Question

I'm writing a paper for my history class and this is the description of what my teacher gave. The subject is Historiography. I really need help.

Description: Using exactly the same facts, two historians arrive at conflicting interpretations of a single event. How can this happen?

Answer 1

In social studies this kind of things happen in an daily basis. Although these historians used the same facts the thing that is never the same is the theory or theories chosen to explain them. This is usually refered to as the theoretical framework. To do a research in a high academic level, first you need to choose a topic, then a problem about this topic that has not been explained yet or that has an explanation but it is no satisfactory to you. To develop the research you need to know all of the existing knowledge about the topic chosen, in history, for example, a certain event or process. Once you think you are an expert on the topic, the writer needs to choose wich concepts he is going to develop, this implies the usage of a certain methodology and way of explaning things. In history like in other areas, there exist different theories of explanation, some focus more on the conflict, like the Marxists ones, other focus on the pursuit of certain equilibrium in societies. In this way these two hsitorians could have chosen the same event or process and studied the same facts but by choosing a different theory to explain it their interpretations won't be the same.

Answer 2

Historians are learned individuals who write the academic form of any history.

But sometimes working on the same issue two different historians may conclude to a different interpretations despite of using same facts.

Basically it happens more often because the historians work with their own perspective,own vision. So in case of using same facts same facts they look back to the past with own mind and they interpret the past on their very own way.

Political view of a historian is also a important reason for this kind of situation. For example a Right wing historian and a communist minded historian will always think of the same incidents in two different ways because of their own political perspective.

So it is a common issue that historians may find different interpretations of the same event using same data.