" I know it is the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies
anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the most part
inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our own age is the
abandonment of the idea that history COULD be truthfully written. In the
past people deliberately lied, or they unconsciously coloured what they
wrote, or they struggled after the truth, well knowing that they must
make many mistakes; but in each case they believed that 'facts' existed
and were more or less discoverable. And in practice there was always
a considerable body of fact which would have been agreed to by almost
everyone. If you look up the history of the last war in, for instance,
the ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, you will find that a respectable amount of
the material is drawn from German sources. A British and a German
historian would disagree deeply on many things, even on fundamentals,
but
there would still be that body of, as it were, neutral fact on which
neither would seriously challenge the other. It is just this common
basis
of agreement, with its implication that human beings are all one species
of animal, that totalitarianism destroys. Nazi theory indeed specifically
denies that such a thing as 'the truth' exists. There is, for instance,
no such thing as 'Science'. There is only 'German Science', 'Jewish
Science', etc. The implied objective of this line of thought is a
nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not
only the future but THE PAST. If the Leader says of such and such an
event, 'It never happened'--well, it never happened. If he says that two
and two are five--well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me
much more than bombs--and after our experiences of the last few years
that is not a frivolous statement." 1984 DK excerpt
Unfortunately, a war, even, won't get one automatically toward objective facts or truth. The old adage history was written by victors has some truth to it. According to Orwell's reasoning, the last thing he would have said, were Hitler to have won, was that this German history was thus now historical truth.
Re scientific truth, as an objective standard, Stephen Goldman had some good lectures on the history of science, and its controversies, within the context of European intellectual, mostly physical science and astronomy: "Science Wars", Teaching Company.
Re philosophy of social science, Winch had some useful essays, in Ethics and Action, struggling with problems of truth, method, and morality, through historical, scientific, and social transformation, what I would call, in one sense, a struggle for neutral scientific, and moral, explanations, across disciplines, academic and political factions, wars, civilizations even, and time, etc.,: "Man and Society In Hobbes And Rousseau", "Nature And Convention", "Witchcraft And Magic Among The Azande", "Understanding A Primitive Society", etc., etc. Winch, of course, read and spoke both German and French; things which I, unfortunately, did not.
Wikipedia: philosophy of social science, Peter Winch
Re scientific truth, as an objective standard, Stephen Goldman had some good lectures on the history of science, and its controversies, within the context of European intellectual, mostly physical science and astronomy: "Science Wars", Teaching Company.
Re philosophy of social science, Winch had some useful essays, in Ethics and Action, struggling with problems of truth, method, and morality, through historical, scientific, and social transformation, what I would call, in one sense, a struggle for neutral scientific, and moral, explanations, across disciplines, academic and political factions, wars, civilizations even, and time, etc.,: "Man and Society In Hobbes And Rousseau", "Nature And Convention", "Witchcraft And Magic Among The Azande", "Understanding A Primitive Society", etc., etc. Winch, of course, read and spoke both German and French; things which I, unfortunately, did not.
Wikipedia: philosophy of social science, Peter Winch
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