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- Title
The Task of the Historian.
- Authors
SPIEGEL, GABRIELLE M.
- Abstract
The article presents an exploration into the philosophy of the discipline of historical study and the professional and intellectual ethics and responsibilities of historians. Discussion is given pointing out the fundamental ideology of historical inquiry as a search for an objective and autonomous presentation of accurate past events and relating the development of this idea through the "linguistic turn" of the mid 20th-century. Semiotic challenges raised against historiography are outlined and addressed. Issues of linguistic subjectivity and historian bias are also discussed. Conclusions are offered asserting that the task of a historian is to disclose previously unexplored narratives of past events to public view.
- Subjects
PHILOSOPHY of history; SEMIOTICS; HISTORIOGRAPHY; SUBJECTIVITY in historiography; HISTORICAL research methods; HISTORIANS; PROFESSIONAL ethics
- Publication
American Historical Review, 2009, Vol 114, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
0002-8762
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1086/ahr.114.1.1