Objectivity Is Not Neutrality: Explanatory Schemes in History

Recent challenges to principles of truth and objectivity mark the latest awareness of a tension between thing and knower that goes all the way back to ancient Greece. Historian Thomas L. Haskell here argues that much recent discussion of this tension has been evasive and inadequate. But even conventional approaches to the writing of history, he contends, carry fewer dangers than the pretensions of postmodernism and the delusions of inventive fiction. In Objectivity Is Not Neutrality, Haskell argues for a moderate historicism that acknowledges the force of perspective and reaffirms the pluralistic practices of a liberal democratic society--even while upholding time-honored distinctions between fact and fiction, scholarship and propaganda, right and might. Rather than simply telling stories of events or delivering the historian's familiar "report from the archives," Haskell addresses questions that will interest philosophers and literary theorists no less than historians. In this book terms such as "moral obligation," "convention," "interest," and "formalism" take on a new and sometimes troubling significance. Haskell explores topics ranging from the productivity of slave labor to the cultural concomitants of capitalism, from John Stuart Mill's youthful "mental crisis" to the cognitive preconditions that set the stage for antislavery and other humanitarian reforms after 1750. He traces the surprisingly short history of the word "responsibility," which turns out to be no older than the United States. He examines the reasons for the rising authority of professional experts in nineteenth-century America. And he asks whether the epistemological radicalism of recent years carries the power to justify human rights--rights of academic freedom, for example, or the right not to be tortured. Written by a thoughtful critic of the historical profession, Objectivity Is Not Neutrality calls upon historians to think deeply about the nature of historical explanation and to acknowledge more fully than ever before the theoretical dimension of their work. "Haskell's reputation as one of the foremost writers on topics in the philosophy of history is well deserved ...A challenging read well worth the effort."--Choice

About the Author :
Thomas L. Haskell is the McCann Professor of History at Rice University.

Review :
Haskell's method integrates the disciplinary priorities of historians into a style of discourse characteristic of philosophers, theologians, and political theorists... The community of specialists [in U.S. history] has no more thoughtful and conscientious student of its own epistemic authority than Thomas L. Haskell. -- David A. Hollinger Journal of American History A dozen essays, thoughtful and thought-provoking, by a distinguished intellectual historian and historical critic. Virginia Quarterly Review The most sophisticated contribution by a historian to the contemporary debate over the nature of historical knowledge. Books and Culture Haskell's reputation as one of the foremost writers on topics in the philosophy of history is well deserved... A challenging read well worth the effort. Choice Haskell provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between professional societies and authoritative knowledge and how this led to the rise of distinctive intellectual societies. PAR Public Administration Review