Method
The study of history is not just a story based on sources. A scholar is able to explain why he does what he does; awareness of methodological problems is the difference between a professional and a dilettante. Explaining this is of the greatest importance, because there are two disturbing developments.
- An increasing number of people has received a higher education, and is capable of recognizing the errors made by professional scholars, who are increasingly specialized and are often insufficiently aware of developments outside their specialism.
- On internet, people select the information they like - and this is usually bad information, because bad information drives out good.
Although it has, since about 2005, been generally recognized that websites like Livius.org and books for a larger audience must not just present the facts but should explain method as well, no satisfying way to explain method has been found so far. However, we can at least try to create awareness that history is a serious discipline. On this page, you will find links to several issues and problems, not all of them methodological.
There are 26 items in Method:
Altertumswissenschaft
Altertumswissenschaft: German word for the study of ancient culture and society. There is no equivalent in English.There is no real English equivalent for the German word Altertumswissenschaft, which refers to the study of ancient culture and society. It covers both…Bad information drives out good
Bad information drives out good: a sarcastic way to describe one of the main problems of science communication in the internet age.Our universities were created to make sure that society receives information that is up to date. In other words,…Conjecture
Conjecture: a classicist's proposal to explain a difficult part of an ancient text (a crux). Apparatus criticus of the prologue of…
De Bruijn, serail in Isfahan |
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology: dating a wooden object on the basis of the growth rings of a tree. This is one of the most accurate ways to date an ancient object. …
Method |
Elimination of manuscripts
Fifteenth-century Byzantine Gospel manuscript, showing the prologue of the Gospel of St John Ancient sources have been passed down to us…Elimination of sources
About many events from ancient history, we are informed by more than one source. If they are independent of each other, like the accounts of the Maccabean Revolt in the two books of Maccabees, we can rely upon them as…Everest Fallacy
Everest Fallacy: a logical error, the confusion of the extreme and the normal. Cicero: not a typical senator The Everest Fallacy can…Explanation
Explanation: the process of relating facts to other facts and thus creating meaning. Clio, the Muse of history History may be one…First Law of Archaeology
First Law of Archaeology: ironical name for a tendency among archaeologists to explain things they do not understand as religious. Qumran:…Formalism
Formalism: approach to textual analysis that focuses on recurring patterns and themes. It is related to structuralism. The classical dragon slayer:…