The Dialectic Of Interpretation In History

Abstract

The definition of history as rational knowledge stems from the work of the historian and his relationship with history. This is because the historian does not approach history alone, but deals with it in the presence of epistemological means directed towards his research. The question "Why did events happen the way they did?" guides the entire research statement and necessarily reveals the extent of the historian's particular interest, a general commitment to all scientific and historical standards, as well as the values of his or her present and society. The solution to the problem of historical truth must therefore be formulated in the light of all that the historian has gathered on the subject he has chosen and of the intellectual adventure of the cognizant self.

It is therefore necessary to hasten to explain that history, in its effort to grasp the object accurately and completely, does not cease to be concerned with understanding and reinforcing it with a certain meaning and within certain limits by means of interpretation. Despite the mixture of things that the documents reveal to us, or the dust of primary minor facts, analysis discovers the category of the particular to which history belongs. And in spite of incidental events and coincidences, there are historical truths