base our claims.
-j. marie
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