Learning Outcomes:
Among the learning outcomes of his module are:
• a complex sense of what ‘history’ is
• knowledge of the different alternatives to the notion that history is ‘about the past’
• knowledge of the different alternatives to the notion that history is ‘objective’
• a perspective on how we should ‘deal with the past’ (i.e. morally)
• an independent perspective on whether history is even possible
Indicative Module Content:
This module explores the various ways in which the conventional idea of history is wrong. It will work with students on these ideas (among others):
• there is no such thing as ‘objectivity’ in history;
• the ‘past’ is ‘our’ account of it, and therefore history is tied to the present: to the work of the historian;
• history constructs simple stories to capture events that are too complex to be explained in any story;
• nothing in history (compared with nature) happens according to any law: hence the difficulty of saying that one thing ‘caused’ another in history;
• the past is past, and cannot be understood.
And yet the past – and indeed present – is filled with countless real cases of abominable human suffering, of innocent victims, and of horrific crimes. How do we do justice to those victims if we are sceptical about historical objectivity? This module will work towards an answer to that question too.