Abstract
This article explores the reasons why the relationship between historians on the one hand and philosophers and theorists of history on the other tends to be acrimonious more than harmonious. Having examined the continuing allure of "truth", "science" and "objectivity" to those who seek to construct history's disciplinary identity, the article invites us to deconstruct these terms as a means of refining our understanding of what historians do in practice. It reexamines the origins of the discipline of history since its professionalization at the end of the nineteenth century, and highlights how it has been intensely ideological and politically positioned from its inception. Seen in this light, it argues, defending history against supposedly damaging philosophical and theoretical reflection is itself an ideological step, both distorting what historians do in their day-to-day research activities and caricaturing what these "other" scholars seek to achieve by analysing historiography.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 417 - 437 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | RETHINKING HISTORY |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2004 |
